Bracknell Town manager Mark Tallentire believes it is more important to secure points than to produce impressive displays in every game, writes Dave Wright.

His high-flying Robins made hard work of inflicting a 3-2 defeat on local rivals Ascot United on Saturday despite being up against 10 men for all but the opening five minutes.

And it came just days after they were taken to extra time by Division 1 East leaders Hook Norton before winning their Hellenic League Floodlit Cup tie 3-1.

After Saturday’s game Tallentire told the News: “We can’t be brilliant every week and I told my players that.

"But they do deserve credit for the consistent way they manage games as the did today.

“I am not too bothered about performances, it is just about getting points on the board. We are consistently churning out results and that is a sign of a team looking to go places.”

And on current form, the Robins certainly do look set to launch a strong challenge for the title.

Beaten only three times in 20 games, they remain two points behind Thame, who top a table where only seven points separate the top five clubs.

Their fine run, which included a home win over the leaders, continued on Saturday when they came from behind to defeat the Yellamen, who had defender Jon Palmer sent off less than five minutes after the kick-off.

And Tallentire praised their Ascot, saying: “They were a credit to their managers because their 10 men made it difficult for us and played extremely well. On another day they might even have got something out of the game.

“But I think for persistence and with the amount of chances we created, we deserved to win.

“We have players who can turn games with a bit of individuality and I thought Joe’s (Grant) reply straight after they had scored was a bit of a turning point for us. It was a great finish.

“I think if it had stayed at 1-0 at half-time and then into the second half there was a danger of us starting to get a bit anxious.

“We had a 15-minute spell in the second half where we created five or six really good opportunities.

“We are averaging three goals a game and I sort of knew we would get a few goals today.

“It was a big three points for us, and that was all we were interested in.”

Ascot player-manager Jeff Lamb was proud of his team, saying: “They gave everything they had and in the end, I thought we could nick something out of it, so I was disappointed in that respect.”