Match report by Andy Miller
Thatcham travelled to Chalvey (in Slough) looking for 3 points and to continue their unbeaten run as they did just that with an accomplished performance. Thatcham handed a debut to striker Bradley Stevens following his move from Reading YMCA. Thatcham started right on the front foot with the front three of La Rocca, Drammeh and Stevens causing havoc down the flanks and interchanging through the middle. Goater was finding acres of space in the middle of the park and he dictated the pace of the game throughout.

The chance opening came in the opening minutes with Goater threading in La Rocca but a rare heavy touch allowed the defender to clear. Thatcham opened the scoring with a wonderful sweeping move starting with Aspell who fed Carrington, he burst forward and found Goater who’s wonderful cross-field ball found La Rocca who cross found Drammeh, he set Carrington who stroked the ball home from the edge of the box. Thatcham didn’t stop there and continued to flood forward at every opportunity with Drammeh giving the full back nightmares as breezes past him at every opportunity.

Carrington and Goater continued to boss the midfield and the second goal came after a lovely chip over the backline from Carrington found the pacy Drammeh and made no mistake in finding the back of net.

A halftime substitution saw Haresnape replaced by Pringle due to a knock and he immediately got into the action with a great early tackle on the Chalvey striker. Thatcham sat back a bit in the second half allowing the hosts a bit more of the ball but always looked dangerous on the flanks. Two more subs due to slight niggles saw Aspell and Stevens replaced by Barker and Griffiths.

Browne slid the ball down the line for Griffiths to chase and he beat the defender and flashed a cross across the ball which just evaded Drammeh. La Rocca then danced his way through four players but his shot whistled over the bar. Drammeh then went close after beating the full back again but his shot was off target. With the game entering the last 10 mins the hosts had their first real effort but Harris saved well. The hosts did get back into the game briefly after nodding in from a set piece but moments after the restart Drammeh grabbed his second of the game after a high press on the Chalvey keeper resulted in him kicking the ball against Drammeh and the ball rolled straight into the net.

The full time whistle blew and Thatcham take the 3 points and with it a little break from league football with three cup games to come