17/10/10…..Senior Cup first round victory for Thame United

MATCH REPORT – Thame United 3, Woodcote/ Stoke Row 1. On Saturday, 16/10/10 – Oxfordshire Senior Cup 1st Round.

A Stuart Braun hat trick secured victory For Thame United at Wallingford last Saturday, when they defeated Reading Senior League outfit Woodcote and Stoke Row 3-1. This entertaining game was however closer than the score suggests as the visitors controlled long periods of the second half.

Opening play was fairly even with Woodcote looking dangerous. As the game progressed, Thame gained the upper hand and went ahead in the 21st minute. They won a corner on the left which Aaran Rogers hit to the far post for the unmarked Braun to comfortably head home from close range. The visitors had a good chance to equalise a few minutes later when their impressive striker Toby Nowell had only Thame keeper Milan Barisic to beat, but his lobbed shot was high. United?s second goal came in the 28th minute when Adam Rhodes pulled the ball back from the right by-line for Braun to finish confidently from 15-Yards. The home side controlled the remainder of the first half without increasing their lead.

Woodcote came out fired up after the break and immediately put Thame under pressure. This paid off in the 52nd minute when Nowell met a corner with a well-placed 25-yard volley, into the bottom left of the goal, giving Barisic no chance. The visitors continued to attack as Thame struggled to reassert themselves and Stuart Barr did well to clear the ball of the goal line when a shot rebounded off the post across goal. Minutes later, Nowell hit a strong goal bound shot only to see it blocked by one of his teammates. The on-form Barisic was kept busy but Thame fought their way back into the game and Braun completed his hat trick when, with 8 minutes remaining, he met a Rogers corner with a low 15-yard header, which somehow found its way through a packed goalmouth and beat the visiting keeper. The gutsy visitors were by now a spent force and United controlled the final few minutes.

The next round will be played on 20th November when Thame are at home to Hellenic Division 1 West club Clanfield.

Thame United: Barisic, Meredith, Newell, Saulsbury, Brown (N. Rhodes), Cowan, Barr, A. Rhodes (Jones), Braun (Connelly), Rogers, Ricketts.