BRACKNELL Town had Johnnie Dyer sent off after the final whistle following their unfortunate 2-1 defeat at Royal Wootton Bassett on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.
The Robins were left frustrated as they conceded a last-minute Harvey Scholes goal to rob them of the point they thoroughly deserved on the back of an encouraging performance.
Just moments before the goal the referee had awarded a throw-in to Bassett when clearly one of their players had deflected the ball out of play in front of the main stand.
Instead of them having possession, it went against them and the hosts took advantage to launch an attack that saw Scholes fire home a superb shot to grab three fortunate points.
This was the latest of several decisions to go against them, and Robins were understandably left infuriated, particularly Dyer.
The forward, who recently joined the club, said something as he left the field and was shown the red card by referee Adrian Matthews.
To make matters worse, Dyer took off his shirt before having further words with the official and had to be dragged away by team-mates.
“He lost the plot a bit,” said Town’s assistant manager and coach Jeff Dennis.
“The players were disappointed, as they knew they had played well enough to earn a point or even all three.”
Dennis was in charge of the team as manager Mark Tallentire had work commitments while five senior players were unavailable for various reasons.
It left Town with just 11 players, plus Dan Ridge, who was the sole occupant of the sub’s bench.
There was a debut for new signing Jamie McClurg, who made an impressive debut in midfield despite still suffering from a groin strain.
He slotted in well despite admitting: “I had only one training session with this team.”
Second-from-bottom Robins, with the wind in their favour, were the better side in the first half against their mid-table opponents. They strung together a lot of good moves to create a number of chances, but their finishing was often off target on a windy afternoon,
It was nearly 40 minutes before Bracknell keeper Garry Aulsberry had a shot to deal with, and that was straight at him from a free-kick.
Robins were not able to maintain the same tempo in the second half and fell behind in the 54th minute when winger Tyler Sheppard got past Michael Watson on the Bassett right flank. From his cross, Bracknell’s defence managed to block the ball, but leading scorer Steve Robertson was first to react and fired home from close range.
Robins responded well and equalised after 68 minutes. Good work by Adam Cornell and Kennie Chamberlain earned them a right-wing corner, which McClurg floated over for centre-back Callum Whitty to head home.
Bracknell, seeking only their third league win in 17 games, finished the game strongly, only to be caught out on 90 minutes.
It was a superb shot from Scholes, giving Aulsberry no chance with a swirling shot from 25 yards, although the winner was extremely tough on Bracknell.
Robins host Frilsham & Yattendon in the Reading Senior Cup on Saturday (3pm) and Oxford City Nomads in the league next Tuesday (7.45pm).

BRACKNELL have signed Seb Bowerman from Flackwell Heath and Danny Wing from Finchampstead.