31/08/10…Thame through to the next FA Cup round

FA Cup First Preliminary Round – Thame United 2, Lydney Town 1 – Saturday, 28/08/10 MATCH REPORT by Bob Dixon.

THAME United progressed to the next round of the FA Cup at Wallingford on Saturday when they defeated Gloucestershire based Lydney Town 2-1. They will play away to either Thatcham Town or Witney United, who drew on Saturday, in the next round. The game is scheduled for Saturday 11th September.

Thame had the better of the opening exchanges and took the lead in the 7th minute. Following good work in midfield, the ball was played to Nik Rhodes on the left and he hit a perfect low cross to Luke Ricketts, on the edge of the area, whose first-time shot found the back of the visitors net. At this stage, Thame had about 70% of ball possession, were looking dangerous and It seemed that the home side would record a comfortable victory. Lydney, of course, had other ideas and as the half progressed they grew stronger and, just before half time, had two good scoring chances which, fortunately for Thame, they squandered.

The second half was fairly even. On 50 minutes, the visiting goalkeeper miss-kicked a back pass in the 6-yard box, but managed to recover milliseconds before Aaron Rogers pounced. The equaliser came on 54 minutes. The visitors took a corner on the right which a Thame head nodded out to midfielder Jon Kear who hit a well-placed shot from 15-yards giving goalkeeper Milan Barisic no chance. Thame were on the back foot for a while, before recovering and creating some good chances themselves. It looked as if a replay was likely but, with 5 minutes to play, a goalmouth scramble resulted in the ball coming out to Stuart Braun who hit a strong 20-yard shot through a crowded penalty area into the net. The goal was awarded, and a visiting defender was booked for handling the ball on the goal line. The final few minutes saw the Thame goal under siege but the visitors were a spent force, and united held on comfortably until the final whistle.

Thame United: Barisic, Cowan, N Rhodes, Saulsbury, Brown (Jones), Braun, Connelly, A Rhodes, Stewart, Rogers, Ricketts.