Category: Sports News

REPORT By Declan Taylor – Friday, 16 November, 2012
It’s no longer a family affair at Thame as they feature in The Vase on Saturday!

BROTHER Adam might be partying with pop stars in New York, but Thame United star Nik Rhodes is happy to fly the family flag alone – all the way to Wembley.

The centre-back and his younger brother had been at the heart of the Thame United first team since their teens, until Adam landed a plum job in the Big Apple last month.

The role involves selling customised ear pieces to musicians, including One Direction and Rita Ora – but it means he’s had to draw a line under his career with the Hellenic League Premier Division side.

“He was at West Ham as a kid and was a regular at Thame but I think I’m just about coping without him,” joked Rhodes. “But it’s a great loss emotionally for me.

“He left about a month ago to start the job, so it’s not a family affair at Thame anymore.

“He’s selling ear pieces to musicians. They go to the X-Factor lot, One Direction, Rita Ora, people like that. Performers need an ear piece and they have to be custom-made, that’s what he sells.”

Thame United v Lordswood
The FA Carlsberg Vase
Second Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 17 November 2012
Meadow View Park, Thame United FC
Winning clubs receive

RACQUETS, Thame, will be pursuing National team titles tonight at the fitness centre, and would really appreciate some local support. The club’s Racketball team will be playing Tring at 7pm tonight and next Friday, the Racquets squash team will be playing Luton so why not drop in, grab a seat and lets cheer our local players on!

That’s not all! This weekend Racquets is hosting the National Men’s, Mixed and Ladies doubles. Spectators are promised some high level pairings both from local and national clubs. If you’re really lucky, you may get a glimpse of ladies National champion, Lauren Selby from Essex who plays a serious game! She’ll be paired up and fighting for a trophy.

The talent this weekend will be immense so join Racquets for an ale or a mulled wine and soak up the competition.

If you would like to learn Squash or Racketball, Racquets has junior and senior beginner, to improver sessions timetabled throughout the week. So enquire today and get involved! Check out the website for further details: www.Racquets-fitness-centre.com

(1) THAME Hurricanes vs Phoenix – 7th November 2012 – THAME got off to an amazing start with super high feeds into the circle from Lynn (WA) and solid shooting. Thame were at one point 6-0 up and looking for a whitewash. Phoenix started to find their mark in the last part of the quarter and it ended 7-4.

The second quarter saw Thame playing some flowing netball, using the width of the court and making some excellent interceptions midcourt. The defence (Lynn and Sue) worked effectively against a shooter who was becoming increasingly more accurate. Thame ended the quarter ahead at 15-12.

The third quarter brought a Phoenix from the ashes. Their marvellous, quick and accurate back passes enabled them to regroup and stumped the Thame players somewhat. Thame were not totally cowed and some steadying play from the WD (Karen) allowed Thame some time to stabilise. The quarter ended evens at 18-18.

The final quarter was Thame?s undoing. Heads were down, passes were rushed and Phoenix were aflame with victory in their sights. Phoenix shooters were on point and despite some excellent defending managed to score enough to win the game 21-25.

A shame for Thame, but just like the Phoenix, we will rise!
Man of the match?.Nicole (C), well done!

SOURCE: Contributed

(2) Thame Tornadoes V Crendon – 7th November 2012;
Solid Crendon see off the Thame Tornadoes

THAME began well in this low scoring encounter as they opened the scoring with a well thought out passing move. However this was as good as it got for them as they became more open and fell behind. Only some good interceptions form the defenders kept them in the game.

The second quarter proved costly for Thame due to several chances being missed. The opposition were able to capitalise on these to extend their advantage to 10-5 at the break. Thame needed to find something extra in order to win the game.

Unfortunately their opponents had the quality to hold off any efforts that Thame came up with. This caused Thame spirits to drop , which made it increasingly difficult for them to score! With only one quarter left they trailed 14-7.

The last quarter needed a huge effort from Thame to win the game. However this did not happen as the opposition were skilful enough to see out the game to inflict an 11-16 defeat onto Thame!

Written by Bradley Rose

LEAGUE MATCH – 10/11/12 – Newbury 0, Thame United 0 – MATCH REPORT – Contributed by Bob Dixon:

THAME United drew their second consecutive league match at Newbury on Saturday (10/11) when both sides failed to score. It was also the second consecutive occasion in which United have had a man sent from the pitch, with about 15 minutes to play. Once again, Thame were unable to field their strongest side due to injury and non-availability, although Matt Hall, who has been out injured for several weeks, did come on as a substitute during the second half.

It was a game in which the few chances that were created were either squandered, or saved by the goalkeepers, both of whom had good games.

