THE Hellenic League title race now looks like a straight fight between Bracknell Town and FA Vase finalists Thatcham, writes Dave Wright.

Robins’ 2-0 win over Highworth, the long-time leaders, has virtually put the current table-toppers out of contention.

With just three games left, the Wiltshire side are on 82 points, while Thatcham have 80 with six games to go and Bracknell have 77 with seven remaining – all against sides in the bottom half of the table.

As Town coach Geoff Warner commented: “Goals win you matches, but clean sheets win you titles.”

And this was their sixth in the last eight league games with Highworth hardly ever look like scoring.

After losing 3-2 at Binfield nine days earlier, it was a must-win game for the Worthians at Larges Lane on Monday, but they rarely got a look in after gifting Bracknell a second-minute goal scored by Seb Bowerman.

Kensley Maloney went on to double his side’s lead as a highly-confident Town side took charge of the first half.

They were not quite as dominant in the second half, but even when the visitors enjoyed their best spell of the match, the Robins always looked the better side and could easily have won by a bigger margin, striking the woodwork on three occasions.

Highworth keeper Garry Aulsberry also made a string of excellent save as he worked hard to make amends for his earlier mistake. That came inside the opening two minutes when the former Robins player allowed Bowerman’s shot from the edge of the area to slip under his body into the net.

Yes, the pitch and ball were wet, but teams cannot afford to concede goals like that in such an important game.

It was another blow for a Highworth side who were below full strength due to a variety of reasons, even with two players dropping out on the morning of the match, causing a club official to question the commitment of some of his squad.

They are clearly not going to stay top of the table for long and could eventually even finish out of the top three.

On the other hand, Bracknell are now sensing the title will be theirs if they maintain their winning run, which is now up to nine in the league since their defeat at Highworth at the end of December.

The Robins, following up their 3-1 win over Royal Wootton Bassett on Saturday, were unlucky not to have added a quick second goal when a great run by Joe Grant led to Bowerman hitting a left-footer past Aulsberry, only to see the ball strike the crossbar.

There was, however, a slight scare for the hosts when Sean Wood’s right-wing cross was turned home by Aaron Ferris, but his effort was ruled out for offside.

Soon afterwards, Maloney saw his long-range shot pushed away by Aulsberry, but the busy midfielder wasn’t going to be denied.

Fed by Adam Cornell, Maloney took the ball in his stride at pace before firing hard and low into the bottom left-hand corner to make it 2-0 after 26 minutes. It was his second goal in three games, having managed only one in his previous 20.

Within minutes of scoring, Maloney was back in his own penalty area getting the ball clear, and it is this non-stop work, also by the likes of widemen Bowerman and Grant, that is a big feature of Town’s play.

Bowerman’s corner to the near post was turned goalwards by Adam Cornell, only for Aulsberry to push the ball away and Joe Gater saw his shot tipped over the bar. Grant then struck the woodwork before seeing another effort blocked by the goalie to complete an impressive first-half performance by the Robins.

On the stroke of half time, however, they were forced into making a change with Bowerman limping off with a groin strain and replaced by Khalid Senussi.

Bracknell couldn’t quite maintain the same intensity in the second half, although TJ Bohane did have a deflected effort strike the crossbar.

Highworth did see more of the ball, but without really threatening the home goal with their progress being cut short by Town’s tigerish midfield work or by the back four.

Man-of-the-match Maloney and substitute Darren Wheeler, who had replaced Bohane after 65 minutes, were not far away from increasing Bracknell’s advantage as they completed an Easter double in front of just under 400 fans.

On Saturday, they had defeated Royal Wootton Bassett 3-1, coming from a goal down to score through Grant after 33 minutes, Gater five minutes later and substitute Bohane in the 72nd. In a busy schedule, Town are back in action tomorrow (Thursday, 7.45pm) when they host Windsor in the semi finals of the Bluefin Sports League Cup and are expected to make several changes to the side that beat Highworth.

They then travel to relegation-threatened Fairford on Saturday (3pm) with another trip to Gloucestershire to follow next Tuesday evening when they make the long journey to Lydney (7.45pm).