Depleted Thatcham fall to Cribbs in relegation six-pointer

Thatcham Town suffered a 3-0 loss away to Cribbs on Saturday.

Second from bottom, Thatcham faced the side directly above them in the table, knowing that a win or a draw would do their survival hopes a massive favour.

They were 1-0 down within two minutes however, as Cribbs’ Ryan Cainey was brought down in the box for a penalty.

Bailey Croome sent young Matthew Pullinger the wrong way to give his side an early lead from the spot.

After ten minutes Cribbs were in again, as Thatcham centre-back Andy Matthews was caught on the ball on the halfway line.

Croome stole the ball and squared it to Cainey, who steadied himself and smashed past Pullinger to make it 2-0.

By the eighteenth minute it was all wrapped up.

A decent Cribbs move found Jesse Aldridge 12-yards out who shot low and hard.

Pullinger did well to stop it, but the rebound fell straight to Croome who tapped home for his second through a crowd of Thatcham defenders.

Thatcham did look better in the second-half, but the game was over by half-time.

A 3-0 loss keeps Thatcham second from bottom, six points away from Cribbs above them, with a game in hand.

Currently 21st, Thatcham will need to climb to eighteenth to survive, currently ten points away.

“The damage had been done on Tuesday,” said manager Yashwa Romeo.

“We had three or four players out then, on Saturday it was about six.

“It was a depleted squad. Not ideal timing.

“We were always chasing our tails.

“It was one of those awful days.”

Thatcham’s route to survival will have to be build on hard work, something Romeo understands.

“It’s down to instructions, listening to what will get us points and results,” he said.

“At the moment we’re just not doing that.

“There’s a plan, as long as we stay in a game we’ve always got a fighting chance.

“The reality is, we’ve got really young boys who can’t always follow instruction.”

Thatcham had targeted games against Yate, Westbury and Cribbs to inject life into their season, but will now need to reassess.

“These three games were the ones we needed.

“When we did have people back we went on a really good run, three unbeaten.

“We’ve still got to play seven teams in the bottom-half, and we have to target all of them.

“If we can manage to grit our teeth and get six or seven wins then anything can happen.”