Thame Men's 4 travelled to Leighton Buzzard looking to continue the strong run of form that had seen us win 4 of our first 5 games but knowing from the opposition's results to date that this would be a tough game. As last week strong availability enabled us to take a good size squad, although delays on route meant we had to make a last minute change to the starting line up.

From the hit back it was clear that LB were confident in possession and happy to pass the ball around the midfield and defence and, for the first 10 minutes or so, Thame struggled to gain any real possession or foothold in the game. It was therefore a bit of a surprise when, against the run of play, Justin tapped in after about 12 minutes to put Thame 1 nil up with what I think was probably our first real attack of the game. The goal showed the benefit of quick passing and taking your chances when you get them.

The remainder of the first half followed a similar pattern with LB strong in possession but not able to find the finishing touches in the final third, whilst Thame made the most of the chances that we managed to create with Jason and Jake adding a goal each to make half tine score 3 nil to Thame. On the downside though we lost Brad to a calf injury midway through the first half, resulting is us playing a new pairing of Matt H and Jacob in central defence for the remainder of the game. In addition Jason decided he could do with a quick breather, so was slightly over enthusiastic with his discussions with the umpire and earned himself a green card in the process resulting in us playing with 10 men for a short period.

Having got a good advantage we switched to a 4/4/2 formation in the second half to add a bit more solidity to the midfield, relying on the younger legs to add the speed needed to hit LB on the break. As in the first half LB probably had more of the possession and chances but Thame were clinical in converting the chances we created enabling us to add a further two goals and enter the final phase of the game with a comfortable 5 nil lead.

The final 15 minutes saw a prolonged onslaught from LB but with Odhran in inspired form in goal and Jacob and Matt holding a strong line in central defence supported well by Fred and the rest of the midfield we managed to concede only one goal with about 4 minutes left on the clock to leave the final score at 5:1 to Thame.

Overall a great performance from the team and it is really good to see how the juniors are developing at senior level and the strength and depth we are managing to bring to the squad which has enabled us to manage to the loss of 4 senior players to hamstring and other injuries over as many weeks.

It looks like we may now have an enforced early season break but hopefully this will enable us to get a few of the injured players back and be ready to start strong again in early December.