Kingfishers take flight
YASHWA Romeo’s Thatcham Town picked up their first three points of the season in empathic fashion thanks to a 5-1 win over Bedford Sports on Saturday.
Reading loanee David Nyarko scored a hat-trick on his debut as the Kingfishers came from behind to move up to 18th in the Isthmian League South Central Division table.
There was a shock in the week as it was announced that popular goalkeeper Jack Hopwood, who kept eight clean sheets in 35 appearances, had left to re-sign for Aylesbury United.
Romeo moved quickly to replace the stopper, acquiring the services of Morgan Campbell from Tooting and Mitcham.
As well as Campbell and Nyarko, the Kingfishers announced the signings of midfielder Jordan Kyzeu from Witham Town and forward Jaime Obama-Nvumba from Banstead Athletic.
Campbell, Nyarko and Kyzeu all went into the 11 as Thatcham went in search of a first league win of the campaign on Saturday, while Obama-Nvumba was ineligible.
However, things started inauspiciously for the Kingfishers, Bedfont taking the lead in the 43rd minute when Michael Agwu’s header was deflected in off Joshua Adjei.
It took less than two minutes for Thatcham to equalise when Nyarko, who scored seven goals in 11 Under-18 Premier League matches last season, fired home from Mo Ceesay’s cutback.
The Kingfishers went ahead immediately after half-time, Nyarko spotting the keeper off his line and executing the perfect lob to send his new side into the lead.
There was then no looking back for Thatcham, Nyarko completing his hat-trick in the 65th minute before a strike from Taylor Harry and a late penalty from Alex Miller completed the rout.
“I’m feeling a lot better; we were much improved,” Romeo said.
“We’ve been scratching around for goals all season. We’ve got David on loan from Reading for a month and he showed some real quality.
“We went a goal behind, but we stuck together and were level within two minutes which was brilliant.
“The lads have been feeling the pressure, we’ve had a few mood swings and arguments in the dressing room. For me, that shows the boys care.
“It’s not been nice, it’s been difficult, but we’ve kept grinding and we’ve got a good result.
“We’ve got some winnable games coming up. Last season we finished top of the bottom cluster of teams and a couple of wins will put us there again.”
Romeo admitted he was disappointed to lose Hopwood, but is delighted with the signing of Morgan Campbell.
He said: “It’s been hectic, we’ve been trying to thrash out a few deals.
“We’ve had loads of injuries and we’ve lost a few – we’re disappointed to lose Jack, but there’s no hard feelings there.
“We’ve got some quality through the door, Morgan had an excellent debut and David scored a hat-trick.
“It’s important that we can start building something, let’s hope things are looking up.”
Thatcham travel to seventh-placed Southall on Saturday.