Thames Walking Football

16/10/2026

THAMES WEST 65s – SO NEAR, YET SO FAR!

Surrey League Cup – Xcel, Thursday 16th October 2026

League champions, cup finalists—but the double remains just out of reach

Having secured the Surrey League title in September, Thames West arrived at Xcel determined to complete the league-and-cup double.

Squad: Dave G, Martin M, Nick G, Kevin C, Nick F, Pete B, Nigel R and Mark C.

Group Stage

Thames West 1–1 Thames East
Scorer: Nigel R

East made the brighter start, moving the ball well and forcing West onto the back foot. West struggled to find their rhythm, but Nigel R reacted quickest to a rebound and fired the champions ahead.

The lead looked valuable, yet East refused to relent. A late penalty earned them an equaliser and left West with a single point from the opening fixture.

Thames West 1–1 Teddington
Scorer: Nigel R

West responded with a much-improved display against a determined Teddington side. Nigel R struck from distance to give West an early advantage, but Teddington’s goalkeeper produced a series of outstanding saves to keep his team in the contest.

West appeared set to hold on for victory, only for another late equaliser to deny them. Two matches, two leads and two points dropped at the death.

Thames West 4–0 Fulham
Scorer: Mark C (4)

Victory was essential if West were to guarantee a semi-final place, and they delivered in emphatic fashion.

Crisp passing, intelligent movement and ruthless finishing saw West race into a commanding lead, with Mark C scoring all four goals in a superb individual performance.

Fulham improved after the interval, but West remained organised and continued to threaten. A fourth Fulham offence then handed West a penalty, giving Nigel R the chance to add to his earlier goals.

Unfortunately, his effort headed towards a different postcode. Search parties have been alerted!

The emphatic victory secured West’s place in the semi-finals.

Semi-Final

Thames West 1–1 Dorking
West won 2–1 on penalties
Scorer: Mark C (pen)

Dorking provided a stern test and arguably enjoyed the better of the exchanges, but West defended with discipline and waited patiently for an opening.

That opportunity arrived when Dorking’s fourth offence awarded West a penalty. Mark C stepped up and calmly converted to put West ahead.

Dorking responded late, equalising from the spot after West conceded a penalty. The situation became even more difficult when West were reduced to five players for the closing minutes.

The remaining players dug deep, holding firm to force a shootout.

Dorking missed two of their three penalties, while Pete B kept his composure to convert the decisive kick.

Thames West were in the final!

The Final

Thames West 0–2 Godalming

Godalming proved worthy finalists and controlled the contest for long periods, dominating possession and keeping West on the defensive.

Dave G was outstanding in goal, producing several excellent saves to keep West within touching distance. However, West struggled to create the same attacking fluency they had shown earlier in the tournament.

Godalming eventually broke through in each half to secure a deserved victory. West were awarded a late penalty and briefly threatened a comeback, but the Godalming goalkeeper produced an excellent save to end those hopes.

Runners-up, but plenty to be proud of

There was understandable disappointment at falling at the final hurdle, but reaching another final represented a significant achievement—particularly after winning the Surrey League title in September.

The tournament highlighted West’s attacking quality, resilience and excellent goalkeeping. The main frustration was their difficulty in protecting narrow leads, with three late equalisers making the route to the final far more demanding than necessary.

The County Cup Finals await next month, offering another opportunity to reach a final—and this time go one better.

League champions and League Cup runners-up: not a bad return, but this squad knows there is still more to come.

And finally…

A sincere thank you to Mark B and the organising team for staging another excellent tournament.

Thanks, too, to the referees. We may not always agree with their decisions, but refereeing walking football is far from straightforward. Without their time, commitment and willingness to officiate, there would be no competition to enjoy.

Well played, Thames West. The double may have slipped away, but another trophy is still there to chase!

10/10/2026

Friday 9th October 2026
Surrey League Mixed League cup.

Thames mixed team were ready for the League cup, having previously won the County cup and securing the league this would be an amazing treble achievement.

