Category: Sports News

THIS was Thame?s first game following the departure of player/manager Tony Joyce. It was also a performance, which the Thame players, and caretaker manager Richard Searl can be proud of.
This young team have conceded four goals on no less than eight occasions this season, but this is the first time they have also scored four! It has to be said however that many of the Hemel Hempstead players may have had had a disturbed night as a result of the oil depot explosion.

It was a fast moving and entertaining game in which Thame were never behind. The first goal came after six minutes when central defender Robbie Eason met a
corner with a downward far post header. There were good chances at both ends before Thame increased their lead in the 32nd minute. Darren Bonfield, the Hemel goalkeeper, sliced a kick to Thame?s Craig Caldwell-Smith who quickly passed to Darren Moore. Moore bore down on goal before beating Bonfield with a strong, well placed 10-yard shot. Two minutes before half time Abdul Yoki pulled a goal back for Hemel when he met a cross with a good shot from six yards.

Hemel dominated the first few minutes of the second half and drew level after 60 minutes with a glorious 30-yard shot from Chris Marsh. Thame regained the lead however five minutes later when, following a corner, Caldwell smith knocked the ball back in from the right and Gavin Lane headed home from close range. Ten minutes later it was 4-2 when Moore headed a corner on to Eason who beat the keeper with a low 5-yard shot. On 74 minutes Hemel scored again when Anthony Thomas met a cross from the left with a good volley from 8 yards. The last 15 minutes saw frantic action at both ends. With four minutes remaining Hemel?s Steve Sinclair?s shot was going wide when it hit Eason and was deflected into the Thame goal.

Thame United: Searl, Lane (capt), N. Rhodes, Hocking, Eason, A. Rhodes, Fisher, Connelly, Caldwell Smith, Moore, Boland.

REPRESENTING Chinnor Kung-fu and Kickboxing club at “The Quest for the Best” in Bolton recently was Phil Keavy.
It was Phil’s first competition, having only started
training four months ago. He was in the under 70kg
section,in what was an open grade event. That meant that
there were experienced fighters and Black Belts in
this section, but i had confidence in Phil’s ability
that he had shown in class and he didnt dissapoint,he
won his first fight well and then went onto the
semi-finals,where he met an experienced black tag,Phil
kept composed but was unable to secure the win and had
to settle for a 4th place,which considering his time
in training was an excellent result which exceeded my
expectations.
also in the morning,Mark Thomas and myself were in
our Dan gradings. Mark was going for his 3rd and i was
going for my 4th Dan.
we were grading with one of the top American martial
artists,8th Dan Jerry Fontanez, president of U.M.A.N.
United Martial Artist Network.
the grading went well,both Mark and i had to perform
weapon forms, staff,sword and spear, all traditional
kung-fu weapons.
i am looking forward now to building a team for next
season, starting in february 2006.
anyone interested in joining my kickboxing team can
contact me on 07803630067.
Duncan Elliott.

AS a result of their 3-1 loss against Stourport, Thame United are now firmly entrenched at the bottom on the league.
Perhaps it is too early in the season to talk about relegation but unless they improve significantly, this young Thame team could go down.

The visitor?s first goal came after six minutes when Thame goalkeeper, Paul Searl did well to parry a strong shot from Richard Burgess, but Chris Hughes collected the rebound and finished well from six Yards. Thame pressed hard and were rewarded in the 36th minute when Craig Caldwell-Smith pounced on a defensive error and fired home from an acute angle. Just before half time Searl made one of several outstanding saves when he stopped a goalbound header from Burgess.

Shortly after the restart, Caldwell-Smith created a good chance for Wayne Spencer, but, with only the goalkeeper to beat, Spencer put his shot wide from 8 yards. Stourport?s second came 14 minutes into the second half. Rory May collected the ball, on the edge of the Thame penalty area, turned, beat Dave Hocking, and buried his shot just inside the post. May got his second on 77 minutes when he met a corner from the right with a downward header, which just crept inside the same post. A few minutes later May again found the back of the Thame net, but his effort was ruled offside. Thame pressed in the final few minutes but it was Stourport who took three valuable points from this game.

