Town falter again

Ten-man Yate hit back to make it 10 without a win for Thatcham

Yate Town 3 Thatcham Town 2

THATCHAM hit double figures as they reached 10 league games without a win.

And to make it worse, they surrendered an interval lead to a 10-man Yate side,

and now trail in ninth place in the Evo Stik League Southern's Division One South and West.

Thatcham had striker Carl Davies making his debut, but despite looking sharp and able, he was too often left as a peripheral figure as Thatcham's performance fell away in the second half.

They had taken an early blow when the outstanding Tyrone Mings struck a stunning goal out of nothing from 30 yards out, and were hit again when Jemel Johnson limped off after only 16 minutes.

And the hat-trick of setbacks was completed when Yate goalkeeper Josh Dempsey pulled down substitute Carl Self, but James Clark's weakly hit penalty was a simple task for Dempsey to gather.

But Clark gave Thatcham a massive boost after 24 minutes when Dempsey's poor clearance fell to Clark 45 yards out, and he promptly directed his shot back beyond the goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net.

Thatcham took control and deservedly the lead nine minutes later when the ball cannoned off Tom Melledew and through to Self, who ran on to beat Dempsey.

It should have been another boost to the visitors when Yate full back Tom Warren was sent off for jumping in at Davies three minutes before the interval but it was Yate who looked sharper and more focussed after the re-start and although Self and Clark had openings, Yate got a deserved leveller after 76 minutes when Hector Mackie's free kick evaded the wall and Paul Strudley down by his near post.

Shane Kingston forced a sharp save out of Dempsey, but Yate snatched the winner five minutes from time when Mings ripped into the Thatcham back line to set up David Stone for a simple finish.