Thame started brightly and controlled the opening exchanges but they were brought back to earth after 10 minutes, when the hosts hit the post from their first serious attack. United however continued to have the bulk of possession for most of the half. Thame?s best chance in the first 45 minutes came when Ben Connelly won the ball in midfield and ran at goal before passing to Niall Hodgkins, whose blistering 25-yard shot was just tipped onto the crossbar by the home keeper.

Although possession was 50/50 in the second half, the stalemate continued, with neither team able to penetrate. Hall came on and within a few minutes had the best chance of the game when he met a cross from the right with a header which was agonisingly off target. With 15 minutes remaining, Newbury cleared a Thame corner, but a home player went down injured after a clash with Connelly, and the game was halted. The referee, who, like me, had not seen an infringement, went to talk to his linesman and, as a result, Connelly was shown a Yellow card. Ben however appeared to challenge the decision and, after a brief period, he was shown a second yellow (presumably for dissent), quickly followed by a red card.

Hodgkins played deep for the remainder of the game and Thame Keeper, Lee Farrow, made some good saves. In the last five minutes the hard-working Ben Gray forced a decent save from the Newbury keeper, and the home side missed another chance.

Thame United: Farrow, Barr, Way, Hercules, Rhodes, Hayes, Connelly, West, Hodgkins, Gray, Rogers (Hall).

RFU National – SSE National League 2 South – Saturday, November 10; Chinnor 26 vs Shelford 22; MATCH REPORT – Contributed by Bill O’Donnell:

IN this match, Chinnor held on at the end to record a hard earned victory by 26-22 against Shelford, a team they had never played before.

With Sam Stoop unavailable, club stalwart Trevor Powell was drafted in to the inside centre position for Chinnor.

The first inklings of the presence of a powerful pack from the visitors occurred in the 14th minute when a lineout catch and drive resulted in a try from Shelford’s Dane Grey. Chinnor’s first score of the match came some four minutes later with an unusual try from prop Andy Berry. Powell ripped the ball in midfield and fed Corpe who chipped deep. The banana-like bounce over the line led to a clearing fly hack from Shelford’s full-back, Alex Kelshall. The ball went straight into the hands of Berry standing out by the touchline. He pinned his ears back and raced in for Chinnor’s first try. Cathcart’s conversion put the home side 7-5 ahead.

From a lineout on the 27th minute, Powell took the ball up and from the resultant ruck, Cathcart delivered a neat inside pass for the marauding David Hughes to break three tackles in a sprint to the line. Cathcart’s conversion put the Kingsey Road boys 14-5 ahead.

Chinnor went further ahead in the 33rd minute with a well worked try scored by Leo Fielding. A speculative kick downfield from Shelford was returned by Powell who neatly slipped Corpe on a run to the line. Hauled down short, Chinnor began a series of rucks close to the Shelford line and then moved the ball wide to the considerable overlap of Chinnor players to allow Fielding to canter around to the posts. Cathcart’s conversion put Chinnor 21-5 ahead at half-time.

The half-time pep talk for the visitors from Cambridgeshire clearly had the desired results when, five minutes into the second half, Gregerson scored Shelford’s second try after considerable pressure from the visiting pack. Shelford then repeated the trick in the 54th minute when Dane Grey scored his second try of the day after a series of punishing driving mauls. Fielding’s dart down the left-hand touchline almost led to a Chinnor try but for a dropped ball. Chinnor kept the pressure on and a series of rucks near the Shelford corner saw the ball go wide to Powell who sashayed his way to the line for Chinnor’s fourth try and a lead of 26-15.

Shelford came back with a vengeance and hammered continuously at a solid Chinnor defence. The dam eventually broke and Jackowski touched down for Shelford’s bonus point try in the 73rd minute. Smith’s conversion was the last scoring act of the match to leave the home side 26-22 victors.

This was an admirable and absorbing match with Chinnor producing some good attacking play in the first half and having to be extremely resolute in defence in the second half. Shelford forward play was of the highest order and their use of the driving maul particularly destructive. Chinnor did well to resist them particularly in the last 15 minutes. This was one of those rare matches in which there were no penalty goals. Cathcart’s conversions proved crucial.

Chiwanga, Shelford?s left-winger, was always threatening, popping up all over the park but the Cambridgeshire side strength is clearly based upon their formidable pack. All the magic came from Chinnor with some fine attacking play but their gritty defence probably won the match for them with Evan Sawyer at the heart of the forward effort. Trevor Powell reminded the crowd of his uncanny ability to break the line and play others into promising positions. Leo Fielding caught the eye with some vital last man tackles and for some incisive and penetrating runs.

