December 18, 2021
With matches
across the country being called off due to increasing number of Covid cases, a
late decision was made to visit Thame United, as it may well be some time
before future games could be attended if the rumours of another lockdown turn
out to be true.
Thame were last
covered in these diaries in early November when they beat St Neots Town 2-0. Subsequently they have recorded 5 more wins,
one draw and one loss. They went into today’s match in 8th place in
the Southern League Division One Central, 5 points off the play-offs with a
game in hand.
Today’s visitors
were Colney Heath, who come from a village in Hertfordshire between St Albans
and Hatfield, 39 miles from Thame and just under an hour away along A41. Colney
Heath were top of the South Midlands Premier League when 2019/20 season was terminated
and were promoted after average points per game over 2019/20 and 2020/21 was
used to determine the sides to go up.
This is the first
ever season at Level 4/Step 8 for The Magpies and they have had a tough season
so far, with just 2 wins and 7 points from 20 leagues games. They sat at the bottom of the table, 6 points
adrift of safety. However, Colney Heath did win their last match, a 1-0 home
win over St Neots Town, to end a run of 12 consecutive league defeats, although
there had been an indication of improvement as the previous three games had
seen defeats by single goal margins. Their other win was a 2-0 win over
Hertford Town in September, with the other point coming from a 0-0 away draw at
Biggleswade FC in August.
Despite their
miserable league form, Colney Heath have enjoyed a modicum of success in Cup
competitions. They started in the FA Cup with a 3-0 home win over Harlow Town (
although Harlow got revenge in the league two weeks later with a 3-1 win at
Colney Heath ) before a 0-4 loss at home to Ware Town in the next
round. Hertford were beaten on penalties in the Southern League Cup after a 2-2
draw, before they exited the competition to Waltham Abbey on penalties after a
2-2 draw. Their first ever appearance in the FA Trophy saw a 2-5 home loss to
Basildon United.
It was a grey, still,
dry afternoon at kick-off with the temperature around 10 degrees, although it gradually
got colder as the game progress and it was quite chilly at the finish.
Thame were
without leading goal scorer Ryan Blake but didn’t seem to be affected by this
as they started brightly. In the fifth minute Lynton Goss ran onto a long ball
and looked to have too much pace for centre-back Toby Bryon, who reportedly had
recently been playing in the Greek Second Division, but the defender retrieved
the situation with a tremendous tackle. Goss then saw a header strike fullback Rahho
but the appeals for handball were waived away by the referee. West was then allowed
far too much time and space to turn on the edge of the area but his shot sailed
comfortably over the bar.
The opening goal
arrived in the 11th minute. West’s point blank header was well saved
but the ball was only cleared as far as Thame centre-back Harry Mepham, who
thumped a swerving 25 yard goal bound right footed shot, and although keeper
Barco got two hands to the shot, he was unable to keep it out and the ball
crept into the corner of the goal. The Colney Heath bench were audibly unhappy
with their defenders but centre-back and captain Jay Lovell told them to “Shut Up”.
One of the joys of watching football at this level is being able to hear the
communication to/from the players !
The visitors
responded well to falling behind and winger Elias Nichols made a couple of
eye-catching runs. However, it was still against the run of play when the equaliser
was scored in the 17th minutes, midfielder Guerin Nimi headed home
at the back post after a corner had bounced across the 6 yard box.
After Thame’s
David Lynn headed narrowly over from a corner, Colney Heath then had a short
spell of pressure. Ebrima Sawaneh, on loan from Enfield Town, went on a
dangerous run down the left and forced a corner, and Kwon Hepburn delivered a
cross from the right that evaded everyone. The impressive Nichols had another
probing run but saw his cross intercepted.
As a couple of strong
tackles flew in, both benches were unhappy with the lack of decisions they were
receiving from the referee, but they couldn’t both be right !
Thame re-asserted
their authority and created several good chances. A lovely give and go between West
and Tutton put West clear inside the Heath penalty area but a brave piece of
defending blocked the shot when a goal looked likely. Pearce shot weakly to the
keeper after a poor punch fell to him and West drilled a shot from the edge of
the area a fraction wide with Barco motionless.
In the 38th
minute Tompkins pulled the ball back from the by-line for Greg Hackett to launch
a 20 yard effort against the cross-bar and from the rebound, the shot from Goss
was deflected for a corner.
