Eleventh win sets club record for Thame United

THAME United secured a club record on Saturday (27/12) with its 11th consecutive league victory in a relatively comfortable win against Oxford City Nomads.

Going in to the game, Manager Mark West made a couple of changes to the side, with goalkeeper Matt Tapping making his debut for the first team and Conor McDonagh returning up front. And it was United who were quickest out of the blocks with an Adam Morris free kick from 25 yards going just wide after two minutes. The Nomads, who throughout looked to play the ball from the back, were unable to get in to the game, and United nearly took the lead on nine minutes when a delightful cross from Ben Gray was met by a glancing header just wide from Dan West.

The visitors then started to press, without really testing Tapping, and McDonagh, West and Morris all combined well to almost break the deadlock on 20 minutes. That duly arrived on 24 minutes when the Nomads failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Morris on the edge of the box, whose powerful left-footed drive gave the keeper no chance. Whilst the Nomads increasingly saw more of the ball, they were still unable to penetrate a well-marshalled home defence and, before the first half was over, both McDonagh and Gray went close to extending the lead.

United started the second half the stronger of the two sides, but Tapping was called in to action on 51 minutes when he acrobatically pushed over a drive from 25 yards. Ellis Hercules then had a header cleared off the line from a Luke Ricketts corner before, on 57 minutes, a West drive was deflected wide. Mid-way through the half Dan Jones replaced Gray and a short while later it was 2-0 when West capitalised on a defensive error before calmly placing the ball wide of the visiting keeper. It was nearly 3-0 on 78 minutes when McDonagh, through on goal, saw his shot agonizingly shave the outside of the post. Then, on 85 minutes, substitute Niall Hodgkins played the ball through to Ricketts whose effort cleared the bar. This, as it transpired, was something of a recurring theme as a West effort three minutes later ended with a similar outcome. Nevertheless, by this stage it was game over as United held on for another three valuable points.

Thame United 2 Oxford City Nomads 0

The win moves United up to third ahead of the home fixture on Saturday, January 3, 2015, against Ardley United.

United:
Tapping, Evans, Hall, Hercules, Coverley, Lynch (Kedzierski), Gray (Jones), Morris, McDonagh (Hodgkins), West, Ricketts.