28th October 2024
Thame United welcomed Hertford Town to The ASM Stadium for this Pitching In Southern League Division One tie, after two consecutive victories manager Ben Williams named the same starting line up for the third match in a row. There was an addition to the bench with centre back Phil Croker who signed on loan from Oxford City the previous day, coming straight into the squad. The pitch was looking in good condition, although the game started with light rain falling.
Hertford kicked the game off playing from left to right in the first half, but almost immediately lost the ball to allow Thame to take advantage and Curtis Brown raced forward but miss-hit his shot out for a goal kick. From the resulting kick Thame won the ball back, Tom McElroy was played in and instead of shooting played the ball across the box for Curtis Brown to slot the ball home, 1 - 0 with just over a minuted played, Harry Alexander then had a header saved by the Hertford keeper. At the other Hertford forced keeper Crowther into a diving save to give the away side a corner.
Thame won the ball back and Crowther launched a long ball which Curtis Brown ran onto, catching out the Hertford defence, as he raced into the box, he squared the ball to an unmarked Tom McElroy who was able to tap the ball into an empty net. A few minutes later, Thame had another chance, with Oscar Lucey breaking on the left hand side, his cross was met by Harry Alexander but his shot was just over the bar. On 18 minutes Thame had a third, Curtis Brown again on the right picking up the ball and his cross was met by Dan West whose header wrong footed the keeper into the top corner. As the half went on, Hertford started to gain a foothold back into the game playing some neat passing movements from the back, and had a couple of half chances , mean while at the other end there were more chances for Alexander and McElroy. The half ended with Thame in a well deserved 3 - 0 lead, Hertford had given the ball away a lot in the opening 45 minutes.
Thame kicked off the second half and in the opening ten minutes Hertford were enjoying a lot of possession but content on trying to play out from the back, but weren’t making much progress, the home side were comfortable, another chance fell to Oscar Lucey who’s shot just went past the far post. Ollie Hogg replaced Dan West on 55 minutes, who had already been booked, in a straight swap of positions. The home side were in complete control of the game allowing the visitors to have the ball in their own half but not allowing much threat on their goal. Brayden Daniel replaced Curtis Brown on 65 minutes and straight away, made a couple of surging runs on the Thame right putting the Hertford left back under a lot of pressure. More chances fell for Thame from Alexander, McElroy and Hackett. Thame made three more substitutes Jefferson Louis replaced Alexander, then Fabian Garcia and Phil Croker came on for Hackett and McElroy. Croker on for his debut slotted into a midfield roll along side Ollie Hogg. Garcia was looking really lively since coming on a couple of decent runs on the left wing caused the Hertford left back a few problems, then on 87 minutes another Garcia run into the area saw a Hertford defender lunge at the forward only to miss the ball and take out the player. The referee pointed to the spot and Jefferson Louis stepped up to place the ball to the keepers left to score his second in two games. The referee added 4 minutes onto the end of the game which the home side saw comfortable saw out.
In the end a well deserved victory for Thame which is their third in eight days keeping three clean sheets and scoring nine goals, moving to seventh place in the table. Thame now move onto another home tie on Tuesday night as AFC Dunstable visit the ASM stadium, Kick off 19.45.
Man of the match
Tom McElroy
Goals
Curtis Brown (1 minute)
Tom McElroy (12 minutes)
Dan West (18 minutes)
Jefferson Louis (87 minutes)
Team
1.Matthew Crowther
2.Josh Stranks
3.Oscar Lucy
4.Leo Galpin
5.Fin Murray
6.Mark Riddick
7.Greg Hackett (Phil Croker 83 minutes)
8.Curtis Brown (Brayden Daniel 65 minutes)
9.Tom McElroy (Fabian Garcia 83 minutes)
10.Dan West (Ollie Hogg 55 minutes)
11.Harry Alexander (Jefferson Louis 75 minutes)
Substitutes
12.Fabian Garcia
14.Jefferson Louis
15.Brayden Daniels
16.Oliver Hogg
17 Phil Croker
