September 19, 2020
So, 196 days since Oxford City vs Chippenham in early March I am actually getting to see some live sport, if I disregard a little bit of village cricket. With the Government talking of a second wave of the virus, there could well be another lockdown coming soon so there is always the risk of live sport stopping again, so it’s best to make the most of it whilst I can.
Today are the first league games in the Southern League Division One Central season although both sides have played an FA Cup tie, with both sides losing 0-1 away to a penalty. Bedford went down to Daventry Town, the penalty being converted in the 95th minute, whilst Thame lost at Kidlington. Ironically, both of the victors are playing each other today in their league match.
Last season the two sides were 11th and 12th respectively in Division One Central when the season was terminated. Both had 40 points although Thame had played two matches fewer, and won the corresponding fixture 3-0 in front of 153 spectators.
I actually saw this fixture in December 2018, at the time the Thame 2-1 win was a minor surprise as Bedford were expected to be promotion challengers, but they ultimately finished 4th.. The attendance that day was 89, of whom around 35 were from Bedford. Only Dan Walker ( ex Luton and Aldershot in the Conference ) remains from the Bedford squad that day.
Today’s Bedford side includes ex Oxford City hirsuite favourite
Rob Sinclair, a highly creative midfielder who played for Stevenage and
Aldershot in League 2 and was part of the Forest Green side that won promotion
to Football League. He reportedly left Oxford City due to pressures of work
making the commute difficult, and signed for Hemel Hempstead. He has now dropped
2 divisions to join Bedford, his home town club. Mrs Fatbear would no doubt say "Get a haircut, mate !"
Also named in the squad are striker Rene
Howe ( ex Peterborough, Torquay and Newport ) who could now pass for Adebayo Akinfenwa, and
forward Tom Hitchcock ( ex MK Dons, QPR and Stevenage ). Left-back Will Summerfield was also previously at MK Dons.
In contrast eight of Thame’s starting line-up for that game in 2018 are still at the club, and none of the current squad have played at a higher level, although keeper Chris Rackley did win the FA Vase with Thatcham Town !
Bedford Town were notorious FA Cup giant killers in the 1950’s & 60s and famously drew 2-2 at Arsenal, before folding in 1982 when the landlord terminated the lease on their ground. Since reforming in 1989, they have experienced one season in Conference South but have mostly been playing at the Southern League/Ryman level.
Thame also lost their ground through the landlord exercising a clause to evict them, and to make matters worse their new landlords, Aylesbury United, then lost their ground. After several seasons ground-sharing at Wallingford the ASM stadium in Thame officially opened in 2011 at a reported cost of £3.1M, and Thame United have slowly and steadily risen back-up the non-league pyramid.
Thame’s most famous FA Cup headline was probably in 2004 when they surprisingly beat Weymouth in a replay, who were two divisions higher at the time, which led to the sacking straight after the match of player-manager Steve Claridge, who was reportedly left at the ground by Weymouth and a Thame official had to take him to the railway station !
Entrance to today’s match is £8 for adults, £5 concessions and £1 children, and the maximum attendance permitted under the Covid-19 safety measures is 400. It is a long time since Thame approached anything like that total for a league game, and although pre-match reservations were requested on Twitter and Thame’s website, I took the reasonable safe chance of turning up at the gate. No printed programmes were produced although one is available on-line. Team sheets were available at the entrance.
As part of the Covid safety measures the turnstiles at the ground are not being used, but instead the large gate used as the exit is now the entrance to the ground. The bar now has a number of benches on the paving outside the stadium to create more space for the supporters to be able to have a pre-match socially distanced drink. I resist the temptation and join the small queue to enter the stadium, where it is cash only payment ( which is the first time I have paid cash for anything since March ! ), and I have to enter my details on the track and trace sheets on the table beyond where the lady is sitting taking the gate money.
Burgers or a sausage in a bap are £3 from the tea bar, cheeseburgers are £3.50 whilst a portion of chips are £2. A lot of the seats in the main stand in the stadium are taped off to ensure distancing but I choose to walk round to the other side of the ground where there are a lot fewer people standing.
I only see three or four people wearing face masks although when there is an injury the Bedford trainer puts on a mask to treat the injured player, but removes it once off the pitch again.
Bedford start the match strongly, a free-kick is narrowly deflected wide for a corner and a low cross-shot fools everyone but at the last minute the Thame keeper sticks out a leg to keep the ball out. The 25 or so Bedford fans behind the goal are encouraged and are singing, which is pretty unusual at this level. One of their flags reads “The Pride of East Anglia” which surprised me as I had never considered Bedford to be in East Anglia, and Wikipedia appears to agree with me !
With 8 minutes gone on my watch, the game turns decisively. Thame commit a foul but Marriott, the fouled player, stupidly decides to throw the ball at the head of the Thame player standing less than a couple of feet away. The referee has no choice other than to issue a red card to Marriott, who in the brief moments of play had looked to be pretty decent.
Thame are spurred by the one man advantage but a corner and a free-kick are sent far too long and sail harmlessly out of play.
A penalty is awarded and during the inevitable protests from Bedford that the ref is ruining the game he calmly points out he is merely following the letter of the law. The looks of disbelieve and comments from some of the Bedford players suggest either they don’t know the regulations for this season, or don’t want to believe them. During another break in play a few minutes later, the referee again has to explain to Ross Watson, the Bedford captain, and the Bedford fans are distinctly unimpressed. However, Thame winger Ryan Blake remains calm and rams the penalty into the centre of the goal. The Bedford keeper had dived to one side, which is just as well as he may have had his head taken off if he had stood still !
A minute later Thame attack again and shot from around 8 years is clearly deflected over the bar by the sliding Bedford defender, who is injured in the process, but a goal kick is awarded.
Its 1-0 at half-time, but Thame double their lead within 2 minutes of the second half, Hackett cutting inside from the right to finish left-footed into the top corner. Bedford are fired up by this further set-back and a minute later a nasty challenge by Watson floors Blake, and the inevitable melee follows. It could easily be another red card, but the referee opts for Yellow.
Thame start to dominate, West has a shot deflected wide with the keeper beaten and Goss beats four Bedford players on a mazy run before slamming his shot against the bar. On 63 minutes, Thame commit another foul and another melee erupts following the over-reaction from the injured player. Eventually the referee awards three yellow cards, two to Thame players and one to Watson, which being his second yellow, results in a red and Bedford are reduced to nine.
The game degenerates into a training match after this. Thame have neither the guile nor the energy to exploit their two men advantage, content mainly to retain possession. Thame do miss a couple of good chances, and in the 90th minute Bedford do get the ball into the net, but unfortunately for them body charges on goal-keepers were outlawed over 50 years ago so the goal is rightly disallowed. There is still time for one more goal, Thame are awarded a free-kick 25 yards out, and West sends this over the wall into the top corner for a quality end to what had in truth been a pretty turgid final 30 minutes.
In summary, this was a deserved win for Thame over a talented but ill-disciplined Bedford side. However, of much more importance was the demonstration that football at this level with crowds of less than 200 can safely be held in accordance with all of the Covid safety requirements.
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