From the
set-piece, keeper Barco couldn’t get much power to his punch and with his back
to the goal West hooked the ball over his shoulder to Pearce, who rifled left
footed into the roof of the net from the angle of the 6 yard box to give Thame
the lead.
Thame scored
again just before half-time. Hackett took a free-kick just outside the Colney
Heath penalty area and again saw the ball crash back from the bar. From the
rebound he played the ball to Pearce in space near the right-hand by-line and
the ex-Chesham United and Oxford City man heard the call from his team-mate and
laid the ball back to Goss who scored from 8 yards off the inside of the far post.
The unfortunate
Hackett was denied again a minute, but this time it a was diving save to keep
out his 20 yard effort and keep the score 3-1 at the interval. Greg Hackett had
seen plenty of ball on the right wing and had given Colney’s left back Josip Jevdjic,
who the Colney Heath website described as a forward when the 19 year old signed
from Isthmian Premier Division side Wingate and Finchley, a hard time. As a
result, Jevdjic was replaced at half-time and right-back Rahho switched to
left-back. To be fair to the defender, he hadn’t received much support from his
midfielders and was frequently left exposed.
Thame relentlessly
kept up the pressure at the start of the second half. A lovely passing move
ended with Goss delivering a low cross across the face of the 6 yard box just
beyond Pearce, and the defender did well to avoid turning the ball into his own
net. Pearce then had a long-range shot tipped past the post for a corner.
The fourth goal
finally came in the 50th minute when the outstanding Hackett jinked
past a couple of defenders and squared the ball for fellow midfielder Jack Tompkins
to sweep home of the inside of the post.
Colney captain
Lovell audibly criticised his team-mates, as he had done so for every goal conceded
and two minutes later when the match was halted after an accidental head injury
to Colney’s Danny Fitzgerald, he run across the pitch to pick a fight with
Thame’s Hackett.
Thame appeared
to ease off and Colney Heath’s wingers and attacking midfielders came to the
fore again, with Sawaneh becoming increasing influential. First, he showed good
skill to beat his marker and win a corner, and he then went on a mazy run which
ended with his shot being deflected for a corner, although he had ignored a
well placed team-mate in oceans of space. On the other wing, Hepburn saw his low
cross blocked by an outstretched leg of Thame keeper Craig Hill.
Nichols embarked
on a run from half-way, fed Sawaneh, whose inside ball gave centre-forward
McShane the chance to shoot, but his effort went narrowly high and wide of the
near post.
The game’s most controversial
incident occurred in the 66th minute. Centre-back Lovell was
outmuscled by Goss and collapsed to the floor whimpering and squealing like a
pig. When the ball eventually went out of play, Lovell immediately jumped up,
and off the ball, knocked over Hackett. Incredibly the referee only showed a
yellow card to Lovell and awarded a free-kick to Thame, even though the ball was
out of play.
Justice of a
sorts was delivered when for the third time in the match Hackett hit the
cross-bar, but whilst the defenders remained static, Pearce reacted to head
home from 8 yards for his second goal of the game, and extend the lead to 5-1.
For all their
defensive limitations, Colney Heath continued to look good going forward, with
more dangerous raids from Sawaneh, Hepburn and Nichols. They finally got some
reward when Nichols powered home a header from a corner to make it 2-5 in the
86th minute
The action
involving Lovell wasn’t over though and from a corner a minute later he again fell
to the floor squealing, and when the referee waived play on he got up and ran
over to the referee lifting the back of his shirt, presumably to show where he
had been injured. From the subsequent corner, keeper Hill pushed Lovell out of
his way to claim a catch, and Lovell hit the deck again. The Linesman flagged
for a free-kick in favour of the Thame keeper, but VAR probably would have
awarded a penalty.
Four minutes of injury
time were added, in which Thame nearly scored three times. Substitute Murray was
denied by the legs of the Colney keeper, Hackett shot narrowly over, and with
the final kick of the match Pearce was put clear but blazed over to miss out on
a hat-trick
Overall, it was
a thoroughly entertaining match, and a deserved victory for Thame for whom Greg
Hackett gave the man-of-the-match performance. Colney Heath didn’t look like a
bottom of the table side, and on this evidence look like they should score
quite a few goals. On the other-hand they need to do something about their
defence.
On-line Programme : https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.pitchero.com/clubs/13461/UURshCtyR2JDnpRtSFtk_Colney%20Heath%2018%2012%2021.pdf
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