CLEARLY the FA Vase is not for Jeff Lamb, Paul McGrotty and Derek Sweetman, as well as a number of Bracknell Town players, writes Dave Wright.

The management trio – now no longer at Larges Lane following their shock sacking on Monday – twice tasted defeat at the quarter-final stage with Ascot United in 2013 and 2015, and now the same has occurred with the Robins.

Town, including several who joined them from the Yellamen, were beaten 3-0 by a classy Marske United side in front of a bumper crowd of 1,142 at Larges Lane on Saturday.

And, perhaps more importantly as far as their future hopes are concerned, Bracknell know they are going to need to raise their whole game if they are to achieve the club’s aim of gaining promotion to Step 4.

The Yorkshire club play the type of football more frequently seen in the Southern League and handed out a lesson to their Hellenic League hosts.

Town knew they would need to be at their best if they were to beat the competition favourites, but they fell a little short, with too many six out of 10 performances when eights or even a couple of nines were required.

They were not helped by being forced to make a change after just five minutes when centre-half Jesse Wilson hobbled off with a knee injury, meaning Joe Gater had to switch from his deep midfield role with Kensley Maloney coming off the bench.

Just before that, home keeper Chris Grace had been called into early action, tipping Glen Butterworth’s long-range shot over the bar.

But the Robins were soon testing the Marske defence with lone striker TJ Bohane, who by this time had already been yellow carded, and Seb Bowerman not far away from an early goal.

Then in the 38th minute overlapping right-back Dave Hancock put over a cross which struck the crossbar.

So far it had not been a particularly eventful first half with both defences generally on top and it looked as though it would remain goalless.

But that changed a minute before half-time when Butterworth unleashed a low shot from near the edge of the area that hit the back of the net before Grace could move.

It was a major set-back for Town as they had matched their visitors and were unfortunate to be trailing.

Gater had a chance to equalise early in the second half, only to direct his header straight at keeper Robert Dean.

As the game wore on, the Seasiders started to take a grip on the game, making it more difficult than ever for Bracknell to create a clear-cut chance and, although Carl Davies did have a volley blocked, they were unable to repeat the same intensity they had shown before half time.

And it was all over for the Robins in the 69th minute when they were slow to react to a quickly-taken free-kick, and before they could recover Curtis Round had found the net.

It was a touch of class the Bracknell forwards could not match on the day.

Town were now looking deflated and only a fine save by Grace prevented Daniel Earl scoring in a one-on-one from a breakaway.

However, shortly afterwards there was a third goal when Town again switched off and this time Round picked up a long ball, played it off to Earl on the right and he made no mistake to seal Marske’s place in the semi finals.

Having started with Bohane up front by himself, leading scorer Adam Cornell came off the sub’s bench in a bid to provide some punch upfront, and he was later followed by fellow forward Jon Bennett, but neither was able to make an impact on the Marske defence.

Although bitterly disappointed, especially with their overall performance on the day, Bracknell can still be proud of their efforts as reaching the last eight was a truly magnificent effort.

Trying to win the Hellenic League title now becomes their No. 1 target.