Chinnor 33-23 Blackheath ( att : 1,576 ) – 2026/27 English Champ

November 14, 2026

This afternoon saw the visit of 12^th placed Blackheath to Kingsey Road in the latest round of fixtures in Champ Rugby.

These diaries covered Chinnor’s 21-17 victory over Nottingham in a Friday Night Lights game two weeks ago, which Chinnor followed up with a comprehensive 36-12 win at Hartpury, their first ever victory over the students in their 10^th attempt. That result took Chinnor to 4^th in the table.

Blackheath

Founded in 1858, Blackheath are the oldest open rugby club in the world, although some University and College sides had been formed earlier. They are universally referred to as “The Club” or just “Club” in recognition of being the first “club”.

Blackheath moved from their historic home of Rectory Field in 2016, to Well Hall in Eltham, although their other sides continue to play at Rectory Field.  In the amateur era, Blackheath were one of the leading sides in England.

Following the introduction of professionalism in the 1990s, Blackheath had settled at the third level of the league structure, having been in National League One ( or its equivalent ) since 2004/05 until an unexpected relegation in 2021/22, but Club immediately bounced back by winning National League Two East in 2022/23 by 15 points, with only three defeats in the whole season.

Back in National League One, Club finished 8^th, then 6^th, before a sensational 2025/26 season when they finished second behind Rotherham Titans, and then beat Plymouth Albion ( 22-10 at home ) and London Scottish ( 27-7 away ) in the play-offs to clinch promotion to the Champ.

Former Ampthill and Coventry hooker Billy Harding scored an incredible 48 tries during the season, including a try in every one of the regular 26 league games.

Previous Meetings

These two sides had previously met 7 times before in National League One matches, with three wins for Chinnor and four wins for Blackheath.

Blackheath won both meetings in 2018/19, 33-22 at Chinnor and 22-14 at home, but in the one game in the Covid interrupted 2019/20 season, Chinnor edged home 17-15 at Well Hall.

In 2021/22 honours were even with two home wins, 34-28 for Chinnor and 25-15 for Blackheath, whilst in 2023/24 Chinnor won 53-8 at home but lost 17-22 in the return.

The two sides also played a pre-season friendly in 2021 at Blackheath, where Chinnor won 19-17.

Fatbear covered two of the matches at Kingsey Road. The match in 2021/22 was played in torrential rain and Blackheath adopted a tactic of launching high balls at every opportunity, but Chinnor’s back three comfortably dealt with the aerial assault. Only when 0-29 behind with less than 20 minutes remaining did Blackheath change their approach to try and play some rugby, and scored four tries to claim the four try and losing bonus points !

In Chinnor’s promotion season of 2023/24, they were irrepressible and scored 9 tries in their demolition of Blackheath.

Blackheath This Season

Following their promotion from National League One last season, Blackheath had been competitive in their matches in the Champ without turning these performances into league points, with only one win from seven games, and were in 12^th place with 7 points.

The win was an impressive 33-26 home success over erratic Doncaster Knights in a game shown free-to-air on Blaze TV. Interestingly, despite their reputation for their 5-metre line-outs, Blackheath opted to kick 4 penalties to take advantage of the Knights ill-discipline, and only a last-minute try brought Doncaster into losing bonus point range.

Club began the season with a losing bonus point in a 31-38 defeat at Nottingham, which was followed by a 24-28 home defeat to Caldy. These remain the only victories so far this season for Nottingham and Caldy.

After defeating full-time Doncaster, Blackheath put in another strong performance against a full-time side to claim their third losing point, matching Coventry try for try in a 36-38 defeat.

Ealing Trailfinders were the next visitors to Well Hall and Club were in touch at half-time with only a 15-21 deficit, until Trailfinders ran away in the second half to send Blackheath to a 22-59 defeat. Next-up was a trip to league leaders Worcester Warriors, where again Blackheath went in a half-time only trailing 5-14, and continued to put up a good effort until eventually succumbing to a 19-31 loss, but deprived Worcester of the try bonus point.

In their last outing, in their fourth consecutive game against last season’s top four, Blackheath put in another sound performance before ultimately going down to a 27-40 defeat to Bedford Blues.

Today, Blackheath faced a fifth game in a row against last season’s top 5……..

Blackheath Squad

Ex-Plymouth Albion and Esher fly-half Sam Morley was the highest points scorer so far this season with 44 points whilst scrum-half Jordan Burns had scored 5 tries.

Blackheath had made a number of notable signings to strengthen their squad for their season in the Champ. Hooker Ben Chapman joined from Doncaster Knights as did ex-Chinnor lock Ehize Ehizode. Winger Noah Ferdinand signed from London Scottish, full back Iwan Price-Thomas joined from Cornish Pirates whilst centre Kegan Christian-Gross and lock Michael Etete came from Nottingham

Number 8 Nick Cook featured in these diaries last season for Westcombe Park, whilst centre Ronnie du Randt and hooker Seb Brownhill were with Richmond last season.

Matchday Information

According to AA route planner, the journey from Blackheath to Thame is 76 miles and should normally take one hour 40 minutes.

Online tickets for the game were £20 for adults, £18 for concessions, £10 for full-time students, whilst under 16s were allowed in free. Tickets at the gate were £22 for adults. The usual food vendors for burgers, pizzas, crepes, Greek food and coffee were in place, and a pint of Guinness Zero and normal Guinness came to £10.26 with the member’s 10% discount.

