Thame U16 boys v Wycombe

U16 Boys were on the road again but this time in far better weather conditions and with good numbers allowing us the luxury of 4 subs against Wycombe. After the disappointing loss against Amersham the coaches were keen to make sure we started strongly and also that we were quick to press when the opposition had possession in their own defensive third. It was great to see how the boys responded to the lecture before the start and how difficult we made it for Wycombe to break out of defence with a really disciplined press marshalled by Robbie and Jaco.

Thame quickly established domination of possession yet it took until 15 minutes for us to convert the possession into a goal when Stephen converted a classical poaches goal, tapping in at the left hand post - showing why we are always pushing the wingers to get in on the post when we have possession of the ball in the final third. From the restart Thame again showed great discipline in attack and shutting down their defence forcing them to play around the back and concede possession from missed passes. After 20 minutes Robbie was on hand to add a second followed quickly by a third goal for Thame. From this point Wycombe really struggled to get any foothold in the game and despite forcing one or two short corners and a couple of useful opportunities were unable to test Matty in goal with more than a couple of shots in the whole game. In order to ensure that the game remained competitive we made full use of the subs and changed formations to give players the opportunity to play out of their normal positions.

It is not often I suspect that we will end a game with our two central defenders playing up front but Jake with 2 goals and Dan who tried everything to score but just could not quite get the ball into the back of the net from inside the D (though he did manage from outside) proved that we have great flexibility across the team.

Final score Wycombe 0 : Thame 8 but in fairness the sides were slightly mismatched and we will hope to try and get a friendly against the Wycombe A team later in the season. Full credit to the Wycombe players who never gave up and had a fantastic attitude throughout and also to the Wycombe coaching staff. Hard to single out a particular man of the match when everyone did their job well, were happy to be substituted and also to play out of position. Next match is another long away trip this time to Ashford with new date of 8th November.

Dunce of the day goes to the team manager who left his car in the school car park as opposed to the sports field car park only to return to find all of the gates closed and had to rely on two of the boys to give him a leg up so he could climb the security fence and get to the car - fortunately the gates were of the type that opened when you drove at them ?.