Kingfishers ready to swoop in Vase tie

Sussex visitors at Waterside Park on Saturday

THATCHAM TOWN will be hoping that Broadbridge Heath will bring with them a little of the Sussex air that served Town so well in the previous round when the teams meet at Waterside Park on Saturday in the Second Round of the FA Vase.
Town beat fellow Southern Counties League side Horsham YMCA in the last round as they began to emerge from a dip in form, and they go in to Saturday’s tie on the back of a trio of wins, topped by Tuesday night’s 5-1 league success against Oxford City Nomads.
They face a Heath side that is in this round for the first time in its history, and is on its own run of three straight wins, although all at home while away form is patchy with only one win and five defeats in seven league outings.
Heath do have a proven marksman in Devon Fender, who has netted 17 times this term and although he went off with a hamstring injury during Tuesday night’s 3-0 Sussex Senior Cup win over Eastbourne United, he is expected to be cleared to play.
Fender may be partnered up front by the club’s latest signing Javlon Campbell. The 26-year old can be listed as one of those ‘lost’ starlets of the Premier League. Having shone in Bolton Wanderers’ Under 21 Premier League side until that club’s decline, Campbell has since drifted around the south, scoring goals, but moving on – and on!
Since leaving Bolton and failing to secure a contract at Stoke, Huddersfield and Morecambe, he has seen service at Carshalton Athletic, Histon, Billericay Town, Kingstonian, Cray Wanderers, Sittingbourne, Thamesmead Town, Peacehaven and likely a couple more before arriving at Heath last week.
He netted on his debut in a 4-1 win over Uckfield Town on Saturday, and boosted his fitness in the midweek success.
Thatcham will have their own attacking powerhouse in action in Shane Cooper-Clark, who brought up his quarter-century of goals for the season in midweek, which also saw the return to Town ranks of midfielder Dan Rapley, although his
cup-tied on Saturday having turned out for Flackwell Heath in the previous round. He is however, free to play in Wednesday night’s Floodlit Cup tie at Pewsey Vale.