The weather at the 15.00 kick-off time was sunny and a chilly 7 degrees, but thankfully the infamous Chinnor breeze was absent !

Blackheath made five changes to the side defeated by Bedford Blues with Morley, Harding, Du Randt, flanker Noah Sloot and on-loan Ealing Trailfinders prop Biyi Alo coming into the starting line-up.

Chinnor made seven changes to the side that was victorious at Hartpury, with first starts for scrum-half Zac Lewis and lock Harry Gilson-Fox, and returns for full-back Richie Simpson, prop Ramaz Rukhadze, hooker Luke Thompson and back-row forwards Harry Dugmore and Scott Hall. Callum Pascoe, Kai Owen, Morgan Passman, Izzy Wharton and Jamie Campbell were among the finishers whilst Kieran Goss and top try scorer Alun Walker were missing altogether.

Blackheath were playing in a tasteful kit of light blue shirts with maroon hoops, black shorts and multi-coloured socks whilst, Chinnor were in their usual home kit of black and white hoops.

Match Report

The opening phases were quiet, with Chinnor playing towards the ring-road end. The first action saw Chinnor centre Tom Florence make a break from half-way and winning a penalty, but the tap from the subsequent line-out by Gilson-Fox was poor, enabling Blackheath to win turnover ball, and then a penalty near to the half-way line.

Blackheath won their line-out from inside the Chinnor 22 and Harding charged to the line only to be tackled short. A penalty advantage came to nothing, so it was back for the penalty, which took Club to 5 metres. Sloot won the line-out for the visitors but the rolling maul was well defended and a knock-on by Alo was forced to give Chinnor a scrum 5 metres from their line.

Chinnor cleared from their scrum but the referee awarded a penalty to Blackheath, presumably for offside with the kicker not running to put his other players onside. Blackheath opted to take the points, and Morley slotted over from in front of the posted. 0-3 after 9 minutes.

Chinnor fly-half Liam Richman put the restart straight out of play to give Blackheath a scrum on half-way, from which a kick bounced into touch around 8 metres from the Chinnor try-line. Dugmore won the line-out and Chinnor cleared to their 10-metre line. Blackheath took a quick line-out and with a penalty advantage, lock Edward Scragg made a strong break to within 10 metres from the try line before being tackled, and after several drives, another penalty was forced. The 5-metre line-out was won and the rolling maul rumbled over, with inevitably Harding being credited with the score. The conversion from Morley slid wide, so the score was 0-8 with 15 minutes played.

For the second time running, Richman put the restart out of play, so Club had another scrum on half-way. Blackheath looked to move the ball and Du Randt made progress to the Chinnor 22. Back-row forward Archie Smeaton, then scrum-half Burns took play to close to the Chinnor line until a penalty was awarded. Gilson-Fox was shown a yellow card for illegally stopping the Blackheath attack, and Club kicked to 5 metres.

Most of the Blackheath backs joined the rolling maul and the pack crossed the whitewash and Harding dotted down for his second try. Morley again missed from the tee, but Chinnor now trailed 0-13 with 20 minutes on the clock.

Chinnor’s play so far had been extremely sluggish and they had hardly been inside the Blackheath half, but this time Richman kicked long from the restart, which Blackheath cleared to their 10-metre line. Dugmore won the line-out for Chinnor, who moved the ball through the hands and Simpson released Ben Currie to scorch down the touchline to score in the corner. Richman’s attempted conversion drifted wide, but Chinnor were on the scoreboard at 5-13 after 22 minutes.

A high tackle on Will Cave gave Chinnor a penalty which they kicked to inside the Blackheath 22. Dugmore again won the line-out and the rolling maul got to within 5 metres from the line before being halted. Scrum-half Lewis then produced a lovely long, floated miss pass to give wing Jack Metcalf a run to the corner. Richman added an excellent conversion from out wide, so there was now just a single point between the two sides with the score 12-13 after 27 minutes.

Chinnor had scored two tries whilst being a man down. The home side won turnover ball near half-way and Florence kicked deep into the Blackheath 22, but Morley was back covering and cleared his lines. However, the referee pinged the visitors for off-side, presumably similar to the earlier offence against Chinnor, and the hosts kicked for a 5-metre line-out.  Dugmore was again the go-to man in the Chinnor line-out and after the pack charged over, hooker Thompson was credited with the try. Richman added the extras to give Chinnor a 19-13 lead with 31 minutes played.

Some kick tennis followed until Chinnor knocked on in the tackle on close to their 10-metre line. Blackheath sent a spiralling high kick into the Chinnor 22 to which Metcalf attempted to call for a mark but missed the ball, and the ball bounced into touch 15 metres from the Chinnor line. Scott Hall knocked the ball forward at the Chinnor line-out and after Blackheath recovered possession, Burns snipped down the blindside. The Club scrum-half offloaded the ball after being tackled just inside the Chinnor 22 but the resulting maul was bundled into touch.

However, as a few players bounced off the advertising hoarding in front of Fatbear, Blackheath’s Scragg snarled at Dugmore saying something like “don’t do that” and after a second’s pause stupidly head-butted the Chinnor captain right in front of the touch judge. Dugmore’s face was covered in blood from a nose-bleed and with the supporters around Fatbear baying for action against this blatant thuggery, the referee initially indicated he had been unsighted.

A short discussion with his assistant though resulted in a justified red card and Blackheath were down to 14. Interestingly, there was little complaint from the other Blackheath players, with captain Harding’s main comment to the referee enquiring if Dugmore should go off the field for a concussion protocol.

