Romeo delighted as 10-man Thatcham secure 4-1 win

Thatcham Town secured a much needed victory against visitors Willand Rovers on Saturday.

A 3-2 loss to Mousehole a week earlier had threatened to dent morale, with Thatcham having led 2-0 after just twelve minutes before falling to defeat.

This time Yashwa Romeo’s side were determined to prevent a similar collapse, in need of a win after falling to second from bottom in the league.

The Kingfishers made a similarly bright start, as a good passing sequence found Shamar Moore in the box.

His neat pass into the feet of winger Kyle Daniel-Spray was finished with precision, as the former Reading man stuck the ball into the roof of the net with just six minutes on the clock.

This fast start continued, as Moore broke through two Rovers defenders and entered the box.

His slaloming run ended abruptly, as a trailing leg brought him down for a penalty.

He made no mistake from the spot, beating the keeper to make it 2-0 after 24 minutes.

In the 40th minute Thatcham began to fear that their bad luck had struck again, as Moore’s high foot was deemed a bookable offence and he was sent off for a second yellow.

At half-time Thatcham regrouped, and it was Harry Thorpe who restored a sense of calm with a brilliant solo goal in the 52nd for 3-0.

By the 75th minute it was 4-0, as Callum Willmoth found Basingstoke loanee Alfie Bridgman on the break.

His square pass left the keeper stranded as Roberto Nditi finished into an empty net.

A late Willand goal was a mere consolation, as Thatcham wrapped up perhaps their most convincing win of the season despite being a man down for most of it.

Manager Romeo was delighted with his side’s performance.

“I said to my coach, ‘how are we 2-0 up and we don’t feel comfortable?’”, he reflected.

“We’ve been playing so well, but you either get luck on your side or you don’t.

“When we get the red card I started thinking, ‘here we go… it’s going to happen again!’

“I told the boys at half time that we had to dig deep, and they did that superbly.

“We came out guns blazing… it was really, really good.

Such a difficult run of form has been a testing period for all involved, but Romeo has remained positive throughout.

“It’s tough… but life throws different challenges at you,” he said.

“You have to face them head on.

“What I say to the boys is that we control the environment.

“We can make it doom and gloom or we can make it vibrant. We’ve done the latter.

“It helps that we’ve been playing well and losing, rather than playing badly.

“If you’re playing badly and losing then there’s a lot to do, but that just simply hasn’t been the case.”

Last week saw two new arrivals at the Mettal Stadium, as attacking midfielder Alfie Bridgman signed on a short term loan from Basingstoke Town, while the versatile Zion Nditi came in on loan from Aldershot to join his brother Roberto.

“We needed more strength in depth,” Romeo said.

“Alfie brings something we don’t really have.

“He can put his foot on the ball and pick out a pass… he’s technically very good and set up two goals on Saturday.

“Zion impressed against us. Very quick, technically good, very vibrant and dynamic but also strong in the tackle.

“He came in for cover at right-back, but if he keeps performing like he has then he’ll keep the shirt.”