Thame Defeat Rayners Lane

THAME United defeated Rayners Lane on Tuesday (21/08) evening, three goals to nil, in an entertaining game played at a fast pace. Manager Mark West donned the number nine shirt and played for the full 90 minutes.
Whilst ?Westy? may not be as fast as the rest of the team, many of whom are half his age, he showed some beautiful touches of class and scored the opening goal.
Thame started brightly and went ahead in the 14th minute when James Bloomfield played a through ball to West lurking just outside the six yard box. It looked as if a defender had the ball under control when West robbed him of the ball, dummied the goalkeeper, and fired home. Rayners Lane countered and the small crowd were treated to a period of attacking end-to-end football, with both teams creating good moves and both defences under pressure.
Early in the second half, Paul reading, who had come on to partner West up front after Bloomfield was injured, dropped back to midfield and Stuart Braun moved forward as joint striker. This proved an inspirational swap when they both scored. Reading?s goal was a beauty. It came after 70 minutes when the Braun played the ball back to Reading who hit a 30 yard screamer which the keeper got a hand to, but could not stop. Thame were now in control and with nine minutes remaining, Ben Connelly made a brave run before squaring the ball to Braun who finished confidently from 12 yards.
Overall it was a good performance from the Thame team who will be encouraged that this season they have scored more goals than they have conceded, a position Thame United have not been in for over two years.

Thame United: Searl, Way, Graves, Hocking (Watkins), Ansell, Rhodes, Connelly, Braun (Leach), West, Bloomfield (Reading), Barr.