HIGHWORTH Town boss Jeff Roberts wants to see his troops work harder when they host Thatcham Town in Southern League Division One West at the weekend.

The Worthians had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Street last time out, and Roberts is hoping to make the most of home comforts when his side return to action on Saturday.

Both Highworth and Thatcham won promotion from the Hellenic League Premier Division last season, which makes this match the perfect yardstick to measure the progress of Roberts’ troops.

“It’s going to be a big test for us and we can see where we are now compared to where we were last season,” said the Worthians chief.

“They haven’t had a great start but they won 3-2 last Saturday, so they will have a spark at the weekend.

“It’ll be nice to see how different they are. At the end of last week, they signed a couple of players, so it’ll be a bit of a test for us.

“It’s always nice to win at home. We go in off the back of a good result last weekend, but I still think there are areas in our game that we need to improve on.

“I think our work-rate needs to be better. I don’t think we work hard enough as a team, so that is something we have been working on in training.”

Highworth have been handed a double boost ahead of the meeting as Ash Edenborough returns to the squad following his three-game suspension.

Roberts has also recruited former Swindon Town striker Ashan Holgate for the campaign, after citing a lack of firepower up top as a concern for his squad.

“We are quite happy with how we are doing so far this season. If someone told me we would be eighth at this stage, I would have bitten their hand off,” added Roberts.

“We need to take every game as it comes.

“To be honest, we seem to be better away from home at the moment, but home form is important.

“Harrison Bennett is still injured, he has a knee problem, and Ash Edenborough comes back in after his ban.

“Signing Ashan has given that little bit more flexibility at the top of the pitch, and I think that is an area where we needed to improve the competition for places a little bit.

“Bringing Ashan in has done that, so it is all going well.”