Ross
Cook's early penalty saw the hosts win this first leg tie against 1874
Northwich and take a slender lead up to Cheshire for the second leg next
weekend.
Both teams were welcomed onto the field by a good crowd of 1,134, with a few hundred noisy visiting fans making up that figure, as they and the players endured snowy freezing conditions at Waterside Park.
And Thatcham took the game to their opponents early on and were awarded a fourth minute penalty after a clear foul inside the box, and Cook stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way and the Berkshire hosts had the perfect start to this one.
The home side continued to have the better of the opening exchanges and saw a couple of efforts go straight at the keeper, and it took the visitors the best part of fifteen minutes to register their first attempt at goal, forcing a decent save from the hosts keeper.
In the 21st minute the visitors were screaming for a spot kick of their own after they claimed a foul inside the box, however the referee waived their claims away, although from my angle it looked like a foul.
The visitors by now were having a decent spell and putting plenty of pressure on the home side, but they couldn't find a way past a solid Thatcham back line.
And after a ten minute spell from the visitors, the hosts almost doubled their lead in the 34th minute but saw a decent curling effort tipped wide by the keeper.
A couple of minutes after that a defensive mistake from the hosts almost saw Northwich level in comical circumstances, when a clearence struck a defender and almost went in, before two minutes after that the Northwich keeper had to make a brilliant save to deny the hosts again.
The hosts then saw another effort go straight at the keeper before Northwich had a great chance to level three minutes before the break when they found themselves in on goal, but saw the keeper save with his legs and thwart them.
The hosts then missed a golden chance right on half time, seeing the keeper save with his legs and the ball shoot across goal agonisingly just ahead of players coming in for a tap in. It did mean the hosts went into the break a goal ahead.
Half Time Thatcham Town 1 1874 Northwich 0
The hosts started the second period much like the first, on the front foot, but they were unable to take advantage of this pressure put on the Northwich goal.
In fact the visitors hardly threatened the Thatcham net until midway through the half, although it was a decent opening which saw the keeper make a pretty good stop to keep the hosts in front.
The second half in general though was fairly quiet and and scrappy, with not alot of quality on show, although with what was on the line, this wasn't entirely surprising. The conditions were not helping much either, with the occasional blizzard making things interesting to say the least.
With several minutes remaining the visitors started the put some pressure on the Thatcham backline and did see a free header loop wide of the target, however they didn't really test the keeper and after that Thatcham saw out the remainder of the contest to take the victory.
Not the best of games to be honest, but it's a one goal lead for Thatcham to take up to Cheshire next weekend, with the tie far from over. Should be another tightly fought contest no doubt.
Full Time Thatcham Town 1 1874 Northwich 0
Both teams were welcomed onto the field by a good crowd of 1,134, with a few hundred noisy visiting fans making up that figure, as they and the players endured snowy freezing conditions at Waterside Park.
And Thatcham took the game to their opponents early on and were awarded a fourth minute penalty after a clear foul inside the box, and Cook stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way and the Berkshire hosts had the perfect start to this one.
The home side continued to have the better of the opening exchanges and saw a couple of efforts go straight at the keeper, and it took the visitors the best part of fifteen minutes to register their first attempt at goal, forcing a decent save from the hosts keeper.
In the 21st minute the visitors were screaming for a spot kick of their own after they claimed a foul inside the box, however the referee waived their claims away, although from my angle it looked like a foul.
The visitors by now were having a decent spell and putting plenty of pressure on the home side, but they couldn't find a way past a solid Thatcham back line.
And after a ten minute spell from the visitors, the hosts almost doubled their lead in the 34th minute but saw a decent curling effort tipped wide by the keeper.
A couple of minutes after that a defensive mistake from the hosts almost saw Northwich level in comical circumstances, when a clearence struck a defender and almost went in, before two minutes after that the Northwich keeper had to make a brilliant save to deny the hosts again.
The hosts then saw another effort go straight at the keeper before Northwich had a great chance to level three minutes before the break when they found themselves in on goal, but saw the keeper save with his legs and thwart them.
The hosts then missed a golden chance right on half time, seeing the keeper save with his legs and the ball shoot across goal agonisingly just ahead of players coming in for a tap in. It did mean the hosts went into the break a goal ahead.
Half Time Thatcham Town 1 1874 Northwich 0
The hosts started the second period much like the first, on the front foot, but they were unable to take advantage of this pressure put on the Northwich goal.
In fact the visitors hardly threatened the Thatcham net until midway through the half, although it was a decent opening which saw the keeper make a pretty good stop to keep the hosts in front.
The second half in general though was fairly quiet and and scrappy, with not alot of quality on show, although with what was on the line, this wasn't entirely surprising. The conditions were not helping much either, with the occasional blizzard making things interesting to say the least.
With several minutes remaining the visitors started the put some pressure on the Thatcham backline and did see a free header loop wide of the target, however they didn't really test the keeper and after that Thatcham saw out the remainder of the contest to take the victory.
Not the best of games to be honest, but it's a one goal lead for Thatcham to take up to Cheshire next weekend, with the tie far from over. Should be another tightly fought contest no doubt.
Full Time Thatcham Town 1 1874 Northwich 0
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