JOE Gater may well have opened the door to a new role for himself at Bracknell Town, writes Dave Wright.

With Justin Clayton and Carl Davies now looking the first-choice centre-backs, Gater has been relegated to the sub’s bench in recent games.

But last Saturday he was given a deep midfield role and took to his new job impressively, producing a man-of-the-match performance.

He even marked the occasion with a superb goal to help the Robins win 5-0 at Abingdon United Joint-manager Jeff Lamb explained: “Joe is a very good player technically. I think he can play in a few positions and this is one I have been meaning to get him into.

“I thought he was exceptional.

“He trains and works very hard, so I am chuffed for him. It was a really good day for him.”

It was also a memorable day for the whole team who outclassed an Abingdon side that went into Saturday’s game on a high following their 4-2 win at leaders Highworth, where Town had suffered a 1-0 defeat earlier in the month.

The Robins dictated the match on a rain-saturated pitch with Lamb describing it as a “very good team performance”, adding: “Everyone stuck well together to their task.

“We gave them instructions and they did exactly what we asked them to do, so fair play to them all.

“Defensively, we got a bit sloppy a couple of times, but other than that we looked sound.”

Abingdon should have scored at least once, but then the Robins could easily have had more themselves with Jamie McClurg being particularly unlucky to see his ‘goal’ disallowed for offside.

Town kept up their pressure for the whole of 90 minutes, despite most of the side having played on heavy going when winning 1-0 at Ardley United last Tuesday in the Bluefin Sports Hellenic League Cup.

Lamb revealed: “After that game, we told the players they could have Thursday (evening) off, but they all wanted to train, as usual, which was pleasing as it shows the commitment there is within the group.

‘We gave the players the evening off but they all wanted to train which shows the commitment’ – Robins boss Jeff Lamb “We need to keep things going now as we have a lot of games coming up.”

Bracknell should be capable of getting another three points this Saturday when they visit Lydney, two weeks after beating them 4-1 at Larges Lane (3pm).

Last Saturday the Gloucestershire side crashed 8-0 at Berkshire high-flyers Thatcham Town after having two of their players sent off, which means they will miss Bracknell’s visit this weekend.

The Robins stay fifth in the table, 14 points behind Highworth and 11 adrift of second-placed Thatcham, who are the league’s most in-form team, and as Lamb says: “We have just got to keep on winning.

“Things are going the right way for us and it’s just unfortunate that we dropped points to Highworth the other week.

“But we have picked up really well since then and at the moment things are going good for us.

“Yes, we have games in hand, but we’ve got to win them to catch up, so we need to stay motivated and at the moment that is what we are doing,” concluded Lamb.

Bracknell have signed former Brentford junior Max Herbert on dual registration forms from Evo-Stik League South East side Ashford Town.

The left-footed player can play in a number of positions and will add strength to the squad.