BRACKNELL Town suffered their first Uhlsport Hellenic League defeat since mid-August when losing 2-1 at Tuffley Rovers on Saturday.

The Robins, who were missing keeper Chris Grace and skipper Carl Davies due to suspension, also lost fifth place in the table to the Gloucestershire side.

With striker TJ Bohane ill, they were unable to reproduce the form shown in their previous two away games which saw them win 6-0 at Royal Wootton Bassett and 3-0 at Brackley Town Saints.

Their three-match run of not conceding a league goal came to an end in the 23rd minute.

The defence was caught out by Warren Mann’s overhead pass, which player-manager Mark Pritchett smashed past keeper Karl Steinborn-Busse.

Bracknell worked hard to get back on level terms with Adam Cornell prominent in attack on his return from injury.

But they suffered another set-back just after the half-hour mark when the referee awarded Tuffley a penalty for a Khalid Senussi challenge on Pritchett, who had already gone past two defenders, and Mann stepped up to roll the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

The second half started at a brisk pace, with both sides looking capable of scoring, but the Robins were far more dangerous in attack than they had in the opening 45 minutes.

Adam Cornell headed over from six yards before seeing another header brilliantly saved one-handed by keeper Dave Evans, who immediately punched the ball away from the advancing Kensley Maloney.

Seb Bowerman did manage to take the ball wide of Evans, only to see his goal-bound shot hacked away by a defender.

It wasn’t entirely one-way traffic and Steinborn-Busse pulled off a tremendous save at the expense of a corner to deny Rovers a third goal.

Evans was forced into making another two fine stops to deny Cornell and Callum Whitty, but the keeper was eventually beaten when Whitty headed home deep into stoppage time.

All in all, it was a frustrating afternoon for Mark Tallentire’s men, as they knew they should have won the game.

Bracknell are now looking to return to winning ways in the league, but their next two fixtures could hardly be tougher.

They take on unbeaten Thame United at Sandhurst FC’s Bottom Meadow next Tuesday (7.45pm ko) in what is expected to be their last game there before returning to Larges Lane for the visit of league leaders Thatcham the following Saturday.