April 15, 2023
Today’s visitors to the ASM Stadium for Thame United’s last home match of the season were Hadley, who play in Arkley, a suburb in the borough of Barnet. This was their first ever visit to Thame.
Hadley were promoted from Spartan South Midlands Premier League after finishing in third place last season and runners-up Princes Risborough were controversially denied promotion after failing a ground criteria inspection. They started the season slowly, failing to win in their opening 5 fixtures until a surprise 4-0 win at Walthamstow, but soon settled to the level of Southern League football, and going into today’s match were unbeaten in 9 games since a 0-1 home loss to Walthamstow.
Hadley possessed a 6-5-6 away record, which was identical to Thame’s home record, so a close game looked in prospect. The first meeting back in October finished in a 2-1 victory for Hadley, thanks to a goal in the 94th minute.
Hadley are known as The Bricks, as their ground is in Brickfield Lane, and their usual colours are red shirts and black shorts so they were in a change kit of all blue today.
The weather at the 15.00 kick-off time was dry, with the sun regularly breaking through the clouds to occasionally make it feel warmer than the 12 degrees
Thame named what might have been described as an “experimental XI” with four regulars on the bench. With safety from relegation confirmed following a 2-0 win at Aylesbury United on Easter Monday, perhaps it was an opportunity to give the fringe players an outing, or maybe some players were being rested with Tuesday night’s Oxfordshire Senior Cup Final against Oxford City in mind, which will be Thame’s first appearance in the final for over 20 years.
Thame kicked off but nearly fell behind after just 10 seconds. A long ball put Hadley centre forward Edwards clear but his low shot from just inside the area produced a good diving save from Thame keeper Hill and the follow-up from Hayes was deflected for a corner.
Hadley dominated the opening stages as their 6 supporters behind the goal were in good voice. Davis sent a free-kick just wide, and then sent a left-footed shot a couple of feet wide. Aldridge got past Ngathe close to the right by-line but his cross was put off for a corner by make-shift Thame centre back Dan West.
Thame slowly got a foot-hold into the match, Peak-Pijnen’s 30 yard stinger was held at the second attempt by keeper Ward before they created their best chance to date in the 16th minute. Ngathe made a defensive clearing header, the ball bounced over Hadley defender Valasco for Pearce, with his back to the visitors’ goal, to hook the ball into the empty Hadley half for Alexander to run onto and into the penalty area. As the keeper came off his line to narrow the angle, Alexander could only shoot left footed over the bar.
Thame midfielder Jack Tutton had to leave the field two minutes later to be replaced by Greg Hackett, which resulted in a tactical re-jig as Pearce dropped back to central midfield, Hackett move to left midfield, Mcewan moved to right midfield and Ngathe moved up front as the lone striker.
Edwards had a glancing header for Hadley that gave Hill a regulation save, after which Luke sent a 30 yard volley a few feet wide.
However, it was Thame who opened the scoring in the 26th minute. A free-kick from the right touch line was headed off for a corner by Ndandani under pressure from West. The corner found its way past a clutch of players to Thame centre-back Finlay Murray, who took one touch and then fired past the keeper and the defender on the line.
Thame attacked again and a flowing move saw Pearce set-up Mcewan but the shot hit the side-netting after a slight deflection. Murray rose the highest from the corner, but his header was headed off the line.
Hadley were not behind for long. Full-back George Alfieri got into the Thame penalty area and went to ground after a clumsy challenge from Mcewan. The referee pointed to the spot although it looked very soft, and after West had vented his frustrations at the decision to both the referee and his assistant, Luke Alfano sent Hill the wrong way from the spot.
After a quite spell to the game, the home side finished the half strongly. First, Hackett was found with a cute chip over the defensive back line and his pull-back found Ngathe, but the close-range shot crashed back from the crossbar. Pearce followed up but had his effort blocked, and the loose ball was then blazed over.
With two minutes of the half left, a corner from Pearce reached the far post, and after some pin-ball the ball ended up in the back of the Hadley net. It could have been an own goal, but Mcewan was given the credit.
Thame led 2-1 at the interval but it felt like there were more goals left in the game.
The opening few minutes of the first half were end to end. Hackett beat his full-back three times before passing across the face of the goal, but the ball was taken off Mcewan’s toe. Hadley’s Valasco went on a good run but his right-footed shot after cutting back inside went narrowly over. Mcewan then saw his 25 yard effort skid off the turf, but Ward made a full length diving save to tip the ball round the post for a corner. Then, a quick counter by the visitors ended with Aldridge shooting into the side netting.
Another goal finally came in the 56th minute. This time Ngathe went down in the penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty to Thame. It looked every bit as soft as the one given to Hadley in the first half, so perhaps the referee was trying to even things up. The similarities continued as Pearce sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot.
For the rest of the match Hadley had most of the possession as Thame looked to sit back and hit on the counter but rarely looked like pulling a goal back. Hadley substitute Rosemin had a left-footed shot saved low down by Hill and Valasco made another good run but this time his finish was 15 yards wide.
In-between, Hadley centre-back Baird needed to make a great tackle to stop a break by Mcewan, and with 10 minutes remaining Ngathe was sent clear but his shot was well saved. Another Thame counter involving Alexander and Hackett again looked to have put Ngathe clear, but Ward came out of his area to make a sliding tackle.
Thame confirmed their victory with three minutes left to play. A glorious cross-field ball from Hackett from close to the left touchline found Mcewan totally unmarked in side the Hadley area, and after taking a touch to control he slid the ball past the goal-keeper to make the scoreline 4-1 to the home side
Hadley’s Aldridge had one last effort that went over the bar, and the referee blew to end the game immediately after this.
Online programme : https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.pitchero.com/clubs/13461/jAMQ8LgtRSStTswfVKxT_Hadley%2015%2004%2023.pdf
Thame United : Hill – Maxwell, West, Murray, Peake-Pijnen – Ngathe, Gardner, Tutton ( Hackett ), Alexander, Mcewan - Pearce
Hadley : Ward – Alfieri, Baird, Ndandani, Valasco – Davis, Hayes, Alfano, Luke, Aldridge – Edwards ( Rosemin )
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