March 11, 2023
With many of the local sides playing away today, the decision for today’s afternoon entertainment was a return visit to watch Thame United Reserves, whose opponents today were Ampthill Town.
Ampthill is a town in Bedfordshire between Bedford and Luton, just off the M1 and not too far from the junctions for Milton Keynes. Its football side were founded in 1881 but notable successes have been few and far between.
In fact, Ampthill is more famous for its Rugby Union side, who are currently playing in the English Championship, the second level of rugby in the country, putting them in the top 20 Rugby Union sides in England. They are often referred to in rugby forums as The Ampthill Mob after one of the contestants in the Wacky Races/Dick Dastardly cartoons !
Ampthill’s football side finished second in 2021/22 but missed out on promotion as 4th placed Shefford Town and Campton triumphed in the promotion play-offs after Ampthill lost a home play-off to Wellingborough Whitworth 2-3 after extra time, in front of a crowd of 403.
Despite that disappointment, Ampthill are having another strong season, starting the day in third place, 17 points behind leaders Real Bedford, but looking good for a top 5 finish and a place in the play-offs again. Ominously for Thame United Reserves they had an impressive 10-1-2 away record, and their top scorers were Sam Holmes ( 19 goals ), Jamie Cerminara ( 13 ) and Phil Draycott ( 7 ). The reverse meeting between the two sides came on the opening day of the season when Ampthill cantered to a 6-1 home victory.
Ampthill are the second-best supported team in the division with an average of 154, below Real Bedford’s 167, and the Christmas fixture between the two sides at Ampthill Park attracted 401 spectators. In comparison, the average for Thame United Reserves in only 48, and their first team average is 109 !
Since these diaries reported on Thame United Reserves surprise 2-1 home win over Amersham at the start of January, they have played 8 matches, losing 7 of them, with just a home victory over Northampton Sileby Rangers. Consequently, they started the day in 19th place ie second from bottom. However, 6 of those 8 matches were away from the ASM Stadium and they now had a 1-0-15 away record. Perhaps fortunately, only three of their last ten games will be away from home, and with a 6-0-6 home record they would be hopeful of picking up some more points to move away from the bottom two. None of their 28 games played to date have been a draw !
Perhaps as an indication of the problems of fielding a side at this level, Thame United Reserves have used 58 players this season and their poor away form could well be in part be due to the difficulty in persuading local players to spend their Saturday afternoons travelling to Leicestershire and northern Warwickshire.
The footprint of the Spartan South Midlands League Division One is extreme for a step 6 league, and unsurprisingly several sides in the league are unhappy at the distances involved in fulfilling fixtures this season. Amersham Town have already asked for a move to the Combined Counties League for next season in order to reduce their travel burden. Ampthill’s journey today was 34 miles, which should have taken just over an hour.
After the recent snow and cold spell, the weather at the 15.00 kick-off time was dry and 5 degrees, although light showers were forecast for later in the afternoon.
Ampthill were playing in blue shirts with yellow sleeves, blue shorts and yellow socks whilst Thame were in their usual red and black. At the kick-off I counted 21 people inside the ground, plus 2 Red Kites on patrol in the skies above.
Thame started brightly, winning the first corner of the game in the second minute, and the lively Thomas Cove skipping past the cumbersome Ampthill centre-back Mark Bunker but his cross from the by-line went behind Fabian Garcia.
Ampthill’s first shot in anger came in the 7th minute when Dillon’s shot from the edge of the area produced an unconvincing save from Thame keeper Thompson, who gathered at the second or third attempt before Ampthill’s Burton could take advantage. Ampthill’s Sam Morris then played in centre-forward Watson who managed to keep the ball in play, but his subsequent cross was too high for Burton.
Thame then missed a glorious chance in the 12th minute. Cove easily beat Ampthill centre-back Cooksley, who ridiculously appealed for a throw-in when the ball hadn’t even touched the line, and after the cross had flicked off the head of Bunker, Thame’s Lewis Cross retrieved the ball and passed to Garcia six yards out, but the striker completely missed his kick and the chance was gone.
A minute later Thame’s Matt Johnson walked the ball into the net after nipping the ball out of the keeper’s hand. However, although the referee had his back to the play, the linesman had been watching and informed the referee that the Ampthill keeper still had control of the ball, so the goal was disallowed. Although the Ampthill bench screamed for a yellow card for Johnson, their appeals were ignored.
Ampthill looked dangerous as Cooksley chipped into the Thame area but Morris just failed to get on the end of it with just the keeper to beat, but the linesman’s flag was raised for offside anyway. Thame’s Garcia took a low shot from the edge of the area, and despite keeper Tompkins going down in installments, it was an easy save, and then a Thame counter attack saw Garcia play in Helmer but his effort was blocked by a sliding Ampthill defender for a corner.
Ampthill then took a firm grip on the game and winger Morris was increasingly influential. First, he played a cut-back from the left but Dillon’s first time effort was blocked by the keeper’s legs and went off for a corner. Ampthill’s Barrett blazed wildly over following a header laid back in his direction, before another cross from Morris was deflected and despite the best efforts of Thompson the ball had crossed the line for a corner.
Ampthill got the ball into the net from a header from the subsequent corner but the Thame keeper had clearly been bundled over by Watson so the goal was chalked off. Morris then showed goal skill after a lay-off by Watson, but Thame’s Johnson bravely got his head to be ball as it bounced up. Ampthill appealed for handball, but the referee awarded the free-kick to Thame. Amps midfielder Cullen then sent a super cross from the left into the danger zone but an even better header from Thame centre-back Theo Ransby cleared the threat.
