Romeo's loving Thatcham's form

Cameron Rohart-Brown’s 13th minute penalty was the difference as Thatcham Town’s Isthmian League South Central resurgence continued with a 1-0 win over Ashford Town.

The Kingfishers started the game well and Rohart-Brown, a revelation since Yashwa Romeo moved him forward from full-back in October, was on hand to slot home from the spot after an Ashford defender was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, the hosts ahead inside a quarter of an hour.

Buoyed by the goal, Thatcham continued to press and went close again 23 minutes in when centre-half Michael Hill’s shot from distance was deflected over the bar.

Ashford finished the half the stronger, however, and were almost level when Toby Fisher spilled Luke Maguire’s initial effort, only for the Thatcham stopper to recover well and pounce on the loose ball.

Fisher was in action again on the hour, this time saving a powerful drive from Ashford’s Lindell Stewart, the Kingfishers keeper up well to block the rebound and keep the hosts a goal to the good.

Just 10 minutes later and Thatcham almost doubled their lead, the influential Taylor Harry crashing a header against the Ashford crossbar.

Thereafter Thatcham sat back, remained resolute and denied the visitors even a sniff of an equaliser, a well-deserved three points for the Kingfishers, who are now unbeaten at home in three.

The win moves Thatcham up to 16th and boss Yashwa Romeo will be hoping a successful December can help move his side further out of trouble ahead of the New Year.

Romeo said: "It's a good time to put a little run together, a lot of the sides around us are picking up points too so it's important we can keep some momentum going.

"We were good on the weekend, there are more positives than negatives at the minute.

"The last five or six games performances have been much improved, I think we've been the better side in all our games, it's just about making sure we're consistent in terms of results.

"The one frustration is that we didn't score more on Saturday, we were fantastic for 25 minutes and then we took our eye off the ball a little bit.

"We could've scored three or four and that's where we need to improve, I'm still in the market for a couple of forwards."

Next up Romeo and his side welcome mid-table Chipstead to the Stacatruc Stadium on Saturday, the Kingfishers looking to make it four unbeaten at their Berkshire home.

"Chipstead are one of the form teams in this division, so we know that'll be tough," Romeo said.

"We think we've got a couple of winnable games after that, so it's an important month."