THE competition for places in Bracknell Town’s starting line-up is becoming so hot that even player-manager Carl Davies admits he will need to work hard to keep his shirt, writes Dave Wright.

Following a number of signings - with centre-back Matt Day the latest of them - the days of an automatic spot in the team no longer exists.

“This is how it should be,” says Davies. “We now have competition in all positions and that can only benefit the team. It will keep all players on their toes, they will need to perform.”

Final team selection will be down to the Robins’ new coaching trio of Geoff Warner, Gavin Smith and Michael Butcher, although only Smith was at Larges Lane on Saturday to see former Slough, Wealdstone and Hungerford defender Day make his debut in a 3-0 defeat by Evo-Stick League side Banbury United.

Davies, a long-time friend of Day, admitted: “He will challenge me for one of the centre-back positions.

“If I am told there are two better than me at the minute then they will be playing and I will be on the bench, it’s as simple as that. I won’t sulk, I am past that.

“Equally, if they think I should be in rather than one of the others who are not doing so well, then the one left out will have to accept it and fight for his place back.

“The coaches will pick the best two at the time – it’s as simple as that. The final decision will be down to our coaches, Geoff, Gavin and Butch. I have to remain impartial.”

In addition to the debut-making Day, midfielder Scott Rees impressed against Banbury, while keeper Mark Scott made some excellent saves.

There was also another interesting face in Town’s line-up with a surprise appearance of striker Gavin James, who played in Thatcham’s FA Vase winning team after joining them on dual registration from Evo-Stik League club Slough.

“He is not sure what he’s going to do at the moment, so we invited him down last Thursday for training,” revealed Davies.

James, who has since signed for the Robins for next season, was first to test the Banbury defence and wasn’t far away from scoring with a shot that curled over the crossbar.

He looked the most dangerous forward on the field in the opening stages, only to fade as the game progressed.

“It was understandable he tired in the second half as he hasn’t played for a while,” said Davies. “He needs more minutes and we were happy to help him with that.”

The Robins, looking the more comfortable side on the ball, gave a good account of themselves particularly in the first half, only to lose some of their rhythm as they started to make changes.

Banbury fielded almost two completely different teams in each half and their fresh legs gave them the extra energy on another boiling day.

Davies reflected: “For the first 45 minutes, we matched them, but both sides didn’t create many clear-cut chances and we cancelled each other out.

“We made four or five changes in around the space of 10 minutes and all of a sudden we found ourselves three goals down. We had five new lads trying to get up to the speed of the game basically.

“I was disappointed with a couple of the goals we conceded. They seemed to get through us a bit too easily, especially the third one.

“But we still created a couple of chances in the second half and should have scored one or two. Maybe we should have had a penalty before they (Banbury) went down to the other end and scored.”

Davies, who came off at half-time only to reappear late on as a forward, continued: “Overall, we got more out of this game than we did last Tuesday when we beat Knaphill 3-0.

“We were up against a good side who will do well in their league this season. So to match them for 60 minutes was impressive. They made us run around a lot and I am glad as we are fitter for it.

“The performance is more important than the result in these sort of games.”

The Robins were missing several players on Saturday including keeper Chris Grace, injured skipper Dave Hancock, Kensley Maloney and Liam Ferdinand, and during the second half lost left-back Ryan Parsons when he tweaked his hamstring and had to go off.

Bracknell, who were due to host former Hellenic League rivals Windsor last night (Tuesday), now have three more friendlies lined-up - at Hungerford this Saturday, followed by Binfield next Tuesday evening and Thame on August 4.

Davies continued: “We have arranged these games deliberately as we need to play on grass pitches - or perhaps it could be no grass if the weather stays hot and we don’t get any rain.”