Match Preview: Thatcham Town V Hilltop FC

This afternoon the Kingfishers take on Hilltop in a Combined Counties Premier Division North fixture.  Kick-off is at 3pm at Waterside Park.

Hilltop are currently 13th in the table with 15 points from 12 games.  Meanwhile Thatcham lie six points behind with a game in hand.

Hilltop picked up their four victories during a five game spell over three weeks from late August.  They won at Penn & Tylers Green and Rayners Lane either side of home successes over Reading City and Amersham Town.  They are currently on a five game winless run, though have picked up three draws during that spell.  However last weekend they suffered a heavy 5-0 loss at Kidlington.

Earlier in the season Hilltop were beaten 5-1 at the first hurdle of both main cup competitions, losing at Grays Athletic in the FA Cup and Dunstable in the FA Vase.

Meanwhile Thatcham haven’t won in four league games since the Bank Holiday win over Reading City.  Including cup ties it is six games since Thatcham last scored a goal, although performances have not been bad and chances (lots in some matches) are being created.

The Kingfishers will want to make amends for a hugely frustrating loss to Holyport in the last home game.  Next weekend Thatcham travel to the bottom team North Leigh, while Hilltop take on Bedfont in midweek then go to Holyport next Saturday.

Speaking in advance of the game, Town manager Cameron Philbey said,

“Initially our shortage of goals was down to not creating enough chances.  Lately we have been creating a lot of chances but the ball is just not going in the back of the net!  We are of course focusing on this on the training pitch.

Our lack of goals mean that when we make mistakes and go on to concede from them, they get amplified.  It’s obvious of course but the two things combined are why we are losing games of football.

The loss at home to Holyport was totally unacceptable.  We made two errors and were punished, then failed to score from a raft of chances - and that’s on us.

At Ardley we were bright, lively, worked hard and competed well.  But our heads went down after conceding the first goal and we felt sorry for ourselves.

On Tuesday night I applaud the performance against a decent Bracknell side.  But again the first and third goals were avoidable, and we can’t afford to make those kinds of lapses if we are not scoring ourselves.

I don’t think our recent results reflect where I believe we should be, but if we can match that level of performance against step five teams then the results will follow.

On the playing front we have a number of injuries in the squad. Cruz has come in from the Reading FC Academy while up front Charlie is back and we really need his ability to find the back of the net.

Enjoy the game, Cam.”