Scorers:
Chinnor: Berry T; Hughes T; Fielding T: Powell T; Cathcart 3C

Shelford: Grey 2T; Gregerson T; Jackowski T; Smith C

Team:
Colver, Fielding, Goode, Powell (Millet 68), Corpe, Cathcart, Hopwood, Winpenny, Holyland (Whelan 49), Berry (Pickett 49), Hughes (Harrison 34), Smith, Sawyer,Hastings (Vickers 60), Gilbert

Replacements: Whelan, Pickett,Vickers, Harrison,Millet

MATCH REPORT: Thame Cyclones V Raggy Dolls – November 7, 2012: Thame cyclones had a tough match yesterday evening vs Raggy dolls in ADNL division Five. The Raggy dolls started strong and had the edge in the first quarter as the cyclones failed to keep up with early pressure.

The cyclone defence was strong throughout though, winning many interceptions and turning the ball over, keeping cyclones in contention. The third quarter however saw extra pressure from the Raggy dolls who extended their lead as cyclones failed to capitalise on their chances.

The final score 40-12 leaves cyclones with some work to do before their next fixture.

LEAGUE game: 06/11/12 – Thame United 2, Ascot United 2; MATCH REPORT – Contributed by Bob Dixon:

THAME United drew 2-2 against Ascot United in a close game at the ASM Stadium on Tuesday evening. Thame had slightly more possession in the first half, and were leading at the break, but the visitors came back in the second half to earn the draw.

Thame scored after four minutes from their first corner. Luke Ricketts took the in-swinging kick which beat the ascot defence and could have crossed the line unaided, but Dan West made sure with a touch from a glancing header, deflecting the ball away from the keeper. Not to be outdone, Ascot equalised three minutes later from their first corner, when Ian Brooks headed the ball home at the near post.

Both sides created chances as the game ebbed and flowed with Ricketts, West, and Stuart Barr all going close for the home side. Thame went ahead in the 45th minute once again from a corner. The West corner kick was only partly cleared, and fell to Nik Rhodes who reacted quickly to hit a strong shot from an acute angle to drive the ball home.

Ascot played with more determination in the second half and equalised on 62 minutes when defender Joe Yeates met a free kick with a strong header, giving Lee Farrow no chance. With about 15 minutes remaining, Barr left the pitch after being shown his second yellow card by a referee who, throughout the game, had gone for his pocket at the least provocation.

Down to 10 men, Thame played with one striker and were forced to defend for much for the remaining game. They defended well, limiting Ascot?s chances to long range efforts, to rightly earn a point.

Thame United: Farrow, Willett, Pykett (Meredith), Rhodes, Hercules, Rogers (Jewell), Connelly, West, Hodgkins (Gray), Barr, Ricketts.

PHOTO: Stuart Barr

LORD Williams?s student and Thame Duellists Fencing Club member, Daniel Kovacs (14,) took third place in the Bucks, Berks & Oxfordshire, Under 16 fencing championships at Langley on Saturday.

Daniel, a previous bronze medallist in the Under 14 age group, maintained his strong record in the tournament this year, even though this was his first test at under 16 level.

With a bye through the last 16 after a strong group stage, Daniel won his quarter final easily but was in the same half of the draw as the eventual winner, Alexander Hardie of Oxford. Alexander fenced strongly to win 15-7 when he faced Daniel in the semi-finals and went on to win comfortably in the final.

Daniel?s next goal is to translate this result into a strong performance at regional level, with the Southern regional championship coming up in the spring.

Thame Duellists Fencing Club welcomes new members, both adults and juniors. Anyone interested should call Club Chairman James Kingston on 07947 049511.

LAST Saturday (03/11), rugby fans were spoilt for choice with three matches being played at Chinnor RFC HQ. The feisty Seconds played on pitch one, defending their unbeaten record. The Thirds played Henley with a host of youngsters playing for Chinnor. a match they lost narrowly, 17-20.

The evergreen experienced Vets (35+) ran rings around and eventually, left behind, Redingensians. It was great to see so many kids involved as linesmen, ball boys and waterboys, and the smaller ones copying Dads on the pitch – an alternative to Daddy Day Care! So gentlemen, if you want to get out of shopping etc, offer to look after the kids and bring them to the rugby club, suitably dressed for a kick around in the mud of course!

Next Saturday?s supporters will have an easier choice for allegiance. The 1sts and 2nds are both at home playing against SHELFORD RFC (near Cambridge). This will be Shelford?s first visit to Chinnor RFC in Thame. Let?s give them a day to remember.