Ampthill were looking increasingly likely to make the break-through but Thame were able to keep them on their toes with a quick counter which saw Garcia and Helmer combine, but the pass to the unmarked Cove was intercepted by Morris covering back at the expense of a corner.
The game’s potential turning point came a minute before half-time. There didn’t seem to be anything significant as Thame’s Kafu and Ampthill’s Barrett challenged but a melee followed. The referee determined that Kafu had elbowed Barrett after being pulled back, and produced a red card to the Thame player and a yellow to the Ampthill player. Confusingly the free-kick went to Thame as the first offence was by Barrett.
Cooksley missed the final chance of the half after a quickly taken free-kick led to a cross from the right, but Thompson saved at the second attempt.
At half-time the general feeling was that if Ampthill got the first goal they would go and win handsomely, but it was Thame who had the better of the opening exchanges in the second half. Cooksley’s misplaced pass went straight to Cove who headed for goal. Ignoring the over-lapping Pelumbi he opted to shoot from the edge of the area, but his effort lacked pace and power and Tompkins dived to save.
Two minutes later, Cove did release Pelumbi, who showed good skill to beat two defenders, but his cross was too deep and above Garcia at the back stick.
The Amps responded by launching a ball deep into the Thame area, and when Thompson punched clear, Bunker’s header in return went well wide. Morris then beat Pelumbi on the left wing but his cross to the near post was crowded out by the Thame defence for a corner.
Dillon’s squeals for a free-kick after a tackle were ignored by the referee, and the Ampthill forward followed that up with a poor attempt from a corner that was more danger to the far corner flag than the Thame goal.
Thame’s Cove again caught the eye, robbing Cullen of possession, leaving Bunker for dead to set up Garcia but the forward hesistated and a defender was able to block his shot. At this stage it was hard to tell which side had the extra man, as Thame were essentially playing a 5-5-0 formation but when then won the ball they broke at pace with their youngsters looking a lot faster than the Ampthill defenders.
With 59 minutes on the clock, Garcia ran onto a long ball out of defence and when his square pass found Cove the shot was blocked for a corner. Thame appealed for handball but the referee wasn’t interested. However, Helmer’s corner reached Johnston beyond the far post, who headed back into the centre where Garcia dived to head home from 6 yards to give Thame the lead few expected at half-time.
With drops of rain now starting to fall, Ampthill appeared to be shocked by falling behind as Thame had a spell of possession and nice passing moves, and the visitors kept giving the ball away or mis-placed passes. One flowing move involving Helmer, Garcia and Cove ended with a good save by Tompkins. In a rare foray into the Thame final third Amps full-back Beasley was put in space on the right wing but his powerful drive was blocked for a corner. A scramble followed from the set-piece but Thame eventually cleared their lines.
The visitors seemed to be panicking and keeper Tompkins yelled out “There is a fine line between tempo and rushing” ! A free-kick was lumped into the Thame area but Thompson made another strong punch to clear, although Cooksley claimed the keeper had fouled him.
Thame’s final pass on the counter was letting them down. Ampthill looked increasingly desperate, and Bunker was forced to pull back Cove as the Thame youngster was getting away from him, and was perhaps fortunate to see just a yellow card. An off-the-ball incident then saw Johnston on the floor and Ampthill substitute Butler was shown a yellow card. I didn’t see the incident myself but a person close to me commented that it was worse than the offence that produced the first half red card, but presumably the officials didn’t have a good view.
The battle between Cove and Bunker continued and as Bunker attempted a tackle he ended on the floor, and to the bemused of most of the crowd was given the free-kick when Cove looked about to be clear on goal.
With 10 minutes to go, the referee initially played advantage after a foul on Garcia but then stopped play when a scuffle ensued. After much confusion another yellow card was shown to Ampthill.
With the clock ticking down, Ampthill pressed for the equaliser. Morris did well on the left, but his cross was a fraction to high for Burton. With four minutes remaining Morris was put clear with just Thompson to beat, but he slid the ball inches wide when he really ought to have scored.
Morris then got on the end of a flicked header on but put the chance wide from close range, although his blushes were spared by an offside flag, and then the same player cut back inside from the left but his shot was saved low at his near post by Thompson.
With 6 minutes added time to be played, Butler volleyed miles over after a neat, cushioned headed by Watson and Cawley embarassingly dived in the penalty area in a vain attempt to con the referee. Bunker sent a volley towards the corner flag leading one of his team-mates to yell out in frustration “we have to think !”
Just when it looked like Thame would hold on for the three-points, another corner was directed under the cross-bar. Thompson managed to get a punch to it, but the ball fell to Bunker, who this time fired his shot through the crowd of players from 10 yards for a late, late equaliser to break the hearts of the Thame players.
On the balance of play over 90 minutes, a draw was perhaps a fair result, but it was hard on Thame for the way they had played in the second half with a player less against high-riding opposition. Indeed, on today’s evidence, it was hard to believe there was such a gap between the two sides in the league table. As it was, after their first draw of the season, Thame remained second from bottom but would be encouraged to think that they could take points off anyone at home. Ampthill slipped one place down to fourth.
Thame United Reserves : Thompson – Pelumbi, Johnston, Ransby, Carr, Russell – Kafu, Cross, Helmer ( Parsons )– Cove, Garcia
Ampthill Town : Tompkins – Beasley, Cooksley, Bunker, Cawley – Burton ( Burke ), Cullen, Barrett ( Butler ), Holmes – Watson, Dillon ( Cerminara )
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