Xcel v Thames
A close match. Thames hitting both posts but couldnt break the deadlock. 0-0

Walton v Thames
Once again a match with chances which we couldnt convert. Some lovely football played.
0-0

Woking v Thames
We knew we had to win to get into the final. Both teams played atracking football however a shot from Richard crept inside the post.
Woking were hard to break down but Thames managed to get a corner and Kelly crossing in for Helen to slot the ball home.
0-2 Thames win

Final Xcel v Thames
A replay of our first game. Thames were in full flow with their passing game. Richard had a great shot which gave Thames the lead.
Walton began to press more however a lovely passing move from Thames ended with Elisa scoring the second. Final score 0-2 Thames win

A fantastic win for Thames Mixed squad and also securing the Surrey League Mixed treble for 2026.
🏆 🏆 🏆

A great team effort from everyone today. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Report by Mary Mannion (manager)

26/09/2026

Thames O70’s V Godalming
25 Sep 2026

Well this is a first!! We may have difficulty recruiting players in their 50s but the rest of us are ageing fast and Zac put together a Thames 70’s team to play a friendly against an equally new Godstone 70s team (the Golden Gods) We need a name like that! - suggestions welcome ……or maybe not..

On a lovely sunny morning a team of eight 70+ year olds (ok so a couple are not quite there yet) turned out at Tolworth for a match consisting of 8 x 10 minute sessions, refereed to Surrey rules by Vernon.

The team consisted of Nick, BB, Brian Hill, Kev, Roger, Zac, Gerry and Jose. Almost all had been playing in the 65s the day before and clicked into gear right from the start scoring 3 goals without reply after the first two sessions. At the start Godstone looked like a team that hadn’t played much together but quality is never lost and gradually they started moving the ball around creating more chances on goal. From there on it was a much more even contest. Thames won 8-3 in a good match with goals from BB, Roger, Jose and Gerry. The game was played in good spirit but still competitive (that never goes whatever age you get to).

An historic occasion in Thames’ history and maybe a sign of things to come????

26/09/2026

Thames O50’s SL Round 6

Tough Day at the Xcel for Thames 50s squad. Late withdrawals, injuries, depth of group, no substitutes the list of excuses were endless for a cup run that could not leave the runway.
Up first our old sparring partner the Blues. Two very well matched sides. Talking of sparring this was a very cagey affair from start to finish with both sides knocking it around well and a very high standard of walking ⚽ ensued. The very dangerous Paul Holmes forcing a fantastic stop from Dave Gold and in the 2nd half a rare foray forward from Paul N seeing the inside of the post saving The Blues from a 1 nil to the Thames result. Typical of the afternoon, Clarky who'd already played for the 65's forced off with a muscle strain. Luckily for Thames, Kevin Canning ably stepping up as always. Mr Reliable seeing out the 2nd half for us and a stalemate the final result.

With Richard (also having played earlier) pulling up lame with cramped ankles x2, the Dorking match saw Thames played the entire 30 minutes with one less player. No easy task on an unseasonably warm afternoon. This was heroic stuff, Andrew Cordery holding the ball wonderfully to frustrate Dorking, Gary Forge putting a shift worthy of two players (much needed) and Kevin and Paul slowing the game down forcing Dorking into pot shot after pot shot with Dave mopping up any half chances Dorking created. Indeed on another day we have nicked a penalty. Dorking's huffing and puffing producing 3 infringements and very fortunate not to get called for overly swift walking otherwise known as ru....g! A fantastic 0-0 draw under very difficult circumstances.

