“It was a fantastic win,” said the Robins boss. But, like many others at the club, he wasn’t totally surprised by the result.

“Performances like this one have been there before, but we did not always get the result we deserved,” he told the News. “But it changed on Saturday, so we are all delighted.

“It was our first win of the year and it came against the team top of the league, so we can’t ask for much more than that.” Penicott-Bowen added: “The boys are developing nicely and learning from the challenges of playing against the top teams.

“They work really hard for each other. I’ve told them that they must think not only about their own individual performances, but also how to be part of a team.

“I said they must make an impact by working in twos or threes and they certainly showed that.

“They won a lot of the ball, you could see their determination. Their work rate could not really be faulted; that was great to see.” Bracknell’s reward was a goal in each half, the first from Dan Money and the second from Shane Cooper-Clark.

“We could have had more,” said Penicott-Bowen. “If Shane showed a bit more patience he would have scored rather than skied the ball over the bar. But he worked very hard and deserved his goal in the second half.

“We also defended well and Highmoor did not create many clear cut chances. To keep a clean sheet against a top side is always a bonus.” Penicott-Bowen was forced to make a late team change with Taylor Elliott-Money hurting his back in the warm-up. Right-back Michael Watson switched to centre-back alongside Jake White with Martin Bradshaw filling the vacancy.

“It turned out to be a good move,” added the manager. “Mikey gave us an extra bit of speed at the back and it makes me think that centre-back may be his best position.” Saturday’s win moved Robins up to ninth in the table and. with nine games remaining, there is still plenty of time to make further progress.

“I’ve always said that if we finish higher than last year (13th) then we are heading in the right direction,” Penicott-Bowen added.

“We are making small steps at the club and hopefully they will continue in the weeks ahead.” Next up for Bracknell is a trip to Scours Lane to play Reading Town this Saturday, when goalkeeper Garry Aulsberry will be looking to keep another clean sheet against one of his former clubs.​