Thamesmead Town returned to winning ways in style as Soham Town Rangers were put to the sword by a devastating display as Keith McMahon’s side eradicated memories of a tough couple of weeks as the smiles returned the club’s Sporting Club Thamesmead home.

The goals were shared  around but the real stars of this particular show were Dereck Duncan, outstanding in midfield on his season return from injury, and central defender Callum MacNaughton and keeper Vicente Mansanet both making their home debuts for the club.

But as boss McMahon admitted after the game his entire side deserved the plaudits as Soham were put to the sword in the home side’s best display of the season thus far.

“We’ve had a tough few weeks and we needed a lift,” said the Mead boss.

“We said a couple of things before the game and after we weathered a ten minute storm early on, I thought that our shape was tremendous – Dereck coming back in was tremendous both on the pitch and in the dressing room, and with him in there the midfield three had their best performance of the season as Sean Glover and Jack Hopkins were super and up front the three of them didn’t stop working and I’m delighted all three got on the score-sheet!”

“Callum, I’m delighted got the sponsors man of the match, as I thought he was tremendous alongside Butts and then we had Vincente in goal making his debut – realistically it could have been six, seven or eight.”

“Confidence is good again – we’re a good side and have let ourselves down recently and need to get back to what we’ve done previously and we did that today!”

It was in those opening ten minutes that the home side were indebted to Mansanet – the giant keeper denied Luke Stanley with his left foot as the striker broke clear and from the resulting corner, the keeper was brilliantly positioned to save Jorden Gent’s shot.

Once the home side got into their stride, the front three of Tyrus Gordon-Young, Rob Carter and Leslie Thompson pulled the visitors all over the pitch.

Thompson sprinted clear for the opening Thamesmead chance, only for Gordon-Young to sweep the ball pver the bar, before Gordon-Young returned the compliment on 19 minutes for Thompson to open the scoring. A long cross was played into the box where Gordon-Young leapt highest to nod the ball down for Thompson to walk the ball into the net.

It was so very nearly two within a minute as Gordon-Young spectacularly volleyed wide. Gordon-Young was again the provider on 26 minutes as he flicked on Mansanet’s huge clear for Thompson who this time laid the perfect pass for Carter to walk the ball into the empty net.

So dominant were the home side particular across the middle of the park, where Duncan was ably supported by messers Glover and Hopkins, it was a surprise that the home side didn’t score until just before the hour when Gordon-Young got the goal he deserved. A corner wasn’t cleared and as Macnaughton brought the ball down, Gordon-Young lashed home his sixth goal of the season.

Ross Murphy then saw a low drive turned aside before Mansanet had to be alert to palm aside Soham sub Scott Davis’ low shot across the face of goal.

The cherry on the top of the Thamesmead pie came on 90 minutes when subs Adem Ramadan and Rashid Kamara combined magnificently for Ramadan to roll the ball superbly back into Kamara’s path and he gleefully hammered the ball into the bottom corner.

There was still time for Soham keeper Joe Templeman to pull off smart saves to deny Ramadan and Gordon-Young to keep the  score at 4-0 – that though was enough on this particular day as the smiles returned to Sporting Club Thamesmead!
THAMESMEAD TOWN – Vincente  Mansanet, Michael Spencer, Ashley Probets, Jack Hopkins, Callum Macnaughton, Richard Butler, Somon Glover, Dereck Duncan (Ross Murphy 80), Tyrus Gordon-Young, Rob Carter (Adem Ramadan 64), Leslie Thompson (Rashid Kamara 76)

Subs not used – Rob Budd & Michael Aziaya

SOHAM TOWN RANGERS – Joe Templeton, Alex Luque, Kojo Ofori-Gyasi (Dan Brown 51), Joe Asensi, Jorden Gent, Victor Torres, David Prada. Martin Bromwich (Scott Davis 65), Deacon Napier (Andy Palmer 65), Luke Stanley, Joe Abbs

Sub not used – Andres Gutierrez

Referee – Mr S Finnegan
Assistants – Mr A Bakalarz & Mr C Richards