THAME men’s first team suffered their first defeat of 2012 and only their second of the season as they went down 1-0 away to Wallingford at the weekend.
THAME men suffered their first defeat of 2012 and only their second of the season as they went down 1-0 away to Wallingford at the weekend.
The visitors played much of the game with 10 men after an early injury and a lack of substitutes disadvantaged them from the outset.
The game was competitive and started brightly with both teams trying to play flowing hockey and spread the ball around the back.
In the first five minutes the home side were unlucky when they had a goal disallowed but Thame did well to counter-attack as Clifford Brown went agonisingly close just seconds later as he struggled to get on the end of an Alex Merrick cross.
When Thame went down to 10 men they knew it was going to be a hard game but despite the numerical disadvantage Thame kept themselves in the match thanks to disciplined defending from James Rudolph and Nick Moore.
Chris Humphrey was an ever-present defensive bastion as he consistently cleaned up at the edge of the area.
Sam Seddon and Jamie Alexander proved outlets at left and right back and the forward pairing of Brown and Merrick put in a sterling effort tracking back to assist their beleaguered teammates.
When Wallingford missed a harshly awarded penalty-flick Thame thought they had done enough to secure a point but it wasn’t to be as in the dying minutes a fortunate ricochet dropped to a home striker who fired home via a hefty deflection.
Despite the loss Thame remain top of the table by two points.
Thame ladies’ seconds drew 2-2 with Henley while their ladies’ firsts continued their total dominance of the league with a 10-1 thrashing of Abingdon.
Thame Hockey Club train at {http://www.nexuscommunity.org/my-nearest-site/south-oxfordshire/thame-leisure-centre.html|Thame Leisure Centre|directions} on Wednesdays from 8.45pm.
Visit {http://www.thamehockey.co.uk/|www.thamehockey.co.uk|Thame Hockey Club} to find out more.