April 20, 2024
Thame went into their final home game of the season knowing that they needed to win their last two games of the season and hope other results went their way if they were to avoid relegation after a difficult season. Although only two sides are relegated from the 20 team Division One South, two sides are also due to be relegated from the 19 team Division One Central.
Thame started the day with 34 points, five points behind Aylesbury United and six points adrift of Kidlington, with all three sides having two matches left to play. Thame also had an inferior goal difference although not beyond the realms of possibility to make it up with two convincing victories. However, there were unsubstantiated whispers that North Leigh might voluntarily request to be relegated as they seek to save the club amidst their financial difficulties, so the side finishing 18th might be reprieved. However, that was all speculation at this point.
Since these diaries covered Thame’s 1-3 home loss to Ware, they rebounded with a 2-1 comeback win at Aylesbury United, and then scored two goals in the last 8 minutes to snatch a 3-3 home draw with AFC Dunstable. A 3-0 home win over free-failing North Leigh gave them 7 points from three games, before going down to a heart-breaking 0-1 defeat at league leaders Biggleswade Town, with the winning goal coming in the 93rd minute.
Kings Langley Background
Kings Langley is a village in Hertfordshire between Hemel Hempstead and Watford, with a population of just over 5,000.
Its football club were founded in 1886 but only recently made some headlines with a record equalling three consecutive promotions, going from the Spartan South Midlands League Division One to the Southern League Premier Division between 2013/14 to 2015/16. They stayed at step 3 for 7 seasons, flitting between the South and Central Premier Divisions until being relegated last season after finishing fourth from bottom in the Central Division.
Their season back at step 4 had been rather ordinary, and they started the day in 10th place with a 13-9-13 record, and today was their last league match of the season. Away from The Orbital Fasteners Stadium they possessed a 5-3-8 record. With 71 goals scored they were the league’s third highest scorers, but only bottom of the table Kempston Rovers and Welwyn Garden City had conceded more than the 71 goals Kings Langley had let in.
King’s Langley began the season with an unbeaten run of 8 matches in the league but soon settled into mid-table shortly after. Their last two matches had been wins, 6-2 at home to Kempston Rovers and 1-0 at Leighton Town. However, prior to that they lost 1-6 at Welwyn Garden City and 0-3 at Ware.
Attacking midfielder Louie Collier looked to be a player to watch, having scored 21 goals this season whilst ex-Tottenham Hotspur Under 23 winger Rayan Clarke had found the net 13 times. Ex-Peterborough, Torquay and Newport striker Rene Howe had scored 9 times, and featured in these diaries whilst playing for Bedford Town at Thame in September 2020, but was missing today.
17-year-old keeper Gabriel Ortelli was on loan from Watford and centre-back Matt Hall won 3 Under-20 caps for Antigua. Player-manager Jordan Parkes played for Watford and Barnet in the Football League before being a free-scoring midfielder for Hemel Hempstead.
Midfielder Sonny French was the one connection between the two sides, having played the odd game or two for Thame in the Hellenic League as a dual-registered player when playing for Aylesbury United. Long serving captain Jorell Johnson was playing his last match for Kings Langley before emigrating to the USA in the summer.
When the sides met in the reverse fixture in December, Kings Langley were victorious by 3-1.
Matchday Information
The journey from Kings Langley is 31 miles along the A41 and should normally take around 45 minutes. Around 20 fans had made the journey and they had a banner which read “Small Village, Big in Hearts” which I thought was quite amusing !
The weather at the 15.00 kick-off time was cloudy and dry, with the temperature around 12 degrees but a chilly breeze made it feel colder than that.
Thame made three changes to their starting XI at Biggleswade, with Oliver Hogg, Matthew Harriott and Finlay Murray dropping to the bench with evergreen Jefferson Louis, Dani Lucas and Mark Riddick coming into the side. The team-sheet showed Lucas wearing both the number 3 and 7 shirts so in for a busy afternoon, but Oscar Lucey was actually in the number 3 shirt !
Kings Langley made two changes from their last match with Shaun Keane replacing Lorenzo Johnson at left-back and Rayan Clarke coming in for Hugo Odogwu-Atkinson
Kings Langley were playing in white shirts with black sleeves, red shorts and black socks. Thame were in their usual red and black stripes.
Like the match against Ware, it was eerily quite prior to kick-off with no pre-match music or tannoy announcements until some god-awful racket from one of the dressing rooms as both sides gathered in the tunnel before entering the pitch.
