HIGHWORTH Town manager Jeff Roberts was pleased with his team’s five-star performance as they thumped Thatcham Town 5-0 at home in Southern League Division One South on Saturday.

After a slow start at the Save on Tyres Stadium, the home side got moving when Jordan Roberts notched to edge Highworth ahead at the break.

In the second half, the Worthians were dominant as they put four past their visitors without reply.

Callum Parsons got the second 15 minutes after the restart before both he and Roberts took their personal tallies to two in the closing stages.

Parsons was able to go one better, though, and rounded off a superb individual display with his third of the game, as Highworth completed an emphatic home win.

Manager Roberts thought his side were slow off the mark, but made up for it in the second half.

“It was a strong performance. I thought we started okay, we should have done better,” he said.

“Some of our movement was similar to last week at Street where we gave the ball away a bit.

“We came back out in the second half and we were a totally different side. We had a good go and got our second goal.

“That really opened up the game for us and we totally dominated them. We scored some really good goals and it was a great performance from the team.

“We kept a clean sheet, which was massively important and to score five spectacular goals was good.

“Individual performances were good right across the pitch. It was good to get the win over Thatcham as well considering they were in the Hellenic League with us too last year.”

Striker Ashan Holgate made his debut against Thatcham after agreeing to join the club last week.

He was eventually substituted by Ash Edenborough, who made a return following a three-game suspension.

Boss Roberts says he is always on the lookout for further reinforcements but insists he is happy with the squad he has already amassed.

“You are always looking out to see what there is out there,” he added.

“He (Holgate) came in and we put him straight in on Saturday. He’s a massive target man who gives us some presence up front.

“We changed the formation a little bit so we could be a bit more attack-minded.

“We played with a holding midfielder and then two attacking ones and that worked for us.

“In the first half, we just didn’t take enough care of the ball. Ashan put himself about so overall I was happy with what was a great overall team performance.

“Now we can see where we are as a club. The Thatcham manager said we were excellent and that we wouldn’t be too far away, but it’s a long season. We have made a good start and it is something to build on.”