Published: Thursday, 19th November, 2009 9:00am

Tuttle urges Bracknell to find their voice

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Bracknell Town boss David Tuttle has demanded his young side find their voice as they look to save their Southern League season.

The rock bottom Robins slumped to their 13th defeat in 14 league games last weekend as they crashed 3-0 at home to Mangotsfield and Tuttle believes his young side have to improve their communication if they are to pull away from the drop zone.

He said: "Joel Havermans is our captain and is the most vocal, so he leads us on the pitch.

"But he was suspended last week and we miss his presence as we're a very quiet team without him.

"The average age of the side is about 23/24 and confidence is obviously low at the moment but some of the players have got to come out of themselves more.

"In any walk of life you have to communicate with your colleagues and we need to do that more on the field.

"We have to talk more but we lack leaders at the moment who can lift players around them.

"We concede a goal and the confidence just drains out of the players because of the position we're in. But we need people who are mentally strong and will rally the team when things aren't going our way."

Things certainly didn't go Bracknell's way last weekend as they were well-beaten by a Mangotsfield United side who have started to climb the Division One (South & West) table after a slow start to the season.

Bracknell did well to get the game on after the heavy overnight rain and they held their own for the opening 30 minutes on a heavy, boggy surface before Mangotsfield seized on a mistake by Dave Pearce to take the lead.

Pearce gave the ball away in midfield and Tom Knighton pounced to drill the ball past Kyle Bradley after latching on to James Pilling's pinpoint pass.

The otherwise impressive Pearce almost made up for his error three minutes before the break as he went agonisingly close to an equaliser with an effort which curled just past the post.

However, Mangotsfield then struck a killer blow on the stroke of half-time when Knighton bagged his second of the match with a clinical low finish into the bottom corner.

Any hope of a Bracknell fightback was quickly killed off eight minutes into the second half when Daine O'Connor raced clear of the home defence to slot past an exposed Bradley.

Bracknell kept plugging away but never really looked like grabbing a consolation goal in the remainder of the half and man of the match Bradley saved them from a heavier defeat when he kept out Knighton's injury-time spot-kick after Luke Prosser had been brought down in the box.

Bracknell's Oliver Woodall was denied by a good save from Mangotsfield keeper Tony Court in the dying seconds but Tuttle admitted his side had been well-beaten on a disappointing day for the below-par Robins.

"The performance was poor and the players have got to stick to the gameplan," he said.

"We played well for the first 30 minutes but then a goal goes in and players stop doing what we asked them to do. That's the disappointing side of things.

"We made three individual mistakes and got punished for them, but that's what happens when you're down the bottom.Mangotsfield are a decent side who'll finish in the top seven or eight this season and it was game over when the third went in.

"I'd been down at the ground at 9am in the morning with a lot of other people working on the pitch to get the game on but I almost wish I hadn't bothered in the end as we weren't good enough on the day.

"However, I still believe that with our squad, plus a couple of additions, we'll be okay this season."

Despite Tuttle's optimism, things don't get any easier for Bracknell this Saturday as they face a trip to Paulton Rovers.

Paulton enjoyed a fairytale run to the first round proper of the FA Cup before crashing 7-0 at home to Norwich City but they remain one of the favourites for promotion.

Garry Sargeant is still a major injury doubt for the trip but Havermans is available again after completing his one match ban.

Bracknell: Bradley, Gill, Abbott, Lyskov, Smith (capt), Grant, Louise, Poulton (Mudge 56), Derewenko (Way 66), Woodall, Pearce.