Category: Sports News

FRIENDLY – 18/01/11 – Thame United 1, Oxford United 3; MATCH REPORT – Oxford United fielded a strong side on Tuesday evening (18/01/11) for the official launch of Thame?s ASM Stadium. With Oxford United playing their football five leagues above Thame?s amateurs there was only going to be one winner, and so it proved with Oxford winning 1-3. The home side were however ?up for it? and despite being outclassed, delivered a good performance. This made for an entertaining game and, despite the cold, the game was enjoyed by a club record of 1382 spectators.

The opening exchanges saw even ball possession but it was the visitors who were creating the chances, and Thame keeper Milan Barisic was soon in action. They took the lead after 17 minutes when the ball was played to Matt Green who fired low pass the on-form Barisic. A few minutes later Barisic made a fine save from Sam Deering, tipping the ball over. It was not all one way traffic and Luke Ricketts, in particular, caused trouble for Oxford with his pacey runs on the left.

Thame equalised after 34 minutes with a spectacular individual goal. Alex Stuart caught Oxford captain Jimmy Sangare in possession, calmly took the ball from him, turned and hit a 30-yard thunderbolt beating Oxford keeper Simon Eastwood. Minutes later Thame?s Aaron Rogers hit a 15-yard shot, but Eastwood made a comfortable save.

Thame made five substitutions at half time with manager Mark West keen to bring on fresh legs and to give his remaining squad members a crack at Oxford. Ex Wycombe Wanderers star, Keith Ryan, was one of those brought on as a guest player. Searl replaced Barisic in goal and was immediately in action bringing off an excellent save from Josh Payne.

United went ahead ten minutes after the break when Searl came out to meet a threat on Oxford?s right but ball was crossed, and Deering hit the ball into the undefended net. Thame came back and an Alex Stuart header from a corner brought a good save from Eastwood, the ball falling to Ben Connelly whose shot into a crowded penalty area was blocked.

Oxford?s final goal came with 15 minutes to play when a ball from the right found Connor McDonagh who headed in off the post. Shortly afterwards Searl limped off injured and was replaced by Stuart. Oxford brought on some young substitutes and West came on for Thame.

The crown applauded enthusiastically when the final whistle blew having seen an entertaining game, played in a good spirit. Overall, the match was an excellent way to mark Thame?s return to the town after a 5 year absence.

Thame United: Barisic (Searl), Barr (Mitchell), Newell (Way) N. Rhodes, Brown (Ryan), Cowan, Connelly, Hayes (Braun) (West) Stuart (Jones) Rogers, Ricketts.

MATCH REPORT (Contributed) U12 Mayor?s Cup Third Round Match – Crendon Corinthians 0 v Thame Boys 2.

Thame Boys faced another tricky local tie away at Long Crendon but came through comfortably to progress to the next round. Conditions were not ideal which led to a scrappy game played in excessive mud and a strong wind.

Thame kept possession for the majority of the game and despite not playing as well as in recent games, kept a clean sheet with solid performances from Duncan Holt and George Bennetts at the back protecting the ever confident and able keeper, Aidan Gerard.

Thame took the lead midway through the first half with Alex Ingle hammering home a rebound. Oliver Ralphs dispatched another well taken penalty to take Thame 2-0 up at the start of the second half. Thame though failed to take advantage of several other opportunities to keep the score at 2-0.

Crendon battled hard to the end but could not break the Thame defence. The game was played in good spirit and the two teams will clash again soon in the league, with Crendon looking for their first victory over Thame.

A RECORD crowd passed through the turn stiles at the official opening last night of the Asam stadium at Meadow Park View, to watch Thame put up a spirited fight against Oxford United.

Thame United?s friendly against Oxford United to launch the ASM Stadium broke the long standing attendance record for Thame, previously at Windmill Road with a gate of 1,382.

Though the teams were drawing one goal each at half time, in the end Oxford beat Thame United 3-1.

It was Thame’s Alex Stewart who beat Oxford keeper, to score for Thame.

