Brackley Town Saints 1 Thame United 4
United secured a comfortable 4-1 victory at Brackley Town Saints on Wednesday evening to return to the top of the Hellenic League.
The win was assured in the first half as United raced in to a 4-0 lead and in the process passed 100 league goals for the season.
The opening 15 minutes saw United enjoying the majority of possession and territory, forcing a number of corners, but without testing Eastebrook in the home goal. However, the first goal arrived on 15 minutes when Dan West received the ball on the wide left before delivering a perfect ball in to the box to Lynton Goss who controlled the ball with his first touch before driving it low under Eastebrook.
The lead was doubled two minutes later when a Goss corner was headed goalwards by Tom Ashworth and West was on hand to poke the ball home from close range. Ellis Hercules then powered a header from a corner against the post before, on 36 minutes, a Hercules header again hit the post and it was Goss this time who finished from almost on the goal line. Then, five minutes before the break, it was 4-0 when West raced clear and squared the ball for Goss to fire in to an empty net and complete his hat-trick.
The second half was a more subdued and even affair, with United making changes and the home side taking advantage of the slope. Indeed, Henry Craven in the Thame goal was forced to save a number of long range efforts before the home side were awarded a penalty on 65 minutes when Hercules was adjudged to have pulled back Kyle Wynne. Josh Bowden stepped-up and placed the ball wide of Craven.
Despite the goal, United continued to press Brackley and Ben Gray had a couple of efforts go wide of the post. Craven, equally, did well to hold on to a long range effort on 77 minutes, with the remainder of the game passing without incident.
United: Craven, Evans, Lynn, Hercules, Johnston, Ashworth (Harrison) Connelly (Perkins), Goss, Morris, West, Gray
