First defeat of the year for Thame United

LEAGUE GAME – 21/02/09 – Match report: Launton Sports 3, Thame United 2.

LAST Tuesday (Feb 17), Thame heavily defeated Prestwood, who were in 17th League place so, on paper, Saturday?s visit to 18th placed Launton Sports was unlikely to result in a defeat. Thame however lost the game in the first half when they played poorly and seemed to have little determination to win.

Many of Launton?s players looked as if they would be more at home in the first row of a scrum than on a soccer field. Their physical play, which reinforced that impression, could have been dealt with had it been faced early enough. Sadly, the referee lost control of the game and failed to protect those who were there to ?play the beautiful game? by the rulebook.

Thame opened the scoring in the 25th minute when a long free kick from the half way line found Ben Connelly on the right. He hit a low cross which the quick-reacting Mark Jones did well to knock in from six yards. The home side equalised two minutes later when a long throw in was headed on to former Thame Player, Robbie Eason, who headed past keeper Paul Searl. Five minutes later Launton were rightly awarded a penalty when a Thame player handled the ball in the area. Alex Woodfine buried the spot kick, giving Searl no chance.

Thame conceded again in the 36th minute when they again failed to deal with a long throw in, and the ball was played to James Keeble, in space, who beat Searl with a strong 15-yard shot. The teams went in for the break with the visitors trailing 3-1.

Thame?s second half performance was far better and they controlled much of the play. On 55 minutes, Pete Way hit a strong 25-yard free kick which forced an excellent save from the home keeper. Shortly after, the game was stopped for about 5 minutes whilst the referee was treated for a leg injury. His injury restricted his movement for the rest of the game and he missed many of the home side’s fouls, and simply did not see numerous ‘off the ball’ incidents. Thame pulled a goal back in the 38th minute when Dave Hocking rose above the defence to head in an Aaron Rogers corner. With about 10 minutes to play, it looked as if Thame had equalised during a goalmouth scramble following a corner, but although Thame players claimed that the ball had crossed the goal line, the stand in linesman, supplied by the home side, disagreed, and play continued.

This game was Launton?s first win of the season, and Thame?s first loss of 2009. The real looser however, was football.

Thame United: Searl, Newell (Graves), Way, Meredith, Hocking, Cowan, Connelly, Rhodes (Hoskin), Jones, Rogers, El-Kassir.

Thame entertain Finchampstead next Saturday, February 28. The visitors will be seeking to avenge a close defeat when United visited them in October.