Matchday Report
Like the build-up, the match started in a very low-key manner with the only early action of note occurring in the fourth minute when Kings’ Ball attempted a defence splitting pass but it was well shielded by Ebondo, allowing the ball to run through to Thame keeper Davis.
Out of the blue the home side opened the scoring in the 8th minute. Louis punted the ball forward to clear his lines and with the Kings Langley centre-backs slow to react, Knight ran forward and with keeper Ortelli strangely standing close to his right-hand post, the Thame striker struck the bouncing ball with a left-footed volley from 25 yards which nestled into the far corner. 1-0 to Thame after 8 minutes.
With a lead to hold onto Thame looked much more up for the challenge than the visitors, winning most 50/50 tackles, and the veteran Louis was effectively marshalling his side and making sure they remained calm and didn’t rush into giving away possession. He was to be by some distance the best player on the park today.
Kings response was for Keane to attempt to play in Clarke behind the right-back but McNamara managed to get an outstretched foot to the ball, which diverted to the Thame keeper. Thame’s Lucas then skipped past Ball down the left touch-line before jumping out of the way of a wild swing by Gabbiah. Fortunately, there was no contact, otherwise it could potentially have been career ending, but to the disbelief of the Kings Langley centre-back the referee rightly awarded a free-kick. “I didn’t touch him” was the defender’s defence, but Gabbiah was very fortunate not to be shown at least a yellow card.
A long-throw for Kings Langley was headed out as far as Ball on the edge of the penalty area, but his header went well wide.
Thame nearly found the back of the net in the 18th minute. Lucey’s free-kick saw Riddick slide in 6 yards out but he failed to make a proper contact and the ball trickled through to the keeper. However, the linesman’s flag was raised so it wouldn’t have counted anyway.
Thame then produced a nice move which saw Lack chip over a square back-line for Alexander to head into the centre of the visitors’ area, but Ortelli was alert and came off his line to claim before Lucas could reach it.
Akinbusoye became the first player to be shown a yellow card after a bad foul on Lack near the half-way line. Keeper Davis took the free-kick which found Riddick unmarked on the left-hand side of the Kings’ area, but his header looped up gently for the keeper to easily catch under his crossbar.
Lack then saw Ortelli off his line, but his effort from 40 yards sailed a few feet over the bar. The game then became scrappy, as a bad foul on Thame’s Knight led to a bit of scuffle and shortly after Goueth became the first Thame player to enter the referee’s notebook.
Kings Langley were starting to enjoy some possession but were unable to create any danger. Akinbusoye did well to get to the right byline but his low cross was comfortably cleared. Pedro then sent a long cross-field ball over right-back McNamara enabling Clarke to get to the left by-line, but his ball into the middle only went as far as the first defender.
As the game approached the interval Pedro then became the next player to be shown a yellow card, bringing down Knight just inside the Kings’ half, but Lucey’s free-kick was sent too long and bounced harmlessly off for a goal-kick. In added on time, a great dummy by Goueth allowed Lucas to run clear on the left, but his attempted left-footed cross was weak and poorly directed, and Ortelli made an easy catch.
Kings Langley won the first corner of the match in the second minute of added time but Murphy’s delivery was headed away by Louis. Ball became the third Kings Langley player to see yellow after a foul on Lucas. Centre-back Hall then allowed the free-kick to go over his head, expecting it to go out of play, but Alexander managed to get to it, but his control let him down and he only succeeded in kicking it off for a goal-kick.
It remained 1-0 to Thame at the break, but there had been very little goal-mouth action and apart from the goal, neither keeper had been unduly troubled.
Thame started the second half well and Lucey’s cross-field pass found Alexander in space on the right-hand side, but the winger was unable to get past Keane, and ultimately had to lay-off for Goueth, whose cross was poor and easily intercepted.
Goueth was seeing a lot of the ball but on three separate occasions his attempted pass lacked quality and the moves broke down.
Thame made their first substitution in the 50th minute as Fountain replaced Lucas and he nearly created a goal with his first touch, deftly heading on a cross from Knight, but Ortelli managed to kick the ball away from Goueth.
A minute later it looked like the visitors had equalised. Clarke was put in space on the left wing and his low ball across the goalmouth was met by Collier at the back post who tapped into an empty goal. Fortunately for Thame the linesman’s flag was raised for offside and the goal was chalked off.
Thame made the most of the reprieve as they doubled their lead shortly after. Knight ignored a through pass from McNamara from the half-way line, enabling Alexander to run past the central defenders onto the ball, and faced with the advancing keeper, calmly slotted left-footed from just inside the area into the keeper’s right-hand corner for a splendid finish, and the 10th goal of the season for the 19 year old. Hilariously, Kings’ full-back Keane remonstrated with the linesman that it was offside. 2-0 after 60 minutes.
Kings Langley responded by bringing on Sonny French but interestingly at left-back. Jefferson Louis then spoilt his copybook by bringing down Akinbusoye as he attempted to speed down the right-wing to add to the list of players on a yellow card.
Kings Langley created their best chance of the match in the 68th minute. Clarke again did well on the left and his cross to beyond the far post found Murphy unmarked, who had time to control, take a touch but only to blaze wildly over the bar from around 8 yards.
Thame should have increased their lead in the 69th minute. Ball carelessly gave the ball away, Alexander raced into the left-hand side of the Kings area and his ball across the 6 yard line reached Knight at the back post but he was denied by a fabulous close range save by Ortelli.
The visitors were becoming increasingly desperate and after a quickly taken free-kick Collier strode forward only to shoot from long range onto the ring-road.
The main moment of controversy arrived in the 72nd minute. Knight deliberately stood in front of the ball to prevent a Kings Langley free-kick from being taken, leading to Pedro running over and pushing the Thame player to the floor. After order was restored after some handbags, the referee showed a yellow card to Knight but incredibly gave no sanction to Pedro. It seems deliberately pushing a player to a floor is no longer a yellow card offence, and Pedro was very, very lucky to remain on the pitch after his card earlier in the game. Frankly, the referee, who otherwise had a pretty good game, appeared to bottle making a major decision.
Kings player-manager Parkes then entered the fray and produced a lovely through ball for Johnson, now playing much further forward, to run onto but unfortunately for the visitors his first time left-footed attempt was poor and went several yards high and wide.
Parkes next contribution was to gift a third goal to Thame. With plenty of time to choose his pass from mid-way inside his own half, he completely missed his kick. Knight robbed him of possession and ran clear, easily rounded the goalkeeper to side-foot into an empty net. 3-0 with 82 minutes on the clock.
Riddick then shot over from 30 yards for Thame, after which Kings missed another reasonable chance, when Tibbetts blasted over after a good run from Parkes.
As the game drifted into added on time, a Kings’ corner sailed over everyone for a goal-kick but there was an off-the-ball incident with keeper Davis and Johnson scrapping on the floor on the goal-line. After another skirmish between a number of players on each side, the referee showed yellow cards to both the culprits.
The last action of the match saw Lack make a good run, but a Kings defender intercepted a pass intended for Fountain and played the ball back to his keeper, who picked the ball up. The referee awarded an indirect free-kick to Thame inside the Kings Langley area, and after three encroachments from Kings defenders, who seemed to think they could approach the ball as soon as the whistle was blown rather than when the ball was played, Louis tapped to Harriott, who shot inches wide.
Thame fully deserved their win and improved their goal difference. However, the other results did not go in their favour. Kidlington achieved a 1-1 draw at table-topping Biggleswade Town to ensure their safety for another season, and Aylesbury United scored a 90th minute penalty from ex-Thame player David Pearce to earn a 3-3 draw at Welwyn Garden City. Consequently, the Ducks were now three points ahead of Thame and with a 4 goal better goal difference and had scored more goals.
Thame now have to win at Waltham Abbey next Saturday, who are already assure of a place in the promotion play-offs, and hope that Aylesbury lose heavily at home to mid-table Biggleswade FC to reverse the margin in the goal difference.
As an aside, North Leigh lost their 13th consecutive match after their players left en-masse in February, to continue the serious doubts as to their ability to compete at this level next season.
Link to Online Matchday Programme : https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.pitchero.com/clubs/13461/4W8axtg3QCy1zOqjr2Zu_Match%20Day%20Programme%20Kings%20Langley.pdf
Thame United : Davis – McNamara, Ebondo, Louis, Lucey – Alexander ( Ransby ), Lack, Riddick, Goueth ( Harriott ), Lucas ( Fountain ) – Knight
Kings Langley : Ortelli – Hall, J.Johnson, Gabbiah, Keane ( French ) – Ball, Pedro, Murphy – Akinbusoye ( Tibbetts ), Collier, Clarke ( Parkes )
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