Thame United 2 - 1 Welwyn Garden City

After two successive defeats, Thame United were looking to get back on track on Saturday as they welcomed Welwyn Garden City to The ASM Stadium on Saturday in the Pitching In Division One Central. Welwyn were on a good run of form that had taken them to fourth in the table. The visitors held the upper hand in meetings between the two teams, with seven victories to Thame’s four. Last season, Welwyn did the double over Thame.Manager Ben Williams made two changes to the team that lost at Flackwell on Tuesday night, with Curtis Brown coming into the team to play up front alone with Roger James returning to the starting eleven. Ed Daffern and Ethan Lack moved to the bench.

Welwyn got the game underway, kicking towards the ring road end and into the sun on a fairly chilly day. It was the home side that had the first chance of the game, with Curtis Brown breaking on the right, but his weak effort was wide of the goal. The visitors should have taken the lead a minute later when a ball through the middle of the Thame back line was met by their left winger, who ran in on goal. Fin Murray challenged him, but his shot just went wide of the right-hand post. As the half progressed, the visitors dominated play without really troubling the Thame keeper, but they did look more dangerous in possession. Eventually, Welwyn opened the scoring on 38 minutes and, on the balance of play, it was no more than they deserved. The visitors picked the ball up in the Thame half and worked it through to the number eight, who had got between the two centre-backs. He skipped past the advancing goalkeeper and put the ball into an empty net.

Thames only other attempt of the half saw Jack Tutton with a free kick on 41 minutes on the halfway line. Seeing the goalkeeper off his line, he attempted an audacious long-range effort, but it was wide of the goal. The half ended with the visitors one-nil to the good and, on the balance of play, they probably deserved it. It had been a half of few chances, with only two attempts from each side.

The second half got underway with Thame looking much more dangerous and pushing the visitors back. It was no surprise when Thame equalised on 54 minutes from the penalty spot under somewhat controversial circumstances. Curtis Brown broke into the box on the right, but his shot wasn’t on target and went out of play on the left for a goal kick. The goalkeeper went to retrieve the ball and, as he ran back to the area, threw the ball into the air. As it came down just inside the six-yard box, he kicked it to the other side, where the Welwyn captain, Kieran Gauthier, picked the ball up. It had to be said that Welwyn had used the short goal kick on several occasions, but what then transpired was four minutes of utter confusion, with the referee consulting the assistant referee on the right and eventually awarding a penalty, as he had deemed the ball to be in play when the goalkeeper kicked it to the captain and therefore gave hand ball. The Welwyn players were very unhappy with the decision, and it took several minutes for them to stop surrounding both the referee and assistant referee. Eventually, the referee gained control, and Harry Alexander stepped up to place a low shot to the goalkeeper’s left, sending him the wrong way. Remarkably, no yellow cards were issued, which was somewhat of a surprise.

Thame thought they had taken the lead on 61 minutes after winning a free kick on the left-hand side, halfway in the Welwyn half. The ball was played into the box, where captain Mark Riddick rose to head it into the left-hand side of the net. But the assistant referee put his flag up for offside; it was a very marginal call. Thame made their first substitution on 72 minutes, with Ed Daffern replacing Curtis Brown and Roger James moving into a central attacking position. They then made a double substitution on 77 minutes, with Ethan Lack and Hayden Beadle coming on for Greg Hackett and Jack Tutton. The game had become quite fractious, with the Welwyn players constantly questioning every decision the referee had made.

Although the home side were dominating play, they were still finding it difficult to get a shot on target. Dan West had a shot from the edge of the box on 84 minutes before Thame scored what proved to be the winning goal. The ball broke down in midfield, with Welwyn calling for a free kick as Mark Riddick and Fin Murray won it back. It was quickly played out to Ethan Lack, who drove into the Welwyn half and laid the ball off to Ed Daffern on the left. He moved forward with the ball and passed it to Harry Alexander, who had made a run from the right into the box near the penalty spot. He took a touch, then smashed a left-footed shot into the net to give Thame the lead on 84 minutes.

Charlie Bacon and Aldi Ulas replaced Roger James and goalscorer Harry Alexander on 87 minutes to shut up shop. The home side were now playing on the counter and controlling the final minutes of the game, and both Ethan Lack and Ed Daffern doing well on a couple of occasions to hold the ball up in the Welwyn corners and let the clock tick down. There were five minutes of added time to be played, and the home side comfortably saw them out to record an impressive victory, restricting the visitors to two shots off target in the second half. Overall Thame’s second half performance enabled them to take control of the game and were good value for the win.