In awful conditions, with a strong wind dominating proceedings, it was a win that could so easily have gone in Bournemouth Poppies favour.

Neither side produced much in the way of opportunities in front of goal in the opening 45 minutes but, after the break it was Poppies who had two excellent chances to take the lead before Thatcham actually did.

First Scott Joyce burst through the Thatcham defence but took one touch too many, leaving him with a difficult angle to be able to get his foot round and the ball was blasted wide.

Minutes later Joyce again played some excellent football to round three Thatcham defenders before laying the ball on a plate for Max Crow to simply tap in from six yards out with the Thatcham keeper Paul Strudley nowhere to be seen.

Crow surely couldn’t miss but, as the ball bobbled on the rock hard surface, he watched in frustration as the ball flew high over the bar.

Poppies were made to pay for their missed opportunities when Bob McClay unleashed an excellent drive which flew beyond Steve Shergold in the Poppies goal for a 1-0 Thatcham lead.

Richard Witt, who was man-of-the-match, almost made it 2-0 when his wind-assisted long range effort struck the Poppies crossbar.

The game remained at 1-0 going into injury time, before Adie Briscoe fouled inside the 18-yard box to give Thatcham a late penalty.

Witt stepped up and confidently stroked the ball beyond Shergold for the visitors second.

Thatcham remain unbeaten on their league travels all season.

As for Poppies, it was their fifth home match in a row without a win.