Thatcham Town stretch unbeaten run with victory over Chipstead

Thatcham Town stretched their unbeaten run to six games with a 3-0 victory over Chipstead on Saturday.

But manager Yashwa Romeo was not particularly impressed by his side’s display.

The result left the Kingfishers right in the mix for the promotion play-offs in the Isthmian League South Central.

And Romeo believes there’s a lot more still to come from his side.

He said: “It was a good result, but not a very good performance.

“It was a bit of a bitty one in the first half – we were very poor and I got into them a bit at half-time.

“The second half was not much better, but at least we put more crosses into the box and that paid off.

“I’d rather win ugly and win than play well and not pick up the points”

Romeo has been in charge for coming up two years now, and the results are beginning to show.

He was never able to field a settled side last season, and even in the early stages of this campaign Town were disrupted by the departures of key players like Josh Edwards to Ascot United and Cameron Rohart-Brown to Badshot Lea.

But since then Romeo has been able to field a consistent team and he said: “It has taken a lot of time and hard work, but now we have a settled team and it is looking good.

“We’ve had four wins and two draws from our last six games and we go into Saturday hopeful of picking up another three points.”

A less-than-inspiring first half saw few chances created by either side.

But early in the second half Thatcham took the lead when a corner fell to Curtiss Angell, who turned and fired home a terrific shot in off the post.

The Chipstead keeper gifted Town a second soon after when he dropped a cross at the feet of Mo Ceesay, who tapped home from close range.

The visitors had a spell of pressure in the closing stages, but good blocks from Callum Willmoth and Angell denied them.

And in the 90th minute another clanger from the Chipstead goalkeeper sealed the points.

He rushed out of his goal to deal with a long ball, but missed his header, leaving David Nyarko to roll the ball into an empty net.

Thatcham, who are fourth in the current form table, will be confident of stretching their unbeaten run to seven games on Saturday at home to a Met Police side that is third from bottom and yet to win on the road.

Kingfishershers face a tougher test on Boxing Day, away to second-placed Chertsey Town, before rounding off 2023 at Badshot Lea on December 30.