Injury torn Thame lose at Englefield (Contributed)

ENGLEFIELD GREEN ROVERS 3, THAME UNITED 1 – Tuesday, April 22 – Match report.

THAME United returned from Surrey on Tuesday evening on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline having led 1-0 at half time. With a team depleted by injuries and unavailability and played on a pitch that left a lot to be desired, it was United who took the game to Englefied from the outset.
With the makeshift forward line of Matt Leach and Matt Ansell causing the home defence problems, it looked as if Leach had given United the lead in the 20th minute when he confidently headed in to the corner of the net, only to see the goal ruled out for a marginal off-side. However, United did take the lead 10 minutes later when Leach drilled a corner in from the right that midfield Nik Rhodes headed home to give the keeper no chance.

With United comfortably ahead at half time, Englefield Green made a double substitution and immediately looked more threatening going forward. The equaliser came 8 minutes in to the second half when the ball was eventually forced home following a scramble in the goalmouth. Englefield took the lead five minutes later, after a controversial incident seemed to momentarily put Thame off their game when the Englefield left back appeared to strike a Thame player in front of the referee, only for no action to be taken against the offender. This stirred United back in to action and Leach went close with a drive from the right, followed by another controversial incident when the referee missed a clear handball by an Englefield defender in his own area. However, it was game over 10 minutes from time when the Englefield right winger scored a fine individual goal.

Despite the result, there were a number of positives for manager Mark West to take from the game, including a solid and assured debut for Adam Rowley at right back.