January 1, 2022
New Year’s Day saw AFC Dunstable visit Thame United for a 1pm kick-off. Although
there are just over 26 miles between the two towns, this is not an obvious New
Year derby for Thame, but perhaps a reflection of the increasing northerly
movement of their fixtures. From their current division they might have
expected to be playing Oxfordshire opponents eg Didcot, North Leigh, Kidlington
or Wantage, although the Christmas fixture was against Buckinghamshire
neighbours Aylesbury United but was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
Due to the postponement of the match against Aylesbury, Thame have not
played since their victory over Colney Heath which was covered by these diaries.
AFC Dunstable were also without a Christmas fixture, with their last outing also being the
Saturday before Christmas when they went down 0-2 at Welwyn Garden City.
Founded in 1981,
they are not to be confused with Dunstable Town, the side George Best briefly played
for in the 1973, and who are currently in the South Midlands Premier Division.
The two sides both play at Creasey Park.
AFC Dunstable went into today’s
fixture in third place in table 7 points behind leaders Bedford, albeit from a
game less, with a 13-2-5 record, and the second best defensive record with only
18 goals conceded. The losses have come
against Didcot ( A 0-1, H 1-2 ),Ware ( A 2-3 ), Aylesbury ( H 1-2 ) and Welwyn
GC ( A 0-2 ). Bernard ( BJ ) Christie is
the division’s leading scorer with 17 goals already this season, and over 250
for the club in his career.
Thame were in 8th place 9
points behind from same number of matches played. AFC Dunstable have an average
home attendance of 137 so far this season, compared to 106 for Thame.
The previous meeting between the
two sides was in February 2020, when Thame won 2-1 at home. Two other matches
have been played at Thame’s ASM stadium, with Thame winning 3-1 in 2018/19, but
losing 0-5 in 2017/18. Dunstable have won both their home encounters.
It was around 12 degrees at the
kick-off, with intermittent light drizzle. With grey clouds overhead the floodlights
were already on. A large cup of tea was the order of the day, which cost £1.
Dunstable came flying out of the
traps, and in the first minute Christie was able to turn past his marker, but
his left-footed shot went across the face of the goal. A minute later Christie
was scythed down by Thame centre-back Gilmore as he looked about to make a
dangerous break, and the first yellow card of the day was brandished.
Dunstable got the reward for their
impressive start with a goal in the 3rd minute. From a free-kick by
Newman Carney, who was to take all of their set-pieces, giant centre-back Ryan
Frater was left free to head back across goal to Ben Farrell. Although his
first effort was well saved by keeper Craig Hill, Farrell made no mistake to
force the rebound over the line.
Thame were awoken in the 8th
minute when Dunstable’s Tavernier prevented a quick free-kick from being taken,
which led to a mini-scuffle, handbags and a fair degree of bad language. From
their first attack in the 10th minute, Hackett chipped to just
beyond the far post, where Ryan Blake miscued his shot and the loose ball was
cleared.
Two minutes later, with the
Dunstable bench screaming “no foul, no foul”, Tavernier predictably committed a
foul to give Thame a free-kick. A minute afterwards though, the lively Christie
extracted a foul from Thame’s other centre-back, David Lynn, for the second
card of the match.
The challenges came flying in from
both sides and it looked like the referee might be losing control of the game, as
both sides complained about not getting free-kicks awarded their way.
Dunstable could easily have
doubled their lead in the 20th minute. Carney’s corner was met by
McClelland but his close range effort was well saved on the line by Hill, and
the ball was eventually scrambled clear.
Dunstable were in total command at
this stage, and Christie had a shot deflected just wide for a corner. A couple
more corners were forced, but Thame kept Dunstable at bay.
The game’s turning point occurred in
the 28th minute. Thame sent a long ball into the Dunstable half and
Lynton Goss ran clear, and as he rounded Jamie Head, the Dunstable keeper, he
was brought down outside the area. It was an obvious red card, but the referee
took an age to come to this decision, with Head helpfully making things easier
for him by standing close to the touch-line rather than retreating back into
his area !
