Thame United 1 Wantage Town 1

With Thame Boys Under 10’s beating their Wantage counterparts 3-0 in a pre-match fixture on the main ASM Stadium pitch,Thame were hoping to make it a United double but, in the end, will have beenpleased to come away from the game with a draw. In blustery conditions, United played with
the wind in the first half and immediately had the Wantage defence on the back foot. In the opening 15 minutes Thame had three good chances to take the lead,
the best falling to Luke Ricketts who was unable to hit the target from theedge of the box. However, Wantage gradually came back in to the game and, on 31 minutes, won a free kick on the edge of the Thame box. Tom Malton, the Wantageskipper, hitting a curling shot around the wall that keeper Nick Bennion could only parry to the feet of former Thame striker, Danny Keen, who calmly finished from close range to give the visitors the lead. Thame endeavoured to get back in to the game before half time, with the best chance falling to Ben Connelly whose side foot from 8 yards went just the wrong side of the post.

United came out in the second half in determined fashion and, whilst they were now also battling the elements, again put Wantage under pressure. The best chance in the early stages of the half fell to Alex Stewart whose half volley on 55 minutes again went the wrong side of the post. Ten minutes later and the same player saw a header go just wide. With Wantage looking dangerous on the break, it looked as though Thame would fail to find the equaliser that perhaps they deserved. With 15 minutes to play, Mark West brought on Adam Rhodes and Josh Green, reverting to three at the back in a bid for the equaliser. Finally it arrived in the 86th minute
when, after a goalmouth scramble, Adam Rhodes poked the ball home to the relief of most of the crowd. Wantage centre back, Tom Rowe, was then sent from the
field of play for arguing with the officials over the equaliser and, with the clock ticking down, United forced a couple of corners from one of which Mitchell Meredith went close to grabbing a winner. As it was, United settled for a draw and travel to Shrivenham next weekend.

Thame United: Bennion, Willett, Hall (Green), Meredith, N Rhodes, Keeble (A Rhodes), Connelly, Hayes, Rogers, Stewart, Ricketts.