Thame United: Searl, Lane, Joyce, Rhodes, Hocking, Freeman (N. Stewart), Moore (Shrieves), Fisher, Spencer (Bradley), Caldwell-Smith, Boland,

Thame entertain Hemel Hempstead Town at 3.00 next Sunday (yes Sunday) 11th December

THAME Badminton Club were rewarded after travelling, for the third time, for their Men’s match against Redefield C in the Oxford & District League.
The side was again weakened by unavailability of players but nevertheless, the club captain was confident of a victory.

Chris Daniels and Chris Charman started off against the Redefield first pair. Their timing was out to start off with but this did not prevent them from winning the first game. As they became accustomed to the speed of the shuttlecocks, Daniels? smashes dominated from the back whilst the Charman caresses at the net ensured the rubber was won with the loss of only 8 points. On the adjacent court, Trevor Grace and club chairman Trevor Walker had a similar troubled start with timing. The Trevors adjusted and with left-hander Grace causing positional problems for the opposition they won in 2 games conceding just 7 points. Third pair Keith Richards and Andy Scarlett started off well leading 11?8 but then they fell apart as Scarlett stood statue-like watching the shuttles pass him by and found themselves having to set at 14 all. Three tight serves by Scarlett with smashes by Richards saw them to the first game. The second game saw no improvement as both players missed easy shots. Despite their poor display, Richards and Scarlett just kept in front and ran out winners but conceded 26 points.

The Daniels and Charman pairing returned to court on form and demolished the Redefield 2nd pair conceding just 5 points with the Redefield unable to stem the smashes and drop shots. Walker and Grace struggled in their first game against the Redefield 1st pair and lost to 5 points. They picked up in the second game but could not win the vital points and ended up losing 11 ?15. Richards and Scarlett took on the Redefield 2nd pair not believing they could repeat their poor play. Both players raised their game and were ruthless and won the first game to love and were leading 14-0 in the second before conceding a point, to win the rubber. This gave Thame an unbeatable 5 wins in the match.

The final game for Daniels and Charman was against the Redefirld 3rd pair and the Thame pair continued to dominate to win the first game 15-2. Suddenly, the Thame 1st pair seemed to switch off and lost their first game of the night 12-15. They rallied in the third game to win to 7 points. Richards and Scarlett then took on the opposition first pair and surprised them by winning 15-4. However, the change of ends saw them lose their way despite some good play and lost 7-15. Another change of ends saw Scarlett continuing with the short service setting up the Richards winning smashes. However, the change of ends saw an 8-3 lead collapse to a 8-12 deficit from which they could not recover. The last game of the evening saw Walker and Grace playing the Redefield 3rd pair. Just as with the Thame 1st pair, Walker and Grace won the first game 15-10 but then lost the second 7-15. Walker and Grace then concentrated their efforts and for the second time in the evening saw a 15-0 win for Thame.

The Mens team have now won their opening 4 fixtures and are top of their division. With the club unable to play the first choice line up for any of these matches, the performances of the selected teams bodes well for the rest of the season.

EVERY picture tells a story and this one captured the excitement of the Christmas Fayre at Thame Rugby Club on Friday, which was attended by ‘Sting’, the Wasps mascot. The Zurich premiership Trophy was admired by visitors to what was a terrific evening that included lots of high quality goods and foods for sale.

ON paper, top of the league Clevedon should have “blown away” Thame, who are in bottom position, in a match that should have taken place on Saturday, but was displaced by an Aylesbury match which had to take presidence.
Clevedon won, but the young Thame team played well and the match could have gone either way.

Although first half possession was fairly even, the visitors created more chances. The best chance of the first half fell to Clevedon?s Tom Jacobs who seemed to have got past goalkeeper Paul Searl before shooting, but Searl did brilliantly to recover and block Jacob’s goal-bound shot with his legs.
The Seasiders however had most of the first half chances with the Clevedon goalkeeper not really tested.

Whatever the Clevedon manager said at half time worked as they stepped up a gear, and forced three corners in the first five minutes after the restart. Thame somehow managed to prevent the visitors from scoring and started to create some chances of their own. The deadlock was broken however in the 68th minute, when a shot from Clevedon brought a superb block from the Searl. But the impressive Jack Pitcher nipped in between defenders to score from close range.
The ball was in the back of the Thame net five minutes later when Hapgood pounced on another Searl block but his effort was disallowed.

With 15 minutes to play, United pushed forward and created some good moves. John Mitchell almost equalised from a Mark Boland cross but a Clevedon defender parried his close range header. Thame pressed hard but it was Clevedon who took the three points.

Thame United 0, Clevedon Town 1

Thame United: Searl, Lane, Joyce (Boland), Rhodes, Hocking, Groves (Kitson), Moore (Caldwell-Smith), Fisher, Mitchell, Spencer, Freeman

Chinnor surrendered their unbeaten record and with it their top of the table spot when they went down by three penalties to two at Reading Abbey.
The home side put the Chinnor scrummage under pressure from the word go hence denying them the quality possession on which they have
thrived on.
Chinnor did go close on a number of occasions only to be kept out by a resolute Abbey defence. Chinnor were convinced that they had gone over the line early on but the referee adjudged an accidental offside.
With the scores level at half-time it was becoming patently obvious that one score would settle the issue. Burns, the Abbey full back, was successful with
his kick at goal but unfortunately Richard Williams failed with his couple of attempts which could have swung the game in Chinnopr’s favour.

Reading Abbey 9pts Chinnor 6 pts – picture: Chinnor No.8 Paul Hennessy

Missfits 20 vs Aylesbury Wasps 29

GK Nicola Fowler
GD Sue Dunn
WD Sara Spencer
C Viv Handley/ Lisa Sydenham
WA Denise Issacs
GA Laura Hocking
GS Debbie Weeks

CLOSELY fought match with Missfits in contention throughout.
Aylesbury Wasps kept hold of their advantage although Thame girls played some great netball despite
the squad having some injuries worries at present. Coached by Mary Lunnon.
Sponsered by Zen hair design.

CHELTENHAM belied their position of propping-up the league table at Kingsey Road on Saturday, when they visited Chinnor at Thame.
They were a pacy side with a strong pack of forwards who counter attacked at every available opportunity. They were somewhat assisted by a sloppy performance from Chinnor who had started with aplomb which probably gave rise to some complacency whereby they ignored the basics on too many occasions.
However Cheltenham were never in the lead in this high scoring encounter, albeit not being out of sight at any time.
Chinnor opened the scoring in the ninthth minute when they spun the ball across the field starting just outside their 22 metre line. The ball reached
Adam White on the right wing who kicked in-field for Rewi Tolich to gather the ball and go over under the posts, Richard Williams adding the
conversion. Cheltenham responded when, after a series of forward drives, their second row Alan was driven over the line. Chinnor were next on the score
sheet when Eric Brown went in under the posts following a well worked move in the middle of the field, Williams again adding the conversion.
Not to be outdone, Cheltenham came back with another try from second rower Alan via a rolling maul which was becoming a Cheltenham trademark. A strong run from
Eric Brown set-up Rewi Tolich for his second try with Williams adding the extra points with a fine touchluine conversion. A Williams penalty for
off-side on the stroke of half-time gave Chinnor a 24pts to 10 advantage at the interval.

Cheltenham were the more sprightly at the start of the second half and were rewarded with Obileye, their other second row forward being awarded a try from another rolling maul. Williams nudged Chinnor further
ahead with a well struck penalty before Lait reduced the deficit with yet another try emanating from a rolling maul. Rewi Tolich went over for his third try when he was driven over the line by half the Chinnor pack with Williams once again showing the importance of the conversion by landing his fourth.

Well into injury time livewire scrum-half Hending went over under the posts with Steve Clark eventually kicking his first goal of the game. Judging from this performance Cheltenham will most certainly make headway up the table with Chinnor needing to concentrate a little more on the hard graft bits and pieces.

Chinnor 34pts Cheltenham 27pts

Missfits 2nd Team vs Phoenix – November 9,2005
GK Sue Dunn/ Susanne
GD Nicola Fowler
WD Mary Lunnon/ Sue Dunn
C Laura Hocking
WA Sara Spencer
GA Denise Issacs
GS Debbie Weeks

This was a difficult game for the Missfits as the team is currently plagued by injury. Nevertheless, they fought hard despite this to achieve half of Phoenix score for 1 point.
The game was played in good spirit, with the score at the end of the first quarter, 6-9 to Phoenix.
Phoenix had pulled away by half time to 9-18 and extended their lead by the third quarter despite some good netball from the Missfits girls to 14-27.

Result: Miss Fits 20 Phoenix 37