Farnham up last and Richard L who was on dodgy legs to say the least manfully coming back on to give us 6 and an outlet for a tired group. Not much left in the tank and it was evident as Farnham pressed for an opening. That said Thames were holding them comfortably until a deflected shot saw Dave wrong footed and or unsighted and a slightly fortuitous lead for Farnham. With Thames trying to press for an equaliser in the 2nd half gaps started to appear. A 2nd for Farnham struck well into the corner meant it was all over and 2v0 it stayed until the final whistle. 2 draws and a defeat may not have been the best set of results but given how the day panned out, everybody who represented Thames for the 50's should take pride in thier afternoons work. Special mention again to Kevin Canning. Played 65's matches x3 and then 75 minutes of 50's football on top. Herculean effort for the cause 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

26/09/2026

Thames West O65’s SL Round 6

Thirteen points clear at the top of the Surrey League 65s and therefore in an uncatchable position – surely, this would be our opportunity to showcase the footballing skills, talent and organisation that had enabled Thames West to go through the season undefeated. Well, that may have been our intention at the start of the final round of league matches, but it wasn’t quite what happened.

Our first match was against Dorking and it is fair to say we were overrun. As Dave said, he had to save more shots in that match than he had in all of the previous games put together. Eventually, he was beaten by a thunderbolt into the top corner, but all was not lost as we were awarded a penalty. Up stepped Clarky to put it away only for the referee to disallow it saying that he had stepped out of the permitted area. None of our team had seen that and in our perfectly objective view, the goal should have been allowed, but of course, the referee’s decision is final. And so, a 1-0 defeat and despite the penalty, we couldn’t argue that Dorking were the better side.

Surely, we couldn’t play as badly again against our next opponents, Godalming. Well, yes, we did. Despite encouragement – and abuse – from Minty on the touchline, we hardly created a chance; Godalming hit the woodwork twice, before their central defender strode through to put the ball past Dave. 1-0 to Godalming.

Our third match was against Thames East. We played considerably better, but lost to a penalty from Jonathan. Thames East would hope to have bragging rights from the 1-0 victory, but we would also ask them to look at the final league positions!

As a result in the change of format in the league, our final game was a rematch against Dorking. We saved our best performance until the end; whereas Dorking had outplayed us in the first match this was a much closer contest. Dorking scored first with a controversial goal, which again to my unbiased view, looked as though Kev had been fouled as the Dorking forward slotted home after Dave’s save had rebounded to him. However, we persisted and were awarded another penalty as Dorking had accumulated four offences – this time Clarky put the penalty away with no problem – and a final score of 1-1.

It was something of an anti-climax to finish with a draw and three defeats, but we had played superbly through the season and still finished eight points clear of Dorking in second place.

Thanks today to Dave, Mooro, Kev, Dick, Colin, Nick F, Minty and Clarky for your efforts. We clearly missed Pete, Nigel and Larry this week so thanks to you as well for your contributions in past matches.

26/09/2026

Matchday 6 – Thames East O65s
So near but so far

The final games of the season. Four tough games against the other teams in the second league stage. With Thames West having already secured the top spot there was everything to play for to decide the remaining places.

Game 1 v Godalming – Thames East started as well as we’ve played all season. Good passing, looking solid at the back and deservedly went into the lead after an excellent passing move from Jacko and Richard with BB slotting the ball into the net. Chances at both ends with Steve making some fine saves and by half time we were well on top.

The second half started well but then in a five minute spell the match turned completely. Godalming scored two quick goals and with the foul count on three a piece we blinked first, the penalty was converted and we were 3-1 down. East thought we’d scored with the last kick of the game but it was ruled out as the whistle had been blown a millisecond before it went into the net! A totally undeserved 3-1 loss.

Game 2 v Dorking – Everything now depended on this game. A tight game with chances at both ends. Dorking went ahead in the first half and in the second Thames East couldn’t get enough players forward to threaten the Dorking goal. Again we were unlucky not to get anything out of the game.

Game 3 v Thames West – With really only bragging rights left to play for East played our most controlled game. With plenty of possession, we moved the ball around well and looked strong at the back. The game was decided on a penalty after West conceded their fourth foul which was hammered into the net by JT.
The first win of the day and it was worth it just to see Minty getting increasingly loud and cross!

