The sun shone brightly across Cow Roast with just the hint of an autumn chill in the air as the 4s pushed back against a strong Thame side.

The game started evenly, with some bright work from Graham (making his very welcome return from injury that kept him out last season) running the midfield and finding useful outlets down the flanks with the evergreen Dooby linking well with the enthusiastic Jonny. Midway through the half the injury curse struck - Captain Nigel, imperious at sweeper but covered in more tape than an overzealously wrapped Christmas present, tweaked a calf and limped disconsolately off. Taking advantage, a length-of-the-pitch run from a Thame forward saw him in the D with only Pete to beat; the OG Jedi keeper used all his mind tricks to persuade him to push the ball lamely wide of the right hand post. With the versatile Laurence slotting in at centre half for his fourth position of an eventful first 35 we went in goalless.

Thame upped the ante after half time, surging forwards only to hit the brick wall that was Robin – who, somewhat confusingly for the youthful Thame forward line, spent an unusual amount of the game prone on the Astro (perhaps first man to cover more yards vertically getting up and down than he covered on the pitch). With James Fido resolute, James Arnold sprightly and Simon (sporting a cracker of a black eye following an early attempt to head the ball) putting in a performance for the ages at right back, Thame for all their possession rarely threatened.

Berko still looked dangerous on the break with Mark increasingly into the action. And with just minutes remaining, a flowing move down the right saw Tom Arnold threading the ball across to Alex who pivoted sweetly to plant a reverse through the legs of the nearest defender and into the far corner. Thame heads visibly dipped and we closed out the match for a hard-fought 1-0 win.

The match was played in a great spirit – with many thanks to Jo and Jamie for umpiring a game that somehow featured more icepacks (3) than shots on target (2), and more goals (1) than we won short corners (0 – so sadly no repeat of Nigel’s ‘scuff-it-and whack-it’ routine from last week). MoM went to Alex for a great debut goal.