Thame Rangers 1st (0) Tring Ath.Rex (3)3

On a carpet of a pitch against opposition unbeaten in the Hellenic Div One this season this squad put on a performance ,especially in the first half , that was virtually faultless and a pleasure to watch.

Changing formation we went with a 4-5-1 formation and asked the midfield 3 of Miles Blunsom,Teddie Paul and Joe Smith to stop Thames Rangers dominating that area of the pitch. Having got the ball we kept it well and worked our way up the pitch before releasing Jack Sunderland who put in a superb performance wide on the right,or feeding Connor Church wide on the left who in turn released Joe Naylor at centre forward.

When out of possession we reverted to a midfield 5 but keeping a relatively high line. This forced our opponents backwards and sideways and when they were forced to play longer, it was meat and drink for a back 4 of Scott Henderson, Les Barkers- Obua, Matt Stacey and Gareth Terblanche.

To be fair we had a dream start when in the 2nd minute their custodian threw the ball to Jack Sunderland who had the wit the draw a defender and feed Joe Naylor who passed the ball into the net.

Luke Priestley,who was very steady in goal, pulled off a good save as for the first and last time in the half our goal was seriously threatened.

Working hard we made excellent use of possession and after 20 mins after a break down the left we did well to keep the ball alive on the edge of their area for Teddie Paul to finish into the top right hand corner.

On the principle that "if it ain't broke don't change it" we kept up the effort and quality required and a 3rd goal resulted after 40 mins when after good work by a rejuvenated Joe Smith, Joe Naylor swept in his 11th goal in 10 games this season.

At half time although justifiably taking pride in a job half done this was followed by a reminder that Thame Rangers would have to change their way of playing it they were to get back into the game. Consequently for the first 10 mins we dropped a little deeper to deny space in behind but although we were a bit sloppy, Thames made only one real chance when their forward found lots of space between our centre halves but failed to finish.

Slowly we began to create chances on the break and certainly Joe Naylor should have completed his hat trick and Jack Sunderland got himself a well earned strike but it was not to be.

Subs Will Mullarkey, Dan Smethers and Ollie Ruttle played their part and this was a genuine squad performance but I must mention Scott Henderson who maintained his high standard this season .

Homer Green away in next Round date tbc ( That means " to be confirmed " Teddie).

L.Priestley, S.Henderson, G.Terblanche, M.Stacey, L.Barker-Obua, T.Paul, M.Blumsom,J.Smith, C.Church, J.Naylor, J.Sunderland.
Subs, Will Mullarkey, Dan Smethers, Ollie Ruttle.

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