Bideford’s most recent visit to Thatcham was in Sep ‘19, the season which was
terminated due to the Covid-19 pandemic while the Kingfishers topped the table.
Town defeated the Robins 4-3 following an eventful second half. Scott Rees fired
Thatcham ahead with a spectacular volley, but Craig Duff levelled shortly after the
break. Kyle Tooze then struck twice in four minutes to put Town in control but Jack
Lethaby pulled another one back for Bideford. After Felipe Barcelos scored a fourth,
Lethaby struck again and the visitors struck the crossbar twice in quick succession
as Thatcham hung on for victory.

In the return fixture Sam Barder gave Thatcham an early lead but Alex Byrne
levelled and the game ended 1-1.

In the previous season both fixtures ended in away wins. Shane Cooper-Clark
scored the only goal at Kingsley Road while Ryan Turner and Billy Tucker (penalty)
scored for Bideford in their 2-1 win in Berkshire, with Kyle Tooze replying for Town.

This season, both clubs have registered four league wins each, though the four
draws they have picked up mean the Robins sit four points and three places above
Thatcham, having played two extra games. Bideford won their opening fixture of
the season at Bishops Cleeve. Their three other wins have come at home - to
Evesham, Cleeve again, and last weekend, Bemerton Heath Harlequins (3-1).

In his programme notes, boss Yashwa Romeo said,

“We’ve experienced the same old story away from home this week. Although the
scoreline doesn’t suggest so, I thought we actually played well at Melksham. Once
again we didn’t score when we had chances to and paid the price. However I thought
we were poor at Westbury - yet the scoreline was closer at 2-1 thanks to us finally
managing to score our first away goal.

It’s not really happening for us on the road at the moment, so we really need to make
the Mettal Stadium a fortress and keep on picking up the points at home. Bideford are
with us down at the wrong end of the table and we are targeting three points to help us
start climbing the league.

I’ll be finding out whatever info I can about Bideford in the build up to the game, but I
will also be focusing on ourselves. We need to attack teams better, find more quality
and make the most of the chances that we create. On the physical side I can’t really
complain about our competitiveness – although we are smaller than most teams I think
we are doing OK on that front.

Up front we saw Harvey Flippance score twice in the Berks & Bucks Cup tie and
hopefully he will start firing in the league soon and we will see the goals shared around
the team more rather than rely on Shamar.

At the other end of the pitch James Sharlott will be with us until January. He has done well, looked commanding at Melksham and made some good saves at Westbury, and at 17 years of age has a bright future. Finally, we didn’t get to start our last home game following those unfortunate circumstances and I’d like to wish Bill a speedy recovery and we hope he’s able to return to watch a game again soon.

Enjoy the game, and thanks for your continued support, YASH”