United returned to winning ways on Saturday with a relatively comfortable win against visitors Tuffley Rovers.
Manager Mark West made a number of changes to the side beaten at Binfield last Monday, with Derek Feyi unavailable and leading scorer Andy Gledhill failing to recover from a knock at Binfield. Matt Johnston came in to centre back, with Calvin Evans at right back, enabling recent signing Adam Morris to move in to centre midfield with Dan West partnering Lynton Goss up front.
Tuffley started the match brightly and immediately pressed United in to their own half, but despite the early pressure it was United who broke the deadlock on four minutes. A ball in to the box resulted in West being clipped, with the referee pointing to the spot. Goss stepped up and confidently sent the keeper the wrong way.
United then began to gain some control, with Luke Ricketts forcing a save from the visiting keeper, before seeing a drive from the edge of the box go just wide. The second goal arrived shortly afterwards, with West stealing the ball mid-way inside the Tuffley half before racing through on goal, side-stepping a retreating defender and then curling the ball wide of the on-rushing keeper in to the bottom corner of the goal.
Despite the lead, the visitors still looked dangerous going forward and a minute before the break Henry Craven in the Thame goal made a fine save, pushing a deflected shot wide of the post.
The second half was only five minutes old before United extended their lead. West won the race to a through ball where, from just inside the box, he was adjudged to have been fouled by a retreating defender. Goss took the spot kick and again sent the keeper the wrong way. By this stage United were in the ascendancy, and further chances came and went for Goss, West and Ricketts. However the fourth goal eventually arrived with five minutes to go. Trickery from Goss down the right saw the ball delivered low across the six yard box where Ellis Hercules was on hand to force the ball home.
United
Craven, Evans (Harrison), Lynn, Johnston, Hercules, Ashworth, Connelly, Goss (Collins), Morris, West (Bailey), Ricketts