Oxford United fielded a strong starting line up with no less than eight regular first team squad players.

A full match report will be available shortly.

Thame are at home on Saturday in a Hellenic Premier League game against Pegasus Juniors at the ASM. Kick off is 3pm, admission

THAME UNITED?S rearranged friendly match against Oxford United, to mark the opening off the new Meadow View ground will take place on January, 18, Kick off 7.30pm.

Admission is

THE new housing development currently being built on the old site of Thame United in Windmill Road, Thame, is to be named after two brothers with a Thame connection, who played football for England.

The Corbett brothers, Bertie and Reggie (known as Rex), were sons of Elijah Corbett, who was the vicar of Thame from 1872 to 1893. They both played for England, Bertie in 1901 and Reggie in 1903. The new development will therefore appropriately be called Corbett Way.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CORBETT BROTHERS (Excerpt from www.iffhs.de)

“Bertram Oswald Corbett was born in Thame (Oxon) on May 15, 1875. He attended the Thame Grammar School and Oriel College in Oxford, where he also played football. From 1897 to 1906 he played for Corinthians (London) as well as for Reading FC. The outside left was an extremely fast dribbler. “Bertie” Corbett wrote the Annals of the Corinthians Football Club, which was published in 1906. On March 18, 1901, he played his only full “A” international. He always remained an amateur and was a teacher at Brighton College, and later a headmaster in Dorset. He died on November 30, 1967. His brother Reginald Corbett, who was four years his junior and also played on outside left, attended Malvern College and played for Old Malvernians and Corinthians, two London teams. He was a small but unpredictable winger, quite dangerous in front of goal, and played once for England on March 2, 1903 (2:1 Wales). Like his older brother, he also chose to remain an amateur and was a headmaster. He died on September 2, 1967.”

PHOTO: Bertie Corbett

THIS is the question on everyone’s lips this Monday morning, just one day away from the celebration friendly match between Thame United and Oxford United tomorrow evening (Tuesday, January 18).

The excitement in the town is building as the opportunity for the Thame lub to officially recognise their return to Thame after five years away. Oxford are expected to send a strong squad to the game, with the added spice of a potential Father V Son encounter with Daniel West, son of Thame manager Mark, lining up for the U?s and Mark likely to feature for Thame.

With a large crowd anticipated gates open at Meadow Park View at 6:15pm and kick off is 7:30pm. Cost is

MATCH REPORT (Contributed) – Wootton Bassett Town 0, Thame United 1. UNITED secured their third 1-0 win in succession on Saturday but were very nearly made to pay for their failure to convert possession in to goals as the home side rattled the cross bar in the final few seconds of the game. As it was, Thame held out for a deserved victory and three points that consolidates their position in the league.

Played on a very damp pitch with a strong, gusting wind, it was Thame who grasped the ascendancy early on with Luke Ricketts and Ben Connelly causing problems for the home side down either flank. After the home keeper had done well to push a header from Alex Stewart over the bar after five minutes, United did not have long to wait to take the lead. Ricketts went on a powerful run down the Thame left before delivering a deep cross to Connelly who collected the ball on the right hand edge of the box. Connelly clipped the ball across the six yard box where Stewart, despite the close attention of his marker, was able to volley the ball beyond the keeper and in to the far corner of the net. It was no more than Thame deserved and the only surprise across the remainder of the half was that they were unable to extend the lead, despite some good chances falling to Aaron Rogers and Connor Hayes.

Whilst the second half was a more even affair in terms of possession, Brown and Saulsbury marshalled the defence well and the home side failed to create any real goal scoring opportunities. Indeed, it was United who looked the more dangerous in the final third of the field, mainly through the trickery of Connelly and Ricketts, and both created good chances for Stewart to extend the lead. Stewart, however, found the home keeper in good form as his efforts were to no avail. Nevertheless, as is the way when defending a one goal lead, the final few minutes became very tense as the home side pushed players forward in search of an equaliser. This resulted in their only real chance of the game when a cross from the right was side footed against the underside of the cross bar, dropping on to the Thame goal line before being cleared away. This turned out to be the final action of the game as Thame celebrated another victory and third clean sheet in a row.
Thame United: Barisic, Barr, N Rhodes, Saulsbury, Brown (Way), Cowan, Connelly, Hayes, Rogers (Meredith), Stewart, Ricketts.