As Dunstable didn’t have a
replacement keeper on the bench, centre-back Frater donned the green shirt and gloves
to take his place between the sticks. Tactically, Dunstable moved midfielder
Tavernier to right-back, with right-back Lewis Ferrell taking Frater’s place in
the middle of the back four.
Thame wasted the free-kick,
sending it high over the bar, which became the pattern for the final 15 minutes
of the half in which they failed to get a single shot on target to test the
keeper, and the traffic on the ring road was in serious danger as wild shots
were launched out of the ground !
The one exception was a nice
interchange of passes which put Goss clear but his shot skidded just wide of
the far post.
Dunstable could have had a penalty
two minutes after the red card, Christie played the ball onto Lynn’s arm at
close quarters, but the referee waived play on despite the huge appeal and
protests from the Dunstable players.
The pattern of the match continued
in the second half, and the wind slightly increased in Thame’s favour. Thame
had nearly all the possession but failed to test the stand-in keeper, apart
from a couple of crosses which were dealt with by unconvincing one-handed punches.
The Dunstable defence deserve
credit for the way they defended and left back Gideon Okito had an outstanding
game in marking Thame dangerman Greg Hackett. On the one occasion Hackett’s
trickery beat Okito, he was chopped down for a yellow card for the left-back. On
their rare counter-attacks, Christie continued to look a handful.
The best chance in the first
twenty minutes of the second half actually fell to Dunstable, when Carney’s incisive
pass found Silford in the clear, but his shot was well saved by keeper Hill,
although the linesman’s flag was eventually raised so it wouldn’t have
counted anyway.
Thame’s pressure did yield an
equaliser in the 64th minute. Murray’s right-wing cross sailed beyond
the far post and was well kept in play by Hackett, whose flick fell invitingly
for Mepham to smash through a crowd of players from 10 yards.
A moment of controversy arrived 15
minutes from time, when Christie fell over the outstretched leg of Lynn and the
linesman flagged from the free-kick. To me it didn’t look like a foul but as
the free-kick had been awarded, a second yellow card should have been awarded
to Lynn. However, despite a lengthy discussion with his linesman, and the
protests from the Dunstable players and bench, the referee failed to produce the
card. For his protests, Lewis Ferrell was actually shown a yellow card !
Thame continued to lack the guile
to break down the stubborn defence as Frater was still only called upon to punch
away corners. Twelve minutes from time Goss was left free inside the 6 yard
area, but his header was weak and easily claimed by Frater.
Dunstable created one final chance
five minutes from time, but after Hill could only punch Carney’s corner to Ben
Farrell, his shot was charged down, and Tavernier put the loose ball high over
the bar.
As the clock ticked down, Pearce had
an attempt blocked by a defender for a corner after a lay back from Goss. Pearce
met the corner beyond the back post but this effort was blocked for another
corner, from which West headed just wide of the post.
Shortly afterwards the referee
blew for full time. In truth, the draw was probably the right result. Dunstable
had dominated until the red card to their keeper, and defended stoically for 60
minutes, limiting Thame to very few chances. Apart the equaliser, Thame did not
force stand-in keeper Frater to make a single save, apart from punching away
crosses and corner or gathering balls straight at him. We have no idea if he is
Lev Yashin or Alan Rough !
In hindsight, had the Dunstable
keeper instead allowed Goss to score rather than bringing him down and getting
sent-off, Dunstable probably would have gone on to win the match with 11
players on the pitch.
Thame United : Hill - Murray, Lynn, Gilmore, Mepham ( Tutton ) – Hackett, Tompkins,
West, Pearce – Goss, Blake
AFC Dunstable : Head – L. Ferrell, R. Frater, McClelland, Okito – Hamilton ( N. Frater
), Carney, B. Farrell, Tavernier, Silford ( Ann ) - Christie
On-line programme : https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.pitchero.com/clubs/13461/Sqt5VkXT56wfhOGB0sOg_AFC%20Dunstable%2001%2001%2022.pdf
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ8_CUz5FTs
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