Sevens drown in the Thame

Another early morning fixture saw the mighty 7s back on the road to the windswept and lonely north to take on Thame 3s for a top of the bottom clash.

Before the game had hardly started, we were already picking the ball out of the back of the goal. An early wake up call for the defence of Tyler, old Andy (Fry), slightly newer Andy (Staig) and Matt Hill, who picked up their game - but knew they were in for a long match.

Rudi and Steve Olds on the wings made some runs with Jeremy as ever giving good service in the middle. New Andy (Barrett) made a number of charges forward but we failed to penetrate. Jayden and Phil saw little of the ball, but were actively making runs to develop openings.

The highlight of the first half and worthy winners of the DOTD award fell to Matt and Andy F who both made dramatic and failed attempts to plug the ball upfield from the D and then kicked the ball to concede a short corner. The resulting unstoppable goal only served to crown their shame.

Slightly crest-fallen the team needed a few words of encouragement from our leader and we returned to the field in upbeat spirit.

The first 20 minutes of the second half was much more positive. Jeremy and Andy B made some strong runs at the opposition and we forced a couple of short corners, but despite the pressure we failed to make an impact.

Thame were quick on the counter attack and the defence (without any subs) were stretched and seemed to spend most of the last quarter defending short corner after short corner. Rhys made many good saves, but the defence was spent and Thame put in 4 more goals during the half.

Sonning continued to push forward, with Andy F making some runs up the middle, but Thame held strong. After Phil went down after what appeared to be a rugby tackle, it was obvious that no-one quite understood the restart procedure (should we go on one or three) nor the rights and wrongs of giving the ball back to the opposition when they stopped for an injury - the jury is still out.

There were a number of nominations for MoTM, including a shameless attempt at self-nomination from Phil Cooper (that we all ignored), but the deserving winner this weekend went to Tyler for his extraordinary defensive efforts throughout the game.

Next weekend marks the final game of the season, once again on the road where a winning finale against Abingdon is our goal.