FIRST-HALF goals from Seb Bowerman and Adam Cornell earned Bracknell Town a 2-1 win over Thatcham on Tuesday and a place in the quarter-finals of the Berks & Bucks Senior Trophy, writes Dave Wright.

But in the second half the Robins had to thank their goalkeeper, Chris Grace, who saved a penalty before Josh Helmore pulled a goal back for the Kingfishers.

Bracknell were missing both their regular centre-backs, skipper Carl Davies (back strain) and the unavailable Alex Rodrigues, with Callum Whitty and Lee Rushe their replacements.

“Considering they haven’t played a full game for us for a few weeks, I thought they were excellent together,” said manager Mark Tallentire.

Another absentee was forward TJ Bohane, due to sickness.

The manager added: “We’ve got a good squad here, so there is no harm in me making a few changes, and the lads I brought in tonight did really great.”

The opening quarter of this first-round tie was fairly even, but the Robins looked more dangerous in attack and it was a sweeping move down the right flank that led to Bowerman coming in at the far post, opening the scoring after 19 minutes.

Then minutes later it was 2-0 with Kensley Maloney threading the ball through for Cornell to place past keeper Chris Rackley.

By now, Bracknell had upped the tempo and were only denied a further goal when the ball was twice cleared off the line.

“If we had got a third goal, I think that would have killed the game off but we were happy enough at half-time with our lead,” commented Tallentire.

“In the second half we knew they (Thatcham) were going to come at us.

“I thought we played too long, we stopped getting the ball down and passing it, but then it could be said they worked a bit harder to shut us down.

“There were too many times when we sort of wanted to get rid of the ball instead of passing it, but in the little pockets of play we did have, you could see the difference between the two teams.”

The Kingfishers, who were missing top scorer Shane Cooper-Clark due to a broken hand, had a great chance to halve their deficit within the opening two minutes of the second half.

Khalid Senussi was adjudged to have brought down Jemel Johnson to concede a penalty, but Grace threw himself low to his left to push out Mark Hughes’ spot kick.

Thatcham, however, did pull a goal back on 75 minutes through substitute Helmore and it needed a superb block by Grace to prevent the same player from equalising.

The Kingfishers, who have now lost to Bracknell three times in the opening two months of the season, pushed forward, but they left themselves open at the back and Maloney wasn’t far away from snatching a late goal.

Tallentire continued: “In the end it was a matter of us hanging in there and grinding out a win, which we did quite comfortably.”

Bracknell will be home to Holmer Green in the quarter-finals on a date to be confirmed next month, and by then they could be back playing on their new 3G surface at Larges Lane.

This Saturday they have a league fixture away to Gloucestershire side Longlevens when they will be hoping to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 10 games.

Ascot United were knocked out of the Senior Trophy on Tuesday when they lost 2-0 at home to Hellenic League rivals Highmoor Ibis.

Keeper Carl Dennison saved Mitchell Parker’s 27th-minute penalty, but Parker made amends by setting up the opening goal for Sanchez Commack after 47 minutes and then scoring the second himself on the hour mark.

With Charlie Samuels still suspended, the Yellamen’s side included 38-year-old Gavin Smith, the former Bracknell player.

Ascot had a chance to pull a goal back when they were awarded a penalty for handball in the 70th minute, only for Theo Jones to blast his spot-kick over the bar.

Ascot, who were hammered 5-0 at Ardley on Saturday, are at home to Lydney this Saturday.