After an encouraging pre-season, Bracknell have taken one point from home games against Milton United and Thame United.

The Robins then suffered a 4-0 defeat against Flackwell Heath on Saturday as they exited the FA Cup at the first hurdle.

It was a tough beginning for Carpenter, who would have hoped to get off to a good start, but he can take solace from the fact that only 14 of his 34 players were available for games last week.

But the straight-talking manager was in no mood for excuses and admits things have to get better if Bracknell are to improve.

“It was the same in both league games,” reflected the Robins boss.

“We talk at half-time about keeping it tight and what to improve on, and then we switch off. We make silly mistakes and suddenly we’re chasing the game.

“It’s the kind of mistakes that you can get away with in the reserves but not at this level, and the players will learn from that.

“Some of the players are new so you have to give them the benefit, you can’t be too annoyed.

“Against Flackwell Heath we were well in the game and arguably on top. But when we went 2-0 down the younger players started to lose their way and panic trying to make amends, but that will come in time.

“We’ve got three games in six days now and you never go into a match negatively.

“Wootton Bassett have not had a good start either. They’ll be looking at us on Wednesday night and thinking that they can win this.

“But that’s how we’ll approach it, in exactly the same manner, and hopefully put pressure on them.

“If we can get good results against them and Brimscombe, it sets us up nicely and in a positive frame of mind for the local derby against Ascot on Monday.” The start to the season has been further troubled by the absence of a number of players due to holiday commitments.

Despite not using it as an excuse, Carpenter admits it has been a big frustration as he looks forward to getting his full squad together in September.

“It would be nice to name the same starting team for two games running,” he added. “But we’ve struggled to get more than 14 players so far, and that’s the most frustrating thing for me.

“It’s hard as players are on holidays and at festivals, which is all planned long-term.

“I’m just looking forward to getting that out of the way and having the squad together so that I can work out who’ll be my normal group on a matchday.

“People work and it’s hard but you need commitment. It’s no good people being here one week and then not here for three, so you need to be all in or out.” Bracknell travel to Wootton Bassett tonight (Wednesday, 7.45pm), before hosting Brimscombe & Thrