WOOTTON Bassett boss Paul Braithwaite is feeling buoyant ahead of his side’s Hellenic Premier clash with Thatcham Town tonight.

The club have picked up Steve Robertson from Shrivenham and, with Ryan Thomas back from long-term recurring injury akin to “a new signing”, Braithwaite is in a happy place with regards to his squad.

Thomas has been in and out of the team this season as he tries to get over a troublesome knee problem. Now the attacking midfielder has informed his manager that he feels comfortable with the knee again and will be integrated gently back into the side.

The capture of Robertson, the Swindon Town Ladies manager, brings a reliable goalscoring prowess to the Corinium Stadium and Braithwaite is happy to have him on board.

“Steve’s a centre forward with great experience of Hellenic football, who will score goals also,” Braithwaite told the Advertiser.

“Being Swindon Town Ladies manager shows he knows the game very well. it’s a great signing for myself and the players are chuffed.

“Ryan’s played a few games but he’s had a recurring knee injury. I spoke to him and he believes his knee is fit enough be back playing regularly again, if that’s the case he’s like a new signing for us.

“He can play either on wing or behind the striker. He’s similar to what we have but it’s good to have another option.

“He works very hard and is a Bassett boy, he loves the club and knows what’s needed from him and he’s got what it takes to do it.”

Wins in Bassett’s last two outings have Braithwaite feeling confident enough ahead of the Thatcham test. However in Saturday’s 3-2 Challenge Cup success over Henley, they conceded a late goal and the Corinium boss is keen to make sure his side stay focused for the full 90 minutes.

“We’ve done alright recently – we beat Reading Town last weekend and then Henley on Saturday, though we lost the two previous two we were in it until last couple of minutes,” he added.

“We need to be stay focused if we are needing to do things late in the game we can’t afford to switch off late on, it comes down to down to concentration.

“At the weekend we were 3-1 up with 10-15 minutes to go, and we dropped off a little bit. Alright, we were down to 10 because of an injury and having no subs left, but we dropped off and conceded.

“We need to make sure we concentrate to that final whistle. If we’re still in the game then we need to concentrate.”

Also in action tonight are Mark Teasdale’s New College who take on Lydney Town in Hellenic Division One West.