The Kingfishers will be looking for revenge this afternoon, having been beaten 3-0 at
Exmouth Town on the opening day of the season. Josh Cann’s free-kick was fumbled into the goal by the Thatcham keeper, then a further own goal made it two before Jack Thorne’s goal sealed a comfortable home win.

Exmouth backed that opening day win up with four points in difficult away games at
Bideford (0-2) and Melksham (3-3). They lost 1-0 at leaders Yate, whom they beat in
the return fixture at Southern Road.

Exmouth are currently riding high in fourth place, though have slipped up in their last two fixtures, losing 2-1 at Falmouth, then 3-1 at home to Larkhall Athletic on Saturday. However their bright start to the season is a huge improvement on last season when they finished 18th, one place above relegated Paulton Rovers.

The previous season they finished 14th in their first season at step four, having been runners-up of the Western League Premier (being pipped to the title by two goals by Tavistock) in 2021-22 season.

The Kingfishers have made a patchy start to the season, winning two and losing four since the opening day. Injuries, suspensions, player unavailability, postponements and the usual disruption caused by early rounds of cup competitions have all had an impact. Yashwa Romeo’s side will be looking for repeats of the Willand Rovers performance which will surely result in a climb up the table.

In his programme notes, boss Yashwa Romeo said,

“The games will start to come thick and fast now, with several midweek fixtures coming
up in the next month or so, including away to Berks County in the Berks & Bucks Cup. I
definitely don’t think we are a bottom two side, but we are where we are. We are playing
catch-up and need to be focused and well-drilled in order to start climbing the table.

This week we are playing against a couple of top teams. Exmouth was the one game this
season where I thought we played poorly. We helped them along by scoring two own
goals, but we are in a much better place now.

In our last home fixture against Willand I thought we started well, which we have done
for much of the season. After going two up, we faced a challenge in having to play a man
down for over an hour. But we dug deep and scored a third to help take any pressure off.
Overall it was a disciplined performance and we were hard to break down.

Similarly, Tavistock couldn’t get in our half for much of the opening period, but we gifted
them a goal just as they were growing into the game. I don’t think we really did enough to
win it, though I’m not sure they did either, and in those kinds of games it’s important to
come back with a point.

Shamar is back available after suspension, while Matty is back in the squad after playing some games for Fleet. He was one of several players we have that are on dual registration with other teams – in my mind there is little point having them sitting around when they can get minutes under their belts elsewhere.

Enjoy the game and thanks for your support.