November 11, 2025
Tonight saw the first ever meeting between Thame United and Milton Keynes Irish, in what was a mid-table clash with 11th hosting 13th.
Thame United Update
Thame had enjoyed mixed fortunes since these diaries reported on their 2-1 home win over London Lions a month ago. They continued their recent good form with a 4-0 victory at Barton Rovers, but then crashed 0-4 at home to Hitchin Town.
Thame recovered to win twice on road, 1-0 at Biggleswade Town and 2-1 at Flackwell Heath but then slumped again at home, this time going down 1-4 to Beaconsfield Town. Their defence of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup ended at the first hurdle with a 1-2 defeat at home to step 5 Ardley United, who they had beaten 5-1 in last year’s final.
Last time out though, Thame beat Enfield 3-1 at home in front of a paltry crowd of 57, leaving them with a 7-1-6 record, and 4-1-3 at home, and reducing their average home attendance to 118.
Thame now had four players as joint top-scorers on 5 goals, Harry Alexander, Curtis Brown, Dan West and Louis Walsh.
Milton Keynes Irish FC
Milton Keynes Irish were only formed in 2020 when Milton Keynes Robins, Unite MK and Milton Keynes Irish Veterans joined together to operate as one club for the 2020-21 season, and have since made rapid strides to reach step 4 in the non-league pyramid.
They are located in Fenny Stratford in Bletchley, which is part of the Milton Keynes City Council. Home is The Irish Centre, which has a capacity of 1,500.
The manager of MK Irish is Terry Shrieves, who was previously in charge of Newport Pagnell Town. Assistant Coach Glyn Creaser had a long career as a defender at Barnet and Wycombe Wanderers and had managed Aylesbury United.
MK Irish started at the step 6 in the Spartan South Midlands Division One but after the season was terminated due to Covid, were promoted on a points-per-game basis to the step 5 Premier Division.
After a mid-table finish, MK Irish were then level transferred to the United Counties League Premier South for one season before being transferred back to Spartan South Midlands.
2023/24 saw MK Irish finish second behind Real Bedford but they lost 0-3 to FC Romania in the promotion play-off semi-final. However, they made no mistake last season, winning the title by 9 points ahead of Tring Athletic, losing only one league game all season.
James Meadows finished the season with 23 goals, closely followed by ex-Colchester United, Hayes and Yeading, Hitchin, Cambridge City and Stotfold midfielder Mason Spence on 22, and George Shrieves, son of manager Terry and also ex-Newport Pagnell, on 21 goals
Milton Keynes Irish This Season
Milton Keynes Irish arrived at the ASM Stadium with a 5-1-8 league record, but were 3-0-3 away from home.
They started life in Step 4 with 6 defeats in their opening 7 matches, with their only points coming from a 2-1 victory at AFC Dunstable.
A 2-0 home win was registered over Barton Rovers but the next game was lost, 0-1 at Hertford Town. Irish then went on an unbeaten run of four games, winning 5-2 at Hadley, 4-3 at home to London Lions and 2-0 at Rayners Lane, with a 1-1 at home to Northwood Town. The run ended last time out, with a 1-5 mauling at home to Stotfold.
In the FA Cup, MK Irish beat Heybridge Swifts of the step 4 Isthmian League Division One North but exited in the next round after a disappointing 0-2 loss at home to step 5 Arlesey Town. They fell at the first hurdle in the FA Trophy, going down 1-2 at step 4 Grays Athletic.
Irish appeared to have a very settled squad, and of the 16 players involved in their last game against Stotfold, 13 of them played last season and defender Matt Howarth had stepped up this year from their youth team. Winger Owen Brooks joined in the summer from Wellingborough Whitworth and defender Freddie Joyce signed in October from AFC Dunstable, and played for Ardley United and Aylesbury United last season.
Meadows was the leading scorer so far with 8 goals, with Brooks on 7 and Shrieves on 4.
MK irish’s average home league attendance to-date this season was 180.
Matchday Information
The journey from Fenny Stratford to Thame is 46 miles and according to AA Route Planner should normally take 47 minutes down the A418.
There was some light rain was falling when I arrived at the ground but it had got progressively heavier by the 19.45 kick-off. There was also a stiff breeze, and the temperature was 13 degrees.
Entrance to the game was £10 for adults and £5 for concessions, £3 for Under 16s, whilst under 5s went in for free. A pint of Poretti cost £5.20.
An online programme had been produced for the match and free team-sheets were available at the turnstile
MK Irish kept the same squad of 16 but made three changes to the side that lost heavily to Stotfold, with Callum Hirst, Kyle Boyce and Haworth replacing Oliver Kalek, Joyce and Brooks.
Thame made one change to the side that started against Enfield, with Greg Hackett replacing Harry Alexander.
MK Irish were in green and white striped shirts with white shorts and socks, whilst Thame were in their usual red and black shirts.
Matchday Report
With the heavy rain falling, it wasn’t an evening for Pep style football and both sides tried to keep things simple, playing percentage football, and regularly sending the ball long. The difficult conditions led to a lot of unforced errors.
The first piece of action occurred in the 5th minute when Ryan Smith played a free-kick to Spence, whose drive hit a Thame defender and looped up high into the air for an easy catch for keeper Archie Davis.
A minute later, at the other end, Jack Tutton set-up Jenson Wright, but his first-time effort went just wide, then Walsh had an attempt blocked by Nat Beecher for a corner, from which Thame centre-back Luke Tingey put wide from 10 yards after a flick on.
Thame’s Walsh was looking lively up front and ran onto a ball down the right-hand channel from Wright, but his low cross went fractionally ahead of Hackett at the far post.
MK’s Ryan Smith then won possession from Brown and put Shrieves clear, but the left footed shot from just inside the area went straight at Davis, who had spread himself, and grabbed onto the loose ball.
With 15 minutes played, Irish won a free-kick 25 yards out after a bad foul on Shrieves. Ryan Smith took, and the ball took a huge deflection, forcing Davis to scramble across his goal-line but the ball drifted just wide for a corner. The set-piece went across the goalmouth and Spence saw his shot blocked for another corner.
Smith sent a left-footed in-swinging corner under the crossbar, and after a bit of a scramble, Davis dived on to the ball.
With 24 minutes on the clock, Thame looked to be building an attack in a good position when Wright stopped and hoofed the ball off the pitch. It had a puncture ! Probably after all the punishment it had been subjected to already !
The referee restarted play with a drop-ball to Thame, which Tutton sent into the 6-yard box where a Thame player crashed to the ground. However, any thoughts of a possible penalty were quickly dashed by the linesman’s offside flag.
In the 27th minute, Walsh ran into the Irish penalty area and fell to the floor, but his reward was a yellow card for simulation instead of a penalty, which looked to be an excellent decision by the referee.
Thame were enjoying a good spell but were unable find the final pass. Walsh made a good run and found Hackett, whose shot was blocked. When Thame reworked possession, Brown forced a corner, which came to nothing.
The best move of the half involved first time passes between Walsh, Wright, West and Wright again, but Beecher made a vital tackle just as Wright was about to pull the trigger.
Boyce won a free-kick for Irish near the corner flag, which Smith drove into the Thame area, where Shrieves’ diving header flew wide of the far post. The Irish players appeal for a corner but from where I sat, a goal-kick looked the right decision.
Thame had the better of the closing stages of the first half as Walsh and Callum Hall put Hackett into space on the left, but his low cross was intercepted before it could reach West, then Hall went on a mazy run beating three Irish defenders before eventually being crowded out.
It was still scoreless as the referee blew for half-time, and frankly it had been a poor half, and 0-0 was a deserved scoreline. Under the circumstances, moments of quality football had been in short supply, although Walsh had shown some nice touches for Thame.
The second half commenced with both sides consistently giving the ball away until Spence was played into space inside the Thame area, and found Shrieves with his pull-back, but the Irish number 11 shot wastefully over the bar from a great position.
Irish were getting on top but Smith’s corner was poor and cleared at the near post by Hall, and when Smith gathered the loose ball, his delivery towards the far post was too long for Spence.
Shrieves, looking two yards offside but with the linesman 10 yards behind play, then ran onto a long ball, but his effort was awful, going well wide of the near post when he should have scored.
Shrieves made amends two minutes later though. Spence played a short pass to Shrieves who was unmarked inside the area, and this time his left-footed effort flew into the top corner. The chance had come after Thame captain Riddick had needlessly turned and played a back pass to his keeper, who under pressure put the ball out for an Irish throw. 0-1 after 55 minutes.
Thame raised their game as first Walsh outmuscled Zawe but his low left-wing cross was blocked, then another left-wing cross from Walsh went too far ahead of Hackett. By now MK Irish’s Spence had continually started whinged at the referee, who eventually had words with the veteran midfielder but kept his cards in his pockets. Shortly after, Thame substitute Lance Williams was shown the yellow card after complaining about not being given a free-kick.
Hackett charged down an attempted clearance from Irish keeper Tom Ladyman, and the loose ball fell to Wright, who opted to run at goal and then shot weakly rather than pass to the unmarked Hackett.
Spence had the next attempt for Irish, but could only shoot high and wide from 20 yards.
Thame’s pressure won another corner, and from Alexander’s in-swinging delivery, Tingey turned the ball home at the near post. 1-1 with 75 minutes played.
The game now had a short spell of end-to-end football. After Thame needlessly gave away a corner, Irish substitute Guess shot from the edge of the area in to the arms of keeper Davis, Thame’s Alexander played an inviting ball into the Irish area but with no-one on hand to finish, then a good Irish move saw Brookes run clear but his attempt was saved by Davis’ legs.
An Irish corner was cleared but was played back in to the danger zone, where Davis twice punched the ball away, but after some pin-ball the ball ended up in the back of the net. Haworth was credited with the goal, and it was now 1-2 after 82 minutes.
Irish nearly added a third a minute later, but Spence’s drive hit the head of a Thame defender and went over the bar for a corner.
Irish then had some defending to do, and after Williams played a cross to beyond the far post back into the goalmouth, a frantic scramble ensued, but the ball wouldn’t fall kindly for the home side, and MK Irish were able to clear.
The visitors should have wrapped up the points in added on time when Brooks ran clear but his shot across goal lacked power and Davis dived and made a fairly regulation save. Play was held up though as Thame’s Tingey appeared to pull a hamstring when trying to chase Brooks and crumpled to the floor, and needed to be substituted.
Thame had one final chance to equalise, but when Alexander played a great ball over the Irish centre-backs, Williams was unable to control and the ball ran away for a goal-kick.
The final whistle sounded shortly after, and MK Irish celebrated a hard earned three points. Frankly, it wasn’t a game that will linger long in the memory with the conditions making good football difficult, but MK Irish won’t care too much as they pulled further away from the lower regions of the division.
Thame United : Davis – Brown ( Alexander ), Tingey ( Maxwell ), Murray, Hall – Wright ( Williams ), Riddick, Tutton, West ( Lack ), Hackett – Walsh
Milton Keynes Irish : Ladyman - Zawe, Howarth, Beecher, Boyce ( Kelsey )– Hirst ( Guess ), N.Smith, R.Smith, Spence – Meadows ( Brooks ), Shrieves ( Kalek )
No comments:
Post a Comment