BRACKNELL Town picked themselves up off the floor to make short work of Longlevens by a 4-1 margin at Larges Lane on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

It was a must-win game for the Robins following their 4-1 defeat at Ardley the previous Tuesday – a result that severely knocks back their hopes of becoming Hellenic League champions.

They trail title rivals Thame United by two points with two games left to play. And, on paper at least, their fixtures at Brimscombe & Thrupp and home to Highworth look tougher than Thame’s matches at Lydney and bottom-of-the table Henley.

Manager Mark Tallentire said: “We were all disappointed after Tuesday’s result, and rightly so.

“We were in the driving seat; in charge of our own destiny, but we all know now that is no longer the case and we are having to rely on other teams to do us a favour.”

Speaking to the News on Saturday, he added: “This was a good win for us.

“I knew there would be a consequence of the defeat on Tuesday and I thought we looked a bit lethargic early on and a little bit leggy in the first 20 minutes, but once we got into the game we played some good stuff.

“Adam (Cornell) scored two great goals and finished with a hat-trick, which was good for him as he hasn’t been well and got out of his sick bed to play for us.”

Cornell opened the scoring with a superb strike from 25 yards in the 33rd minute and followed up with a second goal two minutes later.

But the Robins could not afford to relax as the visitors, lying 12th in the table, halved their deficit through Dave Merrick four minutes before half-time.

Town had much the better of the second half with Carl Davies, TJ Bohane, Kensley Maloney and Cornell all going close before the latter completed his hat-trick in the 71st minute.

The Robins’s fourth goal came in stoppage time when Longlevens’ Adam Phillips headed into his own net following a Jamie McClurg cross.

During the game midfielder George Short suffered another knock on the nose, having broken it when being on the receiving end of an Ardley elbow last week.

Tallentire: added: “This win keeps the pressure on Thame. We missed a few chances, but we were nowhere near as bad as we were at Ardley. I just could not fathom it out. It was like someone had put a curse on our strikers or anyone who had a chance in front of our goal. We just could not finish off anything.”

Bracknell, who are scheduled to meet Binfield in the quarter-finals of the Bluefin Sport Hellenic League Cup tonight (Tuesday) will be seeking a quick double at Brimscombe & Thrupp, having hammered them 7-2 at home three weeks ago.