BRACKNELL Town manager Mark Tallentire admitted that not all of the club’s players are up to the same standard, writes Dave Wright.

And that will guide him towards confirming a first-team pool of 15 or 16 players going into the new Hellenic League season which starts with a home derby against Ascot United next Tuesday (7.45pm kick-off).

He also expressed his concern over the manner in which the Robins shipped goals in a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Basingstoke Town in last Saturday’s friendly at rain-lashed Larges Lane.

“They (Basingstoke) play two or three levels up from us, but for large periods of the game you would not have thought that,” said Tallentire.

“We looked very assured, we played our style of football against them, we were brave in possession, got on the ball and created a few really good opportunities.

“You want to see your team tested and pushed and it was quite evident that when we have our strongest side out we will be a match for anyone.

‘Our strongest side will be a match for anyone’ “But when we started chopping and changing around a bit and some of the lads we brought in – and no disrespect to them – they did not look of the same quality as the first 15 or 16 we have got here.

“I am pretty pragmatic about things like that.

“It highlighted a few things, though I had an inkling about them anyway.”

Tallentire added: “When you concede five goals in a game, there is something fundamentally wrong. We just don’t do that even against good sides.

“Their keeper did better than ours. Ours (Karl Steinbourn-Busse) made a few decent saves, while theirs made two great ones to prevent Ferdy (Liam Ferdinand) and Ads (Adam Cornell) scoring, so the result could have been even closer.”

The Bracknell manager continued: “While we were disappointed to concede five goals, there were a lot of positives to come out of the game.

“We showed some great interlink play between our midfield and strikers, there was great movement.

“Ferdy and Ads looked really good together, they were a real handful and I thought all our three goals were of good quality. Most of their goals were pretty avoidable to be honest.

“If we had been a bit better with our final ball, we could have surprised that team (Basingstoke).

“We got into some really good areas, but the final ball did not quite go for us.

“At the end of the day there were a lot more positives than negatives to come out of the game.”

But Bracknell returned to winning ways by defeating Southern League side Chalfont St Peter 4-2 at home on Tuesday.

They conceded a sixth-minute goal to Jake Cass from a free-kick, but Cornell equalised on 33 minutes and three minutes later he headed in a Seb Bowerman cross to make it 2-1. Soon afterwards, he had the ball in the net again, only to be ruled offside.

Ferdinand also struck twice, in the 47th and 67th minutes, with Craig Manderson pulling one back after 72 minutes.

Robins had Khalid Senussi carried off just before the final whistle with a leg injury and he was taken to hospital for a check-up.

Bracknell omplete a busy pre-season schedule by playing Southern League side Uxbridge at Larges Lane this Saturday (3pm ko).

“It’s against decent sides like these that you find things out about your players and the team,” said Tallentire.

“These games are all about gearing up for next Tuesday when we play our first league game here against Ascot.”