Robinson and Romeo ready to rumble ahead of new season

Both Hungerford Town’s Danny Robinson and Thatcham Town’s Yashwa Romeo are pleased with their side’s pre-season preparations after the local rivals went head-to-head with one another at the weekend.

Second half goals from former Kingfisher Matt Partridge, Conor McDonagh and Sean Moore ensured Hungerford ended up comfortable 3-0 winners but Thatcham, who have also proved more than a match for higher level opposition in Maidenhead, Slough and Reading, had the better of things before the break, leaving Romeo in confident mood ahead of an FA Cup clash on Saturday.

“I couldn’t have asked for more,” he said.

“I hope this doesn’t come back to bite me, but I’ve been so pleased with the lads throughout pre-season.

“There’s still work to do but we are 100 times better than we were last summer and I can’t wait to get started now.”

Meanwhile, Hungerford, who have added some much-needed steeliness and strength in depth this summer, won six of their seven warm-up matches, drawing the other with National League North Gloucester City.

And Robinson, who coached Romeo at Thatcham, has been impressed with all of his players throughout his side’s unbeaten pre-season.

He said: “All of the lads have given me a lot to think about.

"It's a good position to be in, every one of my players has done well in pre-season.

“We’re fitter, we’re stronger and we’ve got more goals in us than last year.

"We're just really looking forward to getting going now and seeing what we can achieve."

Hungerford begin their Southern Premier League campaign with the visit of Plymouth Parkway on Saturday, while Thatcham travel to Paulton Rovers for an FA Cup extra preliminary round clash before beginning their Isthmian League South Central campaign away at Marlow on August 12.