IT IS not often that Bracknell Town are outplayed, but that was certainly the case at Rivermoor Stadium on Monday, writes Dave Wright.

Fortunately, it was only for the first 20 minutes and they recovered from going 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw with Highmoor Ibis in their Hellenic League Premier Division tussle.

Their usually-reliable defence were badly caught out, with Mitchell Parker running onto Trevor Mutero’s neat back heel to bury the ball low in the net after just two minutes.

And in the 14th minute they could only look on as Mutero raced clear to double his side’s lead.

In the next six minutes it needed two excellent saves by keeper Chris Grace to prevent the hosts moving even further ahead.

So Bracknell must have been relieved when the dangerous Parker was forced off with an ankle injury in the 21st minute.

The Highmoor attack was blunted and the Robins started to come a lot more into the game.

They finished the half strongly with Adam Cornell, Rob Gerrard and Liam Ferdinand all forcing home keeper Aaron Watkins into making excellent saves.

And they were straight back onto the attack after the break with Carl Davies heading against the top of the crossbar and Ferdinand seeing his effort blocked on the line.

With new signing Philip John and George Short coming off the bench to add fresh legs, it was now virtually one-way traffic towards the home goal.

Joe Grant and Short were denied by Watkins in quick succession before John saw his shot deflected for a corner.

The pressure eventually paid off on 75 minutes when Short headed home Dave Hancock’s cross.

And the right-back also helped set up the 83rd-minute equaliser for Ferdinand.

However, with the Robins in full flow, the lights went out, forcing the game to be held up for 10 minutes.

When play resumed, Bracknell continued to pepper the Highmoor goal, but were unable to grab the winner, so dropping their first points of the season.

This Saturday, the Robins are home to Flackwell Heath (3pm), who boast a similar record of five wins and a draw from six league games.