Game 4 v Godalming (again) – Godalming had it all to play for in this game but we again outplayed them in the first half creating half a dozen chances and making Bill produce some excellent saves in the Godalming goal. The deadlock was broken by a fine goal from Richard with an assist from BB.

Godalming equalised with a well worked passing move including a backheal pass and the game finished 1-1. Yet again a point flattered Godalming, we really deserved to win.

In the end we finished fourth in the league and the final day probably mirrored the rest of the season. East played some excellent football at times but somehow we didn’t get the results we deserved drawing 8 of our 22 games and of the 4 losses, 2 were by a single goal. All in all it was a good season and I’m proud of the way and in the spirit in which everyone played.

18/09/2026

Multi Age Surrey League 18/9/2026

The last league games of the season saw Thames multi age squad continue their unbeaten winning ways. Finishing third in the 2026 league and winners of the Fair Play cup reflected a mixed season as new players blended into the Thames format.

We now look forward to defending our upcoming League and County cups in the annual knock out tournaments in October and November.

Squad - Dave G, Mooro, John G, Nad, Richard L, Gary, Andrew, Simon and Mark.

Walton & Hersham 0
Thames 1
A frustrating game where Thames had eight clear chances to move ahead. Some fluid passing against a low block and some good saves kept the pressure on Walton. Nad controlled the back stopping any significant advances from W&H breakaway chances
A second half mistake by the keeper presented Andrew with a simple opportunity to stroke the ball passed him into the waiting net.
A straightforward win not reflective of the final score line!

Thames 1 Godalming 1
A very good match and evenly contested. Thames
controlled most of the game taking the lead from Clarky with a well taken penalty shot after the referee awarded Thames a Dogso (Denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity) infringement on Andrew.

Another excellent goalkeeping lesson by Dave kept Godalming out for large parts of the game. This was supported by Nad and Richard in defence by minimizing any Godalming gilt edged chances.

Our link up play through the midfield provided some real potency to the Thames attacking prowess. However our lack of infringement discipline led to a last minute Godalming penalty which was dispatched to produce a hard fought draw.
Overall, a draw seemed an equitable outcome against two strong teams.

Thames 1
Farnham 1
Despite being a friendly game, Thames found themselves in a very competitive match.
A mix up at the back saw Farnham take the lead into half time.
Second half saw a more forward pressing play by Thames. Farnham conceded a penalty with the four fouls count.
Mark stepped up against his old club and calmly dispatched the penalty.
The referee finally blew on a 1-1 outcome.

Thanks to all the squad who played Multi age Surrey League football this season for all their hard work, passion and commitment .

Everyone played their part in equal measure. During the off season, we need to work on stopping giving away needless offences and working on more set piece plays!

Onwards to the two Cup knock out tournaments and attempting to retain both cups! ⚽️⚽️⚽️

By Rich B

14/09/2026

14/09/2026

Yesterday Hampton Rangers Walking Football invited Thames ladies to play a friendly match at their home ground.
Many thanks to Julie Bygrave and her team for bringing us a competitive yet friendly match. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, you ladies did not give us an inch, we were thoroughly tested and knackered afterwards 😆. We wish you all the best of luck in the Middlesex league, you’ll smash it. 💪🏻🤜🏻🤛🏻.

05/09/2026

Thames over 50’s ladies are through to the FA Walking Football Cup Final at St George’s Park on 18th October 2026.

We won our local heat back in July and won the regional heat today with a slightly different team being 4 of our ladies were unavailable.

A hot afternoon and a bare minimum team of 6, playing 4 x 18 minute matches some of which were back to back, certainly took it’s toll but we won all 4 matches and only conceding 1 goal.
An outstanding performance by all our ladies…. Mary, Little h, Jules, and Tania, with Tara and Kim making their debut for Thames today, everyone played their socks off and worked hard for the team.
Special mention to Tara who took one for the team and played in goal, her encouragement and commitment kept us all going.
Roll on the Finals 💪🏻