A delightful goal from Calvin Evans ten minutes from time eventually put United on course to three points against a stubborn Highmoor Ibis.
Prior to that, United had enjoyed the bulk of possession but had been unable to find a way through Dumbaya in the visitors goal. The first opportunity came after three minutes when Luke Ricketts beat his marker before cutting in on goal and, with a choice between squaring the ball and going for goal, he opted for the latter, only to see Dumbaya keep the ball out with his legs. Tom Ashworth then saw a header saved before, after a quarter of an hour, good play saw the ball pulled back to Lynton Goss, but his effort went over the bar.
United continued to press, with Goss working his way to the bye-line before his centre evaded the Thame players. Highmoor, for their part, did not show much in an offensive capacity and, on the occasions they did press forward, Ellis Hercules and Matt Johnston dealt with the threat. However, despite the possession, the game was goalless at half time.
The second half started in a similar vein to the first, with United presenting the attacking threat without really creating any clear cut chances. That said, they thought they had taken the lead on 58 minutes when a Dan West effort from the edge of the box beat Dumbaya, only for the referee to bring back play for a foul on Ben Connelly in the run up to the goal. That foul was, in the eyes of the match official, adjudged a red card offence and the visitors were down to 10 men. The resultant free kick from West went over the bar but, evidently, something was said to the match official and former United player, Jamie Connor, was shown a second yellow card and also left the field of play.
The balance of possession continued with United and five minutes later a header from West came back off the post. Manager Mark West then brought on Calvin Evans and, five minutes Evans jinked his way to the edge of the box before curling a delightful effort in to the top corner giving Dumbaya no chance. With ten minutes still to go, United played ‘keep’ ball, but extended their lead one minute in to injury time when a foul in the box gave Goss the opportunity, which he duly took from the spot. There was still time for another goal when, four minutes later, Goss and Adam Morris broke away in a two-on-one situation with Goss squaring for Morris to finish from close range.
United:
Craven, Hayes (Evans), Lynn, Hercules, Johnston, Ashworth, Connelly, Goss, Morris, West, Ricketts.
