11/01/11………..New man at United makes his mark

LEAGUE MATCH – Saturday, January 8; Thame United 1, Flackwell Heath 0. MATCH REPORT – Contributed

THAME United defeated Flackwell Heath by a single goal at the ASM Stadium on Saturday. As a result, they gained two league positions and now occupy 13th place. It was however, a frustrating game to watch as, although possession was fairly even, the visitors created few scoring opportunities whilst Thame wasted chance after chance to increase their lead. Alex Stuart was not available, and Adam Rhodes was injured, enabling new signing Connor Hayes to make the starting line up. He won the man of the match award.

United?s first real chance fell to Luke Ricketts but his volley was high. Thame took the lead after 10 minutes when Ben Connelly collected the ball near the halfway line and ran to the edge of the box before crossing to Stuart Braun whose clinical header gave the goalkeeper no chance. Within a few minutes, a Sam Cowan header hit the crossbar. It looked as if a comfortable win was on the cards for Thame but the visitors had other ideas and the remainder of the half was fairly even without either goalkeeper being really tested.

A few minutes after the restart Milan Barisic did well to deflect a goal bound shot wide. United created several chances via their wingers but a Braun, shot was high, an Aaron Rogers shot was weak, and Ricketts missed a good heading chance. Flackwell almost scored in the 70th minute when a quickly taken free kick surprised the home side but fortunately for Thame, the ball hit the goalpost. The Thame goal was under pressure for a while but some solid defending snuffed out any serious scoring chances. Thame created, two more good scoring opportunities, both of which fell to the head of the usually deadly Ricketts, but it was not his day. The first was high; the second brought a good save from the keeper. A one-goal lead is always vulnerable, and Thame supporters breathed a sigh of relief when the final whistle blew.

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

Photo: Connor Hayes