Romeo left frustrated after Willmoth sent off in first half of Thatcham’s battling 3-1 defeat to Guernsey

Thatcham Town boss Yashwa Romeo was proud of the spirit shown by his players after going down to 10 men during the first half of their 3-1 defeat to Guernsey on Saturday.

Romeo endured a difficult week in the lead up to the Kingfishers’ short trip across the Channel and was forced to change shape to 3-5-2 after his three strikers were all ruled out. The in-form Harry Hoath picked up a knock, Christian Johnson was recalled by parent club Maidenhead United and David Nyarko went on trial for a week with a club in Poland; the trio have scored 22 of Thatcham’s goals this term.

Thatcham’s woes were compounded when Matt Loaring headed Guernsey in front after 26 minutes. Things got even worse for the Kingfishers when tough-tackling midfielder Callum Willmoth was sent off just before half time following two yellow cards.

However the 10 men responded well and took the game to the home side after the break. Guernsey almost doubled their lead in the 66th minute when Ross Allen struck the crossbar from a long range free-kick but the visitors went close to equalising with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining after Ben Solway cleared off the line following a goalmouth scramble.

The hosts were also reduced to 10 men shortly after as 43-year-old defender Dave Merris was sent off for a second bookable offence.

The visitors drew level with 11 minutes left on the clock when Owen Clark notched his first senior goal but were denied a hard-fought point by late goals from Charlton Gauvain and Ross Allen, who was playing his 310th game for the Green Lions.

And Romeo hailed his side’s battling performance but branded the decision to send combative midfielder Callum Willmoth off as “cowardly”.

“It’s been a weird week and it was always going to be tough,” he said.

“We tried to make some moves to bring in another attacker but nothing materialised so we had to re-jig the formation to cope with the fact we had no centre-forward.

“I thought the sending off was soft, but it’s one of those things that can happen. There’s previous between Callum and the ref and I think the ref acted cowardly, but I think Callum could have been a bit more tactile.

“We showed brilliant character and were the better side after we went 1-0 down.

“We got the goal – a great finish from Owen – but we were undone by our Achilles’ heel again. A long throw came in and no one was marking Ross Allen at the back post.

“It was frustrating and disappointing and I’m not sure we had enough boys stand up in the absence of Harry, David and Christian. We can’t always rely on the same people. The circumstances were tough and I think we showed a lot of character, but we just didn’t have enough at the end.”

Romeo hasn’t ruled out bringing in another forward to replace Christian Johnson, who has signed for Uxbridge, but is expecting to have both Harry Hoath and David Nyarko back for Saturday’s visit of third-placed Leatherhead, who have won four of their last five games.

The Tanners hammered Thatcham 5-0 in the reverse in September but Romeo is expecting a much-improved showing from his side, who have only lost two of their last nine matches.

He said: “We’ll go into it believing we can win the game.

“I think 5-0 probably flattered them a bit last time. They were worthy winners but I didn’t think it was a 5-0 game. We had three or four lads making their debuts but we’re a lot more settled now.

“Callum’s going to be suspended so we might try and bring one more in to bolster us in midfield.

“We’ll have to be at it but I’m confident we can get something from the game.”