SHRIVENHAM Town boss Sam Collier is looking forward to sharing the sidelines with a former team-mate when his side take on Thatcham Town this afternoon (kick-off 3pm).

The Shrivvy chief had a spell playing for Thatcham last season but after the Berkshire outfit resigned from the Southern League and dropped into the Hellenic League Premier Division, Collier is set to pit his wits against the Kingfishers’ player-manager Gareth Thomas at Barrington Park.

Collier says that he has plenty in common with his Thatcham counterpart and reckons that his side will face a tough test as they look to notch up their second victory of the Bank Holiday weekend.

“Thatcham was the last club that I played for before coming here and Gareth was one of the centre-halves when I was there,” said the Shrivenham manager.

“He’s been made the manager now so we’re very similar. We’re both young managers and I’m looking forward to it – I’m sure we’ll have a beer after the game.

“I know that Thatcham have managed to keep quite a few of their players from their time in the Southern League. They won against Ardley (United) on Saturday and it’s definitely going to be a tough game.”

Shrivenham got back to winning ways on Saturday as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Cheltenham Saracens.

Collier’s men fell behind in the first period and also missed the chance to level matters before the break when Matt Bown missed from the penalty spot.

But an equaliser did finally come, courtesy of Dave Coleman, before striker Steve Robertson popped up with the winning goal.

“We started quite well but were then quite sloppy for the last 30 minutes of the first half and went in a goal down. We got into them a bit at half-time and we were much better in the second half,” said Collier.

“It was well-deserved in the end and I’m relatively happy with the start we’ve made to the season – we’ve played five and won three.

“We played really well last Wednesday (at home to Highmoor Ibis) and didn’t get anything. There were some long faces in the dressing room after that, so it was nice to see some smiles instead at quarter to five.

“We’ve got a good unit that are all gelling together and there’s some good banter in the dressing room. The lad Aaron (Moody), from Swindon, is only young but he’s one of the loudest in there.”

Midfielder Sam Packer returns to the Shrivvy squad for today’s clash with Thatcham whilst Ryan Wilkinson will continue to don the armband, with skipper Liam Edmonson still away on holiday.