LEAGUE GAME – Tuesday, January 11 – HOME: Thame United 1, Reading Town 0. MATCH REPORT – Contributed

A crowd of 135 ventured out last evening, preferring to see Thame United v Reading Town at Thame?s ASM Stadium, rather than West Ham v Birmingham on TV. They were not disappointed! The game was played at pace, with the evenly matched teams contesting every ball, making it an entertaining encounter to watch. Thame won 1-0 and, as a result, move up one league place to 12th in the table.

Within three minutes of the start, Thame?s Alex Stuart headed the ball into the net but his effort was disallowed. Minutes later a strong shot from Stuart Barr forced a good save from the visiting keeper. Following the resultant corner Nik Rhodes was fouled just outside the penalty area. Stewart took the free kick, hitting a rocket which took a deflection off the wall to beat the keeper. The visitors fought back and mounted attack after attack, with United?s keeper Milan Barisic by far the busier of the two keepers. He was however in good form, making some first rate saves.

Second half possession was more even and United almost increased their lead shortly after the restart. Mitchell Meredith took a long free kick which both the keeper and Stuart jumped for, Stuart?s header hitting the post. Sadly, nobody was following up and the ball was cleared. There then followed some attractive end-to-end football with Rhodes and Saulsbury outstanding in defence, and Barisic determined to keep a clean sheet. With about 20 minutes remaining Aaron Rogers hit a strong volley from the edge of the box forcing an excellent save from the visiting keeper. The last few minutes saw the visitors laying siege to the Thame goal, causing manager Mark West to bring on defender, Pete Way for striker Rogers.

Thame United: Barisic, Barr, Newell (Meredith), Saulsbury, N Rhodes, Cowan, Connelly, Hayes, Stuart, Rogers (Way), Braun (Jones)

Thame are away to Wotton Bassett Town on Saturday, January 15 and Thame United Reserves play Bletchingdon in the quarter final of the Oxfordshire Intermediate Cup at the ASM Stadium, in Thame. Kick off is at 1.30pm.

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

THAME Boys Under 12s football team crushed their top-of-the-table rivals on Saturday and consolidated their position at the top of the Bucks 2nd division table with an emphatic 7-1 win over Chinnor Youth U12s.

Thame dominated play from start to finish and the score line was justice to a display against a strong team also vying for promotion from this division.

Despite some early pressure from Thame, Chinnor went ahead with a Thame mix up between keeper and defender allowing the attacker to steal the ball for a 1-0 lead. Thame heads did not go down and they piled on the pressure to level just before half time when Max got his just reward for an excellent first half by smashing in a rebound.

After Olly Ralphs had dispatched a penalty to take Thame 2-1 up, it became a matter of how many Thame would score. Despite being man marked by two defenders, Alex McDonald ran the Chinnor defence ragged and managed to calmly slot two more Thame goals. Further goals came from Austin, an impressive Nathan and a superb long range shot from Matthew. Alex Ingle showed why he was preferred upfront with his pace troubling a packed Chinnor defence.

Thame?s performance was a superb team display with the defence allowing nothing past them. They more than made up for the earlier mix up with nothing getting past Duncan as last man, and Lewis being awarded man-of-the-match through his determination and tenacity against considerably bigger players.

George, Louis and Cameron held firm and passed out of defence to midfield with growing maturity and Brad and Olly put at least 10 corners in to the Chinnor defence that summarises the level of possession Thame had. Aiden had a quiet day in goal thanks to his defence but when called into action made a superb reflex save to deny Chinnor a second. His kicking was also excellent in tough boggy conditions.

Thame lead the division by five points.

SOURCE: Contributed