United breezed into the Oxfordshire Senior Cup final this evening with a convincing win over Thame United at Court Place Farm, despite going a goal down. The final scoreline could have been more convincing than 5-2, but some wayward finishing from United’s forward, plus some desperate defending from the Thame defence, kept the score down.

Thame took the lead after just nine minutes following a mix up in the Oxford defence. Goalkeeper Bradie Clarke came out of his area to make a clearance, but could only head the ball against Andrew Gunn. The ball was rolling into the Oxford net, but Danny Keen nipped in to make sure he got the final touch. Thame keeper Steve Smith had been relatively untroubled for the first half hour of the match, but when Craig Davies latched onto a through-ball from Juan Pablo Raponi and jigged past a couple of challenges, Smith was unable to keep out Davies’s rasping shot to give the Us a barely deserved equaliser.

It wasn’t long afterwards that United took the lead. Danny Morgan crossed from the right and Paul Wanless powered home a far-post header for the skipper’s third goal in as many reserve games. Less than two minutes later Oxford went further ahead as Raponi latched onto an excellent pass from Davies to nip the ball past Smith and knock home his first goal in Oxford colours.

Oxford maintained their momentum in the second half, which wasn’t too old before Raponi skipped past three Thame challenges and shot home his second goal. Morgan scored United’s fifth when he nipped in between a defender and Smith to chip the ball into the net, but despite their pressure Oxford were unable to score again, and Thame pulled a goal back through player-manager Mark West with about ten minutes remaining.

The first half was enlivened by a mass brawl near the Thame dug-oug after Raponi won a throw-in and a Thame player went in too hard on him, causing a Raponi reaction. Everyone on the pitch bar Bradie Clarke got involved, and a couple of people in the stand and dug-out also joined in. Eventually order was restored, and referee C Banks spoke at length to Craig Davies and a Thame player, but cautioned no-one. Indeed, Banks didn’t produce a card all game.

Oxford’s defence looked shakey on a few occasions, with Michael Diaz looking better going forward than at the back, and David Woozley and Gunn failing to strike up a partnership. Gunn was forced off with a nasty-looking leg injury mid-way through the second half, to be replaced by a nervous-looking Chris Roberts, with Lee Molyneaux moving into the centre of defence. Oxford had a lot of threat from the wings, with Emiliano Diaz and Raponi always looking threatening, although in the centre neither Wanless nor Paul Burton were able to exercise a controlling influence. When Amine Karam replaced Emiliano, and then Tom Winters came on for Raponi, the threat wasn’t diminished. Indeed, both players made an excellent contribution, with Karam in particular looking to be far too classy for the Thame players to cope with. Up front Davies and Morgan looked sharp, and often combined well together. All in all, a good run-out for the reserves, who will be looking forwards to playing either Oxford City or Witney United in the final.