HIGHWORTH Town manager Jeff Roberts was pleased with his side’s resilience after a 1-0 Southern League Division One South win away at Mangotsfield United in difficult conditions.

Toumani Sidibe’s sixth goal of the season was the difference between the two sides and made sure Highworth kept up with the promotion chasers on a wet afternoon in Bristol.

Despite the win, Roberts was unhappy with his side’s start and was left frustrated with the state of a pitch that he labelled as “the worst of the season”.

He said: “The pitch wasn’t great. It was probably the worst pitch we’ve played on this season. It was very bumpy and bobbly.

“We started off in a 4-3-3 formation and it didn’t really work. We gave them too much time out wide, so we decided to change it at half-time to 4-4-2, and in the second half, we were much more dominant.

“We got at them a little bit more, played some good balls through and Toumani has cut inside and slotted the ball home.

“We were much better in the second half and apart from a period of five or 10 minutes where they were on top, we dominated and they didn’t really cause us too many problems.

“It’s another clean sheet and our third win on the bounce. We’ve come away with three points having not played very well, but it’s another win away from home and we’re moving up the table.”

Highworth have now won three in a row and Roberts is pleased his side are beginning to pick up some momentum ahead of a busy Christmas period.

But the Worthians manager is still keen to add to his squad and believes they will only be able to keep up their winning run if he is able to give his key players a rest when he feels it is appropriate.

He said: “Over the Christmas period, I think we’ve got four games in eight or nine days, so it’s going to be a massive test for us so we’re trying to build the squad a little bit more still.

“We’re looking at maybe bringing in a striker to help Ash Edenborough out and give us that flexibility to be able to rest one and bring someone else back in who’s nice and fresh.”