‘Cruel Luck’ For Changed Thame Side

Match Report: MILTON UNITED 2 THAME UNITED 1 – Monday, October 16.

FOLLOWING the heavy defeat against Witney United on Saturday, Thame United made a number of changes to the side for the game against fellow Hellenic League Premier Division Club, Milton United, in the Floodlit Cup on Monday evening.
Mark Bell, Luke Ricketts and Tony Weaver were all promoted from the Reserve side, with Mark going straight in to the side at centre back and Luke and Tony on the bench.

The game got off to a bad start for Thame when Milton United opened the scoring in the first five minutes from Darren Howell. However, as a pre-cursor to their performance in the rest of the game, the Thame United side showed great commitment and effort to pull themselves level 10 minutes later. Sion Kitson punished Milton when the goalkeeper collected a back pass to drive the ball powerfully in to the corner of the net from the resultant free kick.

The remainder of the first half and the first twenty minutes of the second half saw both sides attack without breaking down the opposition defence, despite numerous dangerous crosses in to the Milton box from the flank.
The turning point of the game came with twenty minutes to go when Thame right back Dave Hocking was given a red card for two bookable offences, the second of which saw him carried off the field.
With Thame down to 10 men, Milton pressed for the winner. However, just when it seemed that Thame would take the tie in to extra time, in the ninth minute of injury time, Paul Searl was unable to hold a powerful drive from Vince Rusher and the ball rebounded to substitute Danny Kirby to finish from close range.

It was cruel luck for a Thame side who put in as good a team-based and committed performance as they had done all season. Particularly impressive were debutant Mark Bell, who dealt with everything thrown at him by Milton, and his defensive colleagues Chris Watkins and Sion Kitson.

Thame travel to mid-table Chipping Norton Town on Saturday.

Thame United line up:
Searl, Watkins, Hocking, Bell, Kitson, Connelly, Jack, Miller (Ricketts), Jackson, Reading (T Weaver), J Weaver