Unfair Result For Thame United? (Contributed)

MATCH REPORT – Thame United 1, Ardley United 2 – Monday, August 28.

Thame United came in to this game bottom of the table and without a goal in their first four league fixtures, whilst Ardley were top of the table having won all of their opening five league games. By the end of the game, however, the neutral spectator would have had difficulty deciding which team were top of the table.

Indeed, it was Thame United who dominated the opening exchanges playing neat, passing football. The first chance fell to Chris Watkin on 14 minutes whose effort from outside the box flew narrowly wide. Against the run of play Ardely took the lead on 19 minutes with a hotly disputed penalty when Sion Kitson was adjudged to have handled the ball when clearing an Ardley corner. Worse was to follow for Thame three minutes later when the referee, who was poorly positioned to see the incident, inexplicably gave a penalty against Thame debutant Adrian Smith who was fouled when clearing the ball only to see the offender fall over his clearing foot. Both penalties were dispatched by Danny Mason.The remainder of the first half saw Thame again gain the upper hand with long distance efforts from Joe Da Silva and Nathan Jack causing the Ardley keeper most problems.

Thame started the second half in determined fashion with the powerful running of another debutant, Ross Butler, from centre midfield causing problems in the heart of the Ardley defence. Indeed, Butler had three half-chances in the first ten minutes of the half, before Alex Cairns was clean through on goal in the 62nd minute only to see his lobbed effort land on the roof of the net. However, Thame found the back the net four minutes later when Nathan Jack turned neatly on the edge of the box before planting a powerful effort in the top left hand corner of the goal that gave the Ardley keeper no chance. Despite an immediate double substitution by Ardley, Thame were by now camped in the Ardley half and both Nik Gibson and Cairns forced the keeper to make good saves. With time running out, Smith attacked down the right and a good ball found Jack in space who turned and shot narrowly wide. It turned out to be the last opportunity for Thame and the game ended 2-1 to Ardley, when a draw or home win would have been a much fairer result. Nevertheless, Thame proved that they can compete with the top teams in this league and will take a lot of positives in to the next game at Kidlington (Saturday 2nd September).

Team: Searl, Smith, Watkin, Kitson, Rhodes, Butler, Gibson, Cairns, Miller, Jack, Da Silva

Subs (not used): Johnson, Cakmak, Hocking.