Clash of the Titans
Match Report Chinnor 2nds vs. Old Albanians 2nds

CHINNNOR seconds welcomed Old Albanians to Kingsey road this week for an eagerly awaited top of the league clash. This was to be a crunch game between the two teams with neither having lost a game this season and both having achieving maximum points from all the games. OABs first team plays National one, so we knew it was going to be a tough one and it was a game that both teams wanted to win, but more pressure on the Chinnor boys with it being a home game.

Chinnor?s start was not their normal free flowing game with nerves getting the better of the team. There were the exceptions, being Ed Devine, Nick Harrison and Max Williams who was played like men possessed and were fantastic to watch. This put the OABs under pressure from the kick off, but it was the visitors that stepped up to the mark and put the home side under pressure in the scrums, not something that the Chinnor boys are used to. It took until the 15th minute before George Blewitt took a quick penalty and caught the visitors napping by scoring under the posts. As fate would have it as Sam Angle was striking to kick the ball it fell off the tee and connected with the OABs standing under the posts. With the first points on the board and both teams playing attacking rugby and defending well, Chinnor seemed to settle down and were moving the ball well between forwards and backs, when a silly overhead pass was intercepted by OABs on their 10 metre line and they scored under the posts and OABs were in the lead 7 points to 5.

Unfortunately we lost Max Williams and Ed Devine to injury and we had to use the bench earlier than planned. OABs went on to increase their lead with a push over converted try, but Chinnor came straight back with ?Mr Reliable? Trevor Powell scoring and closed the gap to 10 points to 14. Four minutes later with the boys stepping up a gear and attacking the visitor?s line when Nick Harrison went over for Chinnor to take the lead 15 points to 14 at halftime.

The second half started with Old Albanians putting Chinnor under a lot of pressure which eased when Sam Angell who had experienced an unusually off first half with the boot, kicked a penalty from the half line to increase Chinnor?s lead. The next fifteen minutes Chinnor seemed to lose focus by not sticking to the basics. They lost momentum but the strength of a good team is when they can hold it together when things are not going to plan, and this they did.

During this period Harrison went over for his second try which Angell converted and was also presented us with a try bonus point, and increased the lead to 25 points to 14. Shortly after that a lost turnover ball allowed OABs a soft try and which narrowed the gap to 25 points to 21. The intensity of the game increased with both teams giving their all and it was Chinnor who came out top with a great second try from George Blewitt and the score was 30 points to 21 for Chinnor.

A late try by courtesy of a weak tackle saw Old Albanians close the gap to 30 points to 26 in Chinnor?s favour and that was the full time score. By the end of the game Chinnor supporters had chewed their nails to the quick!

There were many good performances in the team Max, Ed Devine, Ed Vickers, Ed Rixon, Trevor Powell and George Blewitt, but man of the match this week goes to Jack Green for his outstanding defensive work which saved Chinnor on several occasions. The whole team can be very proud of themselves. This makes it maximum points 40 from 8 games.

SOURCE: Contributed by Carol Bradbrook-Taylor

League Cup; Bluefin Insurance Hellenic – 3/11/12; Thame United 1, Newbury Town 3 – MATCH REPORT – Contributed:

THAME United faced Newbury Town for the third time this season at the ASM Stadium on Saturday, and although they had won the previous two games, this time were defeated 1-3. With several key players absent through injury and non-availability, United’s line up included several unfamiliar faces, particularly in attack.

The visitors made a good start, looking sharper and more dangerous than United. Thame keeper, Lee Farrow, was again in excellent form; making some quality saves. He was skilfully supported by Phil Pykett who on two occasions cleared the ball off the line. Thame went ahead, against the run of play, in the 36th minute. Jordan Rogers met a high ball from defence with a deft glancing header, placing the ball into the path of the unmarked Aaron Bonham who ran at goal and confidently beat the keeper with a well-placed 15-yard shot. Although the visitors went close to equalising, Thame went in for the break 1-0 ahead.

Newbury claimed the equaliser ten minutes after the restart, following a corner, when Kalief Madden hit the ball home from close range during a goalmouth scramble. Any thoughts of extra time were dispelled 20 minutes later when Madden buried a ball which had been cut back to him from the left by-line. Despite bring on substitutes and reshuffling players, Thame conceded their third goal with five minutes remaining; Danny Lahalz heading a long ball pass Farrow.

Amazingly, the two sides meet again in a league match at Newbury next Saturday (10th)

Thame United: Farrow, Barr, Pykett, Hercules, Johnson, Rogers (West), Evans, Jewell, Gray, Bonham (Meredith), Way (Ricketts).

PHOTO: Man of the Match, Tom Grey

After Tuesday?s home game against Ascot United, United?s next game at the ASM Stadium is on Saturday 17th November when they face, Kent based, Lordsworth in the FA Vase Second Round Proper.