Thame Rangers 1

TWO games in the space of three days saw Farnham Town crash out of two cup competitions - but they can hold their heads up high as it could have been a very different story.

First up was the second qualifying round of the FA Vase and a trip along the M40 to Oxfordshire to take on Hellenic Division One East leaders Thame Rangers.

With Town being top of their own division this was always going to be a tough and tight encounter - and so it proved.

The home side started the brighter and had several early threats on the Farnham goal, but visiting goalkeeper Stuart Norman was equal to them all.

With blustery conditions making quality football difficult the game soon became a scrappy affair, with some feisty tackles coming in from both sides.

As the half wore on, however, Town grew into the game and began to look like the better side with right back Max Meaton coming closest to opening the scoring with a 25-yard, left-footed drive that smacked the post with the home goalkeeper well beaten as the sides went in at the break goalless.

The second half continued in a similar vein to the first, with the swirling wind making it difficult for players to judge their passes correctly and the longer the game went on the scrappier it became, leaving the feeling that one goal would settle matters and that that was likely to come from an error or a set piece.

While the Town back line was generally coping with everything thrown at them, it was the home side who came closest to scoring with a free kick that rattled the crossbar while a rare error in defence allowed Thame striker Pat Buston through on goal before being unceremoniously brought down by Farnham goalkeeper Norman after he’d been lobbed and his effort was bouncing goalward.

The home supporters were baying for the referee to dimiss Norman but he elected to only caution him as in truth Town full back Tom Smith had got back to clear the shot.

The game was now becoming stretched with neither side wanting extra time and Thame’s winner came with just two minutes left on the clock. In an almost carbon copy of the effort on goal just moments earlier, a Town mistake allowed Buston free on goal again and this time he elected to take the ball round the onrushing Norman and was left with the easy task of rolling the ball into an empty net.

In a do-or-die move, Town manager Turkington immediately made two substitutions and the visitors immediately created a couple of chances for Scurfield and Tarrant, but the home side were equal to them and Town’s dreams of playing at Wembley must now wait for another season.