Thatcham Town survival hopes ‘dangling by a thread’ ahead of run-in says Yashwa Romeo

Thatcham Town’s survival hopes are hanging in the balance.

They’ve been on a great run of late, winning twice and drawing once in the last few weeks.

It was a tough afternoon on Saturday however, as they lost 3-0 away at Malvern Town.

Thatcham’s side had no shortage of attacking threat, with Jamie Davies, Christian Johnson and Shamar Moore all starting.

But it was at the back where Thatcham struggled, conceding the opener after 22 minutes.

Despite this, it had been a competitive start to the afternoon for Thatcham, who threatened the hosts early on and made a handful of entries into the Malvern box.

This continued, and in the 34th minute they earned a penalty.

Shamar Moore was given the opportunity to get Town back on terms, but he opted to go straight down the middle.

The Malvern keeper saw this coming, saving to send his side into the break 1-0 up.

Thatcham continued to battle in the second-half, but couldn’t find a breakthrough against one of the division’s toughest tests.

The 73rd minute saw Malvern double their lead, before they bagged a third in the 94th minute.

A 3-0 defeat leaves Thatcham second bottom of the league, albeit with a game in hand.

“It was a difficult one to take,” said manager Yashwa Romeo.

“It was never a 3-0, and in the first-half we had four or five good chances to score.

“The less I talk about the penalty the better.

“That was probably the moment which took the wind out of our sails.”

Malvern are a good side, sitting fifth in the league, but Romeo needs his side to play with no fear.

“We had chances, didn’t take them and we were punished by a good side,” he said.

“They’re a different outfit now, on a fifteen game unbeaten run.

“You have to go and score to put them under pressure.

“We didn’t do that.”

Thatcham still have a game in hand, meaning that if they win it and Larkhall lose, they’ll be just six points away from safety.

There are still five games to play, and Romeo is ruling nothing out.

“It’s still there, dangling by a thread,” he said.

“They’re all crucial, and we’ve got to win them all.

“A lot of them are winnable, but we’ve got to be clinical.

“We’ve got to make it click in these last five games to give ourselves a fighting chance.”