Thame Hockey Club – Latest team match reports

(1) Thame meets league leader in tough match – NEWBURY and Thatcham Ladies 1st  Vs Thame Ladies 1st – Scoree: 4 – 2; November 22,  2014:

THAME took to the road this week with a squad of 12, aiming to take 3 points from their game against Newbury and Thatcham, knowing a hard match was ahead. During the first twenty minutes of the game Thame fought hard, and defended exceptionally well with some amazing saves from keeper Len, and the usual full body lunge and goal-line clearance from Nanna. N&T dominated the play and attack eventually slotting a goal home from a well crossed ball converted into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Thame responded to this well, with a renewed vigour they went on the attack, a well taken 16 from Nanna out to the wing, picked up by Vikki D who then outpaced the opposition with a sprint upfield and a great cross to Chopper who convincingly converted the pass to a goal!! 1-1, and all was well….heading towards the half time whistle with less than a minute to go level pegging. Then N &T unleashed their secret weapon……Charlotte Lynch. With what may be called an error of judgement, the cross D pass was utilised, straight onto the stick of N&T’s forward. A bewildered Len did her best but alas, their strategy had worked, goal number 2 for the home side.

Thame went into their half time goal huddle, stepping over the river of welsh tears. An encouraging team talk from Lizzie, and we were back onto the pitch.

The second half started well, with a rejuvenated Charlotte, buoyed on by team spirit and support, redeeming herself for the earlier faux pas with some intellectual and insightful play. N& T were out hard too, and early on took full advantage of a short corner which they converted from a bullet like strike into the bottom corner, whizzing past Len and Rose. Whilst in the scoring zone they soon extended the lead from a 2v1 attack, with Thame conceding this goal due to poor keeping from the klutz in goal.

Down, but still not out, Thame upped their attacking game and were rewarded with a short corner, a short pass to Spiller, who stopped the ball outside the D, dribbled in and BOOM….goal to Thame, past the keeper, and through the defenders legs. 4-2. However, try as we might the game was played out with no more goals. Once more N&T came out triumphant.

Thame can take many good things from this match. A solid performance from the whole team, midfield worked their little socks off aiding the attacks and pulling off some great defensive moves too. Spiller a well deserving MOM, stepping up to the responsibility of on pitch captain. Defence and forwards all putting their best into the match. Even the aged cripples unable to play gave their all with support, and the ever lovely Alex providing as much as he does week on week. Bring on a win next week ladies!

(2) Thame Ladies 2nd go top of table with win over Reading University – Thame Ladies 2nd Vs University of Reading Women’s 4th; Score:  6-0; November 29, 2014

THIS weekend was a big one at the top of Division four with the top four teams all playing each other. Thame played host to the University of Reading, something of a bogey team for us in prior seasons. Even with Reading arriving with only 9 players, Thame were not expecting an easy match, and so it proved with some pacey running and well-timed interceptions from the young visitors.

But Thame soon settled and with excellent passing, improved team work and by making use of the spare players quickly started scoring. Goals came from Amy Cooper-Tutton (with a great assist from Cathryn Alty), a direct hit from the top of the D from the on-form Kerri Halliday converting a penalty corner, and Alex Andrews doing her usual nifty footwork and tight turns to slot the ball past the keeper. Olivia Quesnel was unlucky not to score with some excellent play – Reading’s goalie was seemingly made of elastic, able to reach in to all corners of the goal, but Thame’s relentless attack of the rebounding ball meant that they finished the first half 4-0 up.

The second half saw no slacking off by Reading’s runners, and the defence did not get to have an easy game, Tasha McMorrow in particular digging deep to stay on top of a speedy forward, and Becca Lay working hard in midfield, but they kept out all efforts on goal and defended the penalty corners with their usual composure. At the other end Thame continued to put massive pressure on the Reading defence but luck (and our finishing?) were not on our side and only two more goals were scored.

Still, a convincing 6-0 win puts Thames Ladies 2s on the top of the table with an amazing goal difference of 49. Man of the match went to Sally Skea for her tireless work and ball distribution in midfield, as well as her refusal to let the ball out of Reading’s D, she just kept sending it back in!

(3) Two wins on the bounce for the mighty thirds – Sonning Men’s 7th Vs Thame Men’s 3rd; Score 1 – 4; November 22, 2014

COULON’S army march on! Sharp passing, solid defending and excellent finishing. Cliff’s training is really paying dividends as the 3rds, with a slightly weakened team, played some excellent hockey to record their second win in a row.

Great build up play from the tireless Tom Creswell and the excellent Ben Caiger led to Harvey Allen, the Goal Machine, smashing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. A rare lapse in the rock solid defence allowed Sonning to sneak an equaliser just before half time, but rousing words at half time did the job as the 3rds turned on the style in the second period with three unanswered goals.

The first was a sharp finish from the everyoung Clifford Brown, the next an excellent finish from Cam Sk after flowing passing between the halves and the forwards. The final goal was scored from a penalty corner – Richard Creswell dummying the shot and sneaking a little pass the Clifford Brown to slam home his second.
Man of the match? Ben Caiger for all round excellence, but special mention to Mike Caiger on his debut – superb performance in central defence. Also to Tom Creswell, whose stick skills were top notch and who never stopped running. Joe Turton once again imperious at left back – never lets us down.

Cracking game, cracking effort, and cracking result. Nice one lads.