Although it looked like the referee had initially given a penalty to Blackheath, play eventually continued with Chinnor kicking a penalty to half-way, but Blackheath won turnover ball after the line-out, and Burns kicked the ball off to end the first half.

With a 6 point lead and the extra man, most spectators would have expected Chinnor to canter to victory in the second hand, and those feelings would have strengthen almost from the restart as Hall picked up a Blackheath knock-on and the home moved the ball to full-back Simpson, who with Currie outside him, sent a dummy and then raced over from just inside the Blackheath 22. Richman was again excellent from the tee, and Chinnor extended their lead to 26-13 after 41 minutes.

Blackheath though hadn’t read the script. Du Randt made a break from half-way and Morley kicked deep into the Chinnor 22 but the home side were able to clear to touch. Blackheath won a penalty at the line-out and kicked to 10 metres from the try line. The line-out was won, the rolling maul moved forward slowly, until Harding peeled off down the blindside to score a fantastic opportunist try with the Chinnor defence barely able to get a hand on him. The conversion was difficult, but Morley was again wayward from the tea.  Club were back in the game though at 26-18 with 48 minutes played.

Shortly after, winger Jake Hennessey made a good run into the Chinnor 22 following a Blackheath line-out, but the home side were able to kick back to the Blackheath half after a knock-on. More kick tennis ensued until Blackheath won a scrum penalty close to the half-way line, which was kicked to 15 metres from the Chinnor line. Club won their ball and the pack rumbled all the way to the tryline and Harding scored for a remarkable fourth time in the match. The conversion appeared to sail well wide of the nearest upright by the stadium announcer stated it had been successful to bring the score to 26-25. Two minutes after play recommenced, he sheepishly had to announce the kick had been unsuccessful, and the score was actually 26-23 after 58 minutes.

It was now getting tense and Chinnor tried to raise their game. Dugmore won a line-out and after Florence made a break into the Blackheath 22, Richman fed Currie, but the winger was tackled into touch by the corner flag. However, the referee had been playing a penalty advantage, which took Chinnor to the 5-metre line. The rolling maul looked to be gradually making its way over the line until surprisingly Harding appeared with the ball and Club cleared to touch.

The line-out tap from substitute Campbell was unexpectedly poor and Blackheath pounced onto the loose ball, and after both sided kicked possession away, Blackheath won a turnover, and Chinnor were then awarded a scrum just inside the Blackheath half. Chinnor launched several attacks but the Blackheath defence was good and number 8 Nick Cook forced a penalty at a ruck.

Blackheath kicked to their 10-metre line but Chinnor stole the line-out and looked to move the ball wide. Several attacks were halted but Metcalf had the strength to barge his way through two would be tacklers to score from 10 metres out. Richman added a fine conversion to give Chinnor some breathing space take the score to 33-23 with 66 minutes on the clock.

At this point Blackheath needed a try to get within losing bonus point range, whilst Chinnor needed two tries for the try bonus point. Despite the best efforts of both sides there was to be no more scoring.

A Chinnor kick bounced into touch inside the Blackheath 22, and although the line-out was stolen by Brockschmidt, James Bourton knocked on in the tackle as Chinnor attacked.

A few minutes later Luke Pollock was unable to hold on to a high kick from Callum Pascoe to give a scrum to Chinnor. Although the Blackheath pack produced a good shove, Chinnor were able to get the ball away.  Chinnor put the ball into orbit and Blackheath substitute Taitusi Qaniuci was unable to hold onto the ball.

Chinnor attacked from the resulting scrum but again the Blackheath defence was good, and running out of options Pascoe opted to put a grubber kick behind the Blackheath defensive line, but Burns was alert and touched down in goal for a drop-out under the goalposts.

Chinnor attacked again after gathering the drop-out but knocked on to give a scrum to Blackheath, but the visitors then knocked when they tried to move the ball, and at this point the referee had seen enough and blew for full-time.

The victory kept Chinnor in 4^th place in the table, but Blackheath slipped to 13^th.  Again, Club had put in a competitive performance but came away with nothing. Had they not had to play the second half a man down, who knows what the final result would have been. Scragg though should expect a length spell on the sidelines following his stupid head-butt.

 

 

 

Thame United 6-0 Kidlington ( att : 89 ) – 2026/27 Oxfordshire Senior Cup

November 10, 2026

Tonight saw Thame’s first match in this season’s Oxfordshire Senior Cup as they hosted Kidlington, the current holders, in the Second Round of the competition. This was one of five matches in the Second Round, with the winners joining Oxford United, Oxford City and Banbury United, the county’s three highest placed sides in the pyrmaid, in the quarter-finals.

Kidlington won the OSC last season by beating a youthful Oxford City side 4-0 in the final played at Thame’s ASM Stadium. In the earlier rounds they had eliminated Chinnor, Banbury ( 11-10 on penalties after a 0-0 away draw ) and Carterton.

The previous three editions of the competition had been won by Thame. In 2022/23 they beat a weakened Oxford City 4-1 at Court Place Farm, in 2023/24 they beat Kidlington 2-1 in a final played at Banbury, and 2024/25 they beat Ardley United 5-1 in another final played at Oxford City. Last season though, Ardley got some kind of revenge by knocking out Thame with a 2-1 win at the ASM.

Despite being the holders, Kidlington were drawn to play in the First Round of this season’s cup but received a walkover against Woodcote.

Thame Update

These diaries covered Thame’s 1-0 victory on Saturday over Stotfold, which extended their winning run to 5 games.

Kidlington

Kidlington is a large village in the parish of Oxford, and is perhaps most famously known as the HQ of the Thames Valley Police and home to fictional detectives Morse, Lewis and Hilary Greene.  Also, Oxford London Airport was known as Kidlington Airport until 2009.

In recent years Kidlington and Thame had been regular opponents, either in The Hellenic League or the Southern League Division One Central, until Kidlington were relegated following a dreadful season in 2024/25, when they only won 7 league games and finished 11 points from safety.

The return to step 5 saw Kidlington allocated to the Combined Counties Premier Division North, where they finished in 9^th place at the end of the 2025/26 season with an average attendance of 99.

Kidlington This Season

Kidlington came into tonight’s match in 5^th place in the Combined Counties Premier Division North with a 9-2-4 record, 13 points behind leaders North Greenford United, but with three games in hand.

Kidlington’s FA Cup adventure ended at the first hurdle, with a 1-3 home defeat to step 4 Larkhall Athletic. However, the FA Vase was more productive, with a 6-1 win at step 6 Crawley Green and a 5-2 home victory over step 6 Wembley, before bowing out 0-1 at home to step 5 Longlevens.

On Saturday, Kidlington won 2-0 at Holyfield but had lost two of their previous three league matches prior to that.

Their average attendance so far this season was 102, boosted by the 168 that turned up to see the 7-1 thrashing of Abingdon United, although the crowd for the 2-3 loss to Reading City was a paltry 41.

Kidlington Squad

The Kidlington squad had plenty of names familiar to Fatbear, including four former Thame United players ; namely keeper Matt Crowther, full-back Pelumi Maxwell, centre-back Leo Galpin and winger Adam Smith.

Striker Conor McDonough was part of the Oxford City Nomads team that won the 2011/12 Hellenic League Premier Division and subsequently had a number of clubs, including Banbury, Swindon Supermarine, North Leigh and Hungerford.

Veteran defender Michael Hopkins had played for Didcot, North Leigh, Banbury and Swindon Supermarine whilst striker Samuel Olawale was another former North Leigh player but had appeared in these diaries playing for Aylesbury Vale Dynamos. Winger Patrick Osborne was ex-Oxford City, Didcot Town and Hungerford.

Striker Fraser Allen, midfielder Jozef Fullerson and Smith were joint leading goalscorers with 5 goals each in all competitions, whilst keeper Crowther was the only player to have played in all 19 games so far this season.

Watching Kidlington

Fatbear had visited Kidlington’s Yarnton Road ground on two occasions, firstly in 2006 to watch a Hellenic League game against Thame which was won 1-0 by Kidlington. The other was on Boxing Day 2023, when Kidlington were again victorious, 2-1 in a bad-tempered Southern League Division One Central encounter.

Fatbear had also seen Kidlington on four occasions at the ASM stadium. In 2015/16 Kidlington beat Thame 2-1, again in the Hellenic League, but Thame had won the Southern League Division One Central meetings, 3-1 in 2021/22 and 5-0 in August 2024, the season Kidlington were relegated.

The other match Fatbear had seen at the ASM was during Aylesbury United’s ground-share in Thame, with the Ducks being 2-1 winners in 2016/17.

Matchday Information

According to AA Route Planner the journey from Kidlington to Thame is 17 miles and should normally take less than half an hour, but it can take considerably longer in the rush hour around Oxford !

Five dedicated Kiddy fans, and a drum, took their place in the small covered stand behind one of the goals, and were in good voice at the kick-off. There were probably around a dozen other Kidlington supporters dotted around the main stand.

It was raining heavily at the 19.45 kick-off, and it was to rain for the duration of the game.  The temperature was around 8 degrees.

Entrance to the game was at the normal prices, £10 for adults and £5 for concessions, £3 for Under 16s, whilst under 5s went in for free. A pint of Poretti cost £5.40 and a large cup of tea was £1.50. An online programme had been produced for the match, but no free team sheets were available at the turnstile tonight.

Kidlington made three changes to the side that beat Holyport last Saturday with Osborne and Nathan Kimber coming in to midfield, and Jack Hobbs to open the batting. Maxwell dropped to the bench, whilst Smith and Otis Castle were missing

Thame made four changes from the side that overcame Stotfold, giving run outs to Charlie Bacon, Hayden Beadle, Curtis Brown and Roger James, as Callum Hall, Ed Daffern, Jack Tutton and Harry Alexander were on the substitute’s bench.

Kidlington were playing in green shirts with black stripes, and green shorts and socks, whilst Thame were in their usual red and black shirts.

Matchday Report

Thame kicked-off attacking the ring-road end but the opening phases were very quiet as both sides gently worked their way into the game.

The first goal-mouth action came in the 8^th minute when Beadle played a delicate chip to put James behind the Kidlington left-back, but the shot from a narrow angle saw keeper Crowther make a routine save at his near post.

Two minutes later a complacent clearance from Brown was charged down by Allen, but fortunately for Thame the rebound rolled through to keeper James Callan to pick-up.

Ethan Lack collected the ball just inside the Kidlington half and passed forward to George Cleveland, who played a pass behind Kidlington left-back Zion Nditi for James to again be put clear, but this time his effort went into the side netting.

A minute later George Cleveland played a ball over Kidlington right-back Galpin for Bacon to run onto and get to the byline, but his low cross into the Kidlington 6-yard box was cleared.

With 12 minutes played, Kimber intercepted a loose ball played out of the Thame defence by Finlay Murray, but his left-footed 20 yard effort lacked power and bounced through to keeper Callan.

The opening goal of the match arrived a minute later, and Fatbear didn’t see everything that happened. Kidlington played a goal-kick around their back-four but there must have been a loose pass as Lack was alert to run on to the ball, round the keeper and deposit the ball into the empty net. 1-0 after 13 minutes.

It got worse for the visitors when Evan Took-Oxley's attempted clearance was charged down and the ball fell to Cleveland. The Thame centre-forward ignored the unmarked Lack to his right, and went for goal himself, and his 20-yard effort crept inside the near post past Crowther’s despairing dive. 2-0 with 14 minutes played.

A few minutes later Galpin went down injured near the Kidlington corner flag, and after a few minutes treatment had to leave the field to be replaced by Maxwell to play at left-back, with Nditi switching to right-back.

Thame won a corner in the 19^th minute, and after the cross was headed clear, Brown’s 30-yard effort fizzed narrowly over the bar.

Hawkins’ distribution from the back was looking suspect as a pass was cut-off by Thame captain Mark Riddick, who released Bacon, but again the low cross from the left-hand byline was cleared by the Kidlington defence.

With 23 minutes played, Bacon ran at the Kidlington defence only to be brought down on the edge of the penalty area, and Nditi was shown the first yellow card of the match. Beadle’s free-kick went through a gap in the Kidlington defensive wall but just wide of the near post.

In a rare Kidlington attack, Nditi appeared to foul Thame left-back Josh Stranks, but the referee, Horace Gumba, waved for play to continue, but Nditi’s cross was poor and was easily dealt with by Murray.

Lack then fouled Evan Took-Oxley near the half-way line, and the Kidlington players and bench screamed for further sanctions to be applied after the free-kick was awarded. However, the referee ignored this, apart from going over to the Kidlington bench to give a lecture.

Beadle produced a superb cross-field pass to the unmarked Bacon in the left-hand channel, who made his way to the byline, and his ball across the 6 yard-line gave Cleveland a tap-in at the back post. It was now 3-0 with 31 minutes on the clock.

The visitors responded by winning a free-kick on their left, but when the ball was played into the Thame area, Hobbs’ header was blocked by a Thame defender. McDonagh played a cute back-heel to put Allen in space but the cross was easily claimed by Callan.

A few moments later Kimber scythed down Bacon near the half-way line, but the referee deemed a free-kick and a word with the Kidlington player was the appropriate action.

Kidlington produced their best move of the game in the 36^th minute. A lovely through ball put Allen clear, and although his effort beat Callan, Brown had got back behind his keeper to make a block in his 6 yard box. The rebound fell to Osborne, who should have scored, but with only Brown to beat, the Thame player was again able to make the block.

Kidlington were enjoying a brief good spell, but after Osborne made a good run down the right-wing his cross was headed away by Murray.

The first questionable decision by the referee came a few minutes later when Riddick stretched to win a ball just inside the visitors’ half and a Kidlington player clattered into him after Riddick had clearly won the ball. Surprisingly, the referee awarded the free-kick to Kidlington, and after the complaints from the home side, Lack was shown a yellow card for presumably something he said.

With half-time approaching, James set-off on a 60-yard run, out-pacing two Kidlington defenders but his ball into the penalty area was cleared by Hobbs.

The poor refereeing decisions then evened themselves out as Osborne slid in win the ball from Beadle only for a free-kick to be awarded to Thame. It looked like a good tackle to Fatbear !

The half-time whistle sounded shortly after, with Thame heading to the dressing rooms fully deserving their three-goal lead.

The start of the second half was also quiet until Hawkins’ clearance was headed back to him by a Thame player, and Cleveland looked to run clear on goal. However, the Kidlington centre-back opted to foul the Thame centre-forward and was fortunate to receive only a yellow card, with perhaps Hobbs being a covering defender.

Thame were not to be denied though as a back-heel from Stranks gave James the time and space to send a curling cross towards the far post, where Riddick arrived to send a header back across goal and into the opposite corner. It was now 4-0 after 50 minutes.

Thame’s dominance continued but Brown’s cross was met by James on the stretch, and the ball struck his shin and bounced off for a goal-kick.

Murray played a poor pass out of the Thame defence which Osborne latched onto, but Thame were able to recover, and substitute Luke Tingey headed the cross off for a corner. The set-piece delivery created a scramble inside the Thame 6-yard box, but Thame cleared for Stranks to go on a 60-yard run, but Thame squandered the break with hesitation on the Kidlington penalty area, and the chance was wasted.

The referee continued to make questionable decisions as Riddick was pinged for a foul for what looked to be a good tackle on Freddie Barringer, followed by playing a doubtful advantage for Thame after Bacon was chopped down by Barringer.

Hawkins then made another poor clearance from which James was played into the Kidlington penalty area, but the centre-back was able to redeem himself by getting back to make a vital tackle.

James was again in the action as he spun away from being a sandwich between Hawkins and Nditi, but Nditi had the pace to get back and win the ball. However, James clattered into the back leg of the Kidlington full-back, and a flare-up between the two ensued. Unfortunately, a full-scale punch-up between the two, which looked likely, failed to materialise, and when peace was restored, James was shown a yellow card. Nditi was perhaps very fortunate not to be shown a second yellow card for his reaction to the foul and initiating the fracas.

James then appeared to be a marked man, as in what appeared to be a pre-meditated challenge, Hawkins jumped into the back of the Thame forward with no attempt to win the ball, but the referee failed to award a free-kick, perhaps as in doing so would have meant a second yellow card to the Kidlington centre-back.

Kidlington won a free-kick mid-way inside the Thame half, but Thomas Bucknell’s dangerous delivery was well defended.

Almost immediately after coming on to the pitch, Callum Hall won possession inside the Kidlington half and played the ball forward to James, who cut in from the right-hand touch line to the edge of the 18-yard line and sent a fierce left-footed drive in to the far bottom corner. It was fairly obvious that James enjoyed that one following the treatment he had been receiving from the Kidlington defenders. Thame now led 5-0 in the 73^rd minute.

Despite the scoreline the handful of Kidlington fans behind the goal were still singing and banging the drum !

Thame continued to pour forward, and Brown saw a shot blocked by Hobbs for a corner. Hawkins, under pressure from Alexander, could only weakly head clear and Thame immediately played the ball forward for Alexander to run on goal. With Beadle unmarked to his left, Alexander opted to go for glory himself, but Hobbs was able to block for a corner.

Kidlington’s frustrations continued as substitute Joey Aust made no attempt to win the ball and jumped into Riddick, but again the referee decided there was no foul or any cards necessary.

On the other hand, Brown then clearly clipped the ankle of Barringer, but again the referee failed to see any offence. With the Kidlington players understandably waiting for a whistle, play continued, but the shot from Alexander was poor and Crowther made a routine save.

Thame won a corner with two minutes remaining, but Tingey’s glancing header sailed narrowly over the bar. However, with full-time just about up, Thame scored a glorious final goal, walking the ball into the net following passes from Brown, Alexander and Daffern to tee up Beadle with a tap-in at the far post. The score was now 6-0 after 90 minutes.

There was still time for Kidlington to win a corner, from which Thame cleared off their goal line and broke quickly, only for Kidlington substitute Hopkins to pull back Brown on the half-way line to prevent the Thame player from running clear. It looked to be an obvious denial of a goal scoring opportunity, but the referee decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and blew for full-time rather than dishing out any further punishment.

At the final whistle Thame progressed to the quarter-finals in a much easier fashion than most of their supporters would have expected, whilst Kidlington’s defence of their title was rather limp.

Thame United : Callan – Brown, West ( Tingey ), Murray, Stranks – Beadle, Riddick, Lack ( Hall ), Bacon ( Alexander ) - James, Cleveland ( Daffern )

Kidlington : Crowther – Galpin ( Maxwell ), Hawkins, Hobbs, Nditi – Took-Oxley ( Hopkins ), Barringer, Kimber – Osborne ( Aust ), McDonagh ( Fullerton ), Allen ( Bucknell )

 

 

Thame United 1-0 Stotfold ( att : 98 ) – 2026/27 Southern League Division One Central

November 7, 2026

Since these diaries witnessed Thame ending their barren run with a controversial 2-1 home win against Welwyn Garden City, they had subsequently won three more matches, winning 3-2 at high-flying Potters Bar Town, 4-0 at home to MK Irish and 3-1 at Barton Rovers. Striker George Cleveland had joined from Aylesbury United, and opened his account for Thame in the win at Barton Rovers.

These results took Thame up to 10^th place in the table prior to today’s game and with anywhere from 3 to 5 games in hand of the sides above them. If they won all their games in hand, and that is a big if, they would go top !

Today’s opposition were Stotfold, who had enjoyed a good start to the season and arrived at the ASM in 7^th place in table.

Stotfold

Stotfold is a town in central Bedfordshire with a population estimated at just under 10,000 and located between Biggleswade and Letchworth Garden City.

Its football club were founded in 1946 and are known as The Eagles, although more recently the colloquial term “the fold” has become increasingly popular. Home is New Roker Park, which cost £2M to build and opened in 2020 after their original Roker Park ground was sold for housing.

Stotfold’s first season at step 4 was in 2023/24 where they finished a respectable 7^th place, but in the 2024/25 season they ended up in 17^th place, two points clear of the relegation places. Last season Stotfold were again 17^th, but comfortably clear of danger.

Stotfold This Season

Stotford came into today’s game with an impressive 6-7-2 record, and were 2-5-1 away from home.

Stotfold began the season with a 4-1 home win over step 5 Basildon United in the FA Cup, and beat step 5 Cockfosters 3-0 at home in the next round. However, dreams of Wembley were extinguished in the next round with a 2-3 lost at step 4 Witham Town.

In the league, Stotfold began with a tough run of fixtures against sides expected to be at the top end of the table this season, but emerged unbeaten after three games, with a 2-2 draw at Biggleswade, a 1-1 draw at Royston, then a 1-1 home draw with Winslow United.

The bubble burst with a 0-5 defeat at Welwyn Garden City, followed with a 0-1 home loss to Hadley. However, since then Stotfold, had played 10 more league matches, winning 6 and drawing 4. Four draws had been played in their five most recent fixtures until last time out, they beat Flackwell Heath 2-0.

In the FA Trophy, Stotfold got past fellow step 4 side Hadley 2-0, but crashed out 0-3 at home to step 4 Gorleston Town.

The average home league attendance so far was 133 so far, compared to 214 last season.

Stotfold Squad

From the squad that played at the ASM stadium last season, only keeper Liam Gooch, defender Lewis Thomas and forward Richesse Mvicki were still with the club.

Last season’s top scorer, striker Henry Snee, was now playing for step 3 Hanwell Town, whilst winger Luca Cardines had joined Biggleswade FC, and midfielder Mitchell Gooch and defender Jake Bunyan had signed for Biggleswade United.

Ex-Dunstable Town and Kempston Rovers striker Plamedi Bomole was their top scorer with 6 goals, level with Taylor Franklin. Veteran striker Taylor Rhiney had previously played for Hitchin Town, Barton Rovers, Biggleswade United, AFC Dunstable and Bedford Town amongst others.

Ex-Sheffield United, Northampton Town, Hayes and Yeading United, Hemel Hempstead, Wealdstone, Thame United and Beaconsfield Town amongst others midfielder Matty Harriott recently advertised on social media that he was coming out of retirement looking for a side at step 3 or 4 side, and seems to have settled on Stotfold.

Spanish born left-back Hugo Valencia joined Stotfold after being released by Norwich City, winger William Ademiluyi signed from Biggleswade United, whilst defender and captain Pierce Mitchell joined from Berkhamsted Town.

Previous Meetings

These two sides had met on 6 previous occasions and Stotfold were yet to record a victory.

Last season, with Fatbear in attendance, Thame needed a goal in the 11^th minute of added time to win 1-0 at home, whilst in the return, Thame were 2-1 winners despite Ed Daffern, now with Thame, opening the scoring for Stotfold.

The season before saw a remarkable game at the ASM Stadium. With less than 30 minutes left to play, Stotfold led by 4-0, but Thame amazingly stormed back to draw 4-4, including two goals in added on time. Fatbear was there to report on that match too.

The return match at Stotfold also ended with honours even, as this time Stotfold twice came from behind to draw 2-2.

Despite fighting against relegation in 2023/24, Thame did the double over Stotfold, winning 2-1 at home and 2-0 away.

Matchday Information

According to AA Route Planner the journey from Stotfold to Thame is 47 miles and should normally take one hour twenty minutes down the A418 via Aylesbury.

The weather at the 15.00 kick-off was dry and cloudy, and the temperature was around 9 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 large cup of tea cost £1.50. An online programme had been produced for the match, and free team sheets were available at the turnstile.

Stotfold made two changes to the side that beat Flackwell Heath last Saturday, with Matt Moloney coming in at right-back and Dylan Logan into midfield, and Enock Ekongo and Harriott were missing. Thame were unchanged from the side that was victorious at Barton Rovers.

Stotfold were playing in a change kit of all purple, whilst Thame were in their usual red and black shirts.

Matchday Report

A minute’s silence was observed before Thame kicked off attacking the ring-road end. In the first minute Josh Stranks ran from just outside the Thame area to the Stotfold byline and his cut-back reached Cleveland, but a Stotfold defender was alert and took the ball off the Thame centre-forward.

At the other end, Franklin dramatically fell to the floor holding his head after being tackled by Thame full-back Callum Hall. The referee correctly allowed play to continue for a short while, before stopping the game for Frankline to receive treatment. He recovered, but had to spend a minute on the touchline before returning to the game.

Thame were having the better of the early stages without creating too much danger for the visitors, with Ethan Lack’s pull back from the byline finding Daffern, whose shot was blocked, then a long range shot from Harry Alexander lacked power and rolled gently through to keeper Gooch.

Stotfold were first seen as an attacking threat when Joseph Beardon’s chip towards the far post was met by Franklin, but the header sailed high and wide.

Alexander skipped past Valencia but Joseph Beardon was covering back and put the ball out for a throw-in. Hall’s long throw was headed away to Alexander just outside the Stotfold area, but the shot went harmlessly over the crossbar. Shortly after, Lack had a long range effort blocked.

At the other end, Dan West needed to make a sliding interception to prevent Ademiluyi running onto a through pass.

With 19 minutes played, Franklin’s long throw into the Thame area was headed on by Thomas, but West was on hand to clear from inside the 6-yard box. Thame looked to counter-attack, and Cleveland played a cross-field ball to find Alexander in space on the right wing, but Stotfold were able to able to half the move at the expense of a corner. The set-piece was headed away and Stotfold had a 3 vs 3 break, but the attempted pass by Valencia was poor and easily cut-out by Hall.

The visitors created the best chance of the game so far in the 20^th minute. Simo Mbonkwi slid a lovely pass through the Thame back-line for Rhiney to run onto, but the shot across the face of the goal rolled just wide of the far post.

A minute later Franklin sent a 20-yard thunderbolt goal bound, but the shot was straight at Thame keeper James Callan, who spilt the ball but gathered at the second attempt before Rhiney could take advantage.

Cleveland then appeared to be brought down by Mitchell just outside the Stotfold area, but the referee thought otherwise and waved play on.

The visitors though were enjoying a good spell and Franklin was put clear down the left-hand channel. However, after cutting back inside onto his right foot, the low shot lacked power and was a comfortable save for Callan.

Thame captain Mark Riddick played a through pass for Cleveland to run for but he could only get clear after pulling back Thomas for an obvious free-kick to Stotfold.

Valencia was not having a good game for the visitors, and after he lost possession near the half-way line, Thame were able to build an attack which saw Stranks cross toward the 6-yard line, where Cleveland stuck out a foot, but could only deflect the ball narrowly wide of the near post.

From a Stotfold corner, a header by Thomas from beyond the far post was pushed away for another corner by Callan. The following corner was headed away by West for a throw-in, from which Thomas was penalised for pushing.

Another Stotfold long throw saw Thomas win a header and Mitchell turned on the ball, but could only scoop the ball over the bar from 10 yards.

With 37 minutes on the clock, Lack ran past Logan but was brutally upended by Moloney for a free-kick not too far away from the corner flag and the referee’s cards stayed in his pocket. However, Jack Tutton’s free-kick was well claimed by keeper Gooch. A minute later Cleveland shot horribly wide with a long-range effort.

With half-time approaching Daffern was brought down just outside the Stotfold area by Mitchell, who was shown the first yellow card of the match. Tutton free-kick produced a great save from Gooch, diving to his left to push the ball away for a corner. Thame took a short corner routine, but Alexander’s shot nearly went out of the ground.

With 45 minutes played, the visitors managed to put the ball into the net. Rhiney managed to get his head to a ball into the Thame area, and although Callan managed to get a hand to it to push away, the ball struck Hall and went into net for an own goal. However, the linesman’s flag was raised for off-side so it remained goalless.

The last action of the first period saw a powerful header by Thomas from the edge of the Thame penalty area go a couple of feet wide with Callan beaten.

The teams headed for their half-time oranges with the score still 0-0, which seemed to be fair scoreline. Thame were winning the midfield battle and had enjoyed more of the possession, but Stotfold had created the better chances, and their front three were looking sharp.

Thame started the second half strongly and Daffern had a 20-yard left-footed effort pushed away by Gooch, this time diving to his right to make the parry. Hall then played a pass which put Cleveland clear but as the Thame striker attempted to go round the keeper, Gooch managed to get a strong hand to push the ball away. Thame reworked possession, but the attempt from Daffern sailed high over the bar.

Alexander then cut back in from the right touchline but his left-footed shot from just outside the Stotfold area bounced narrowly wide.

In the 55^th minute, Tutton charged towards the Stotfold area only to be chopped down by Logan, who received the second yellow card of the game. Logan was substituted almost immediately after.

Daffern, Cleveland and Stranks exchanged passes around the edge of the Stotfold area before the low cross from Stranks was blocked by Moloney.

After a move from Stotfold broke down just inside the Thame half, Daffern spread play wide to Alexander who made his way into the visitors’ penalty area. Looking up, the pass was played across the edge of the penalty area where the on-rushing Daffern sent the ball into the bottom corner of the net to give Thame the lead against his former club. It was 1-0 with 59 minutes played.

A minute later Alexander, Stranks and Riddick all exchanged passes until Tutton saw his effort blocked. Valencia went on a good run for Stotfold but Ademiluyi’s control was poor and the ball rolled away for a Thame goal-kick.

At this point it was starting to get misty.

With Thame having taken the lead, the pattern of the game changed, with Thame content to move the ball quickly deep into the Stotfold half and to keep the visitors as far away as possible from their goal. Stotfold made changes to their formation but never looked capable of getting back to level terms.

Ademiluyi had two strong runs down the right wing. The first time Stranks made a great tackle to thwart the danger, but on the second occasion got past Stranks only for his low cross to be cleared. In-b6etween, Tutton did well to get to the left byline and find Alexander with his pass, but the touch was poor and Stotfold were able to clear.

Thame substitute Roger James robbed Mbonkwi mid-way inside the Stotfold half and fed Alexander, but the shot was weak and a regulation save for Gooch.

A minute later, Mbonkwi again lost possession, this time Lack took the ball off him and ran for goal. Gooch bravely came out of his area to make a block as Lack attempted to prod the ball past him.

A quick free-kick by Thame put Stranks clear of the dozing defenders but the shot from a tight angle was blocked for a corner, which was followed by another corner, from which Alexander put a right-footed shot a yard wide.

Gooch was called into action again, under pressure punching away a corner from under his own crossbar.

With three minutes remaining it looked like Thame must score again. Lack won the ball in the middle of the park and put Alexander away on the right wing. Alexander got to the byline and his pull-back found James 10 yards out. The Thame substitute took a touch, then took his time deciding where to place his shot, but finally his shot was blocked for a corner.

With added time being played, Stotfold managed to play the ball to Olayinka inside the Thame area, but rather than look up to assess his options, the Stotfold substitute shot wildly and the effort was blocked by the Thame defender two yards from him. Stotfold managed to regain possession but Franklin shot meekly from outside the area and Callan made an easy catch.

In desperation, Stotfold launched a long throw into the Thame penalty area but Callan rose the highest to punch the ball away.

At the final whistle, Thame had claimed an important victory which took them up to 8^th in the table, above Stotfold on goal difference, whose unbeaten run had come to an end. The game wasn’t the highest quality, and although Thame probably should have won by a greater margin, they won’t mind too much as Stotfold look to be a hard side to beat.

Thame United : Callan – Hall, West, Murray, Stranks – Lack, Tutton ( Beadle ), Riddick, Daffern ( Brown ) - Alexander, Cleveland ( James )

Stotfold : Gooch – Moloney, Mitchell, Thomas, Valencia – Beardon ( Jordan ), Mbonkwi, Logan ( Mvioki ) – Ademiluyi ( Olayinka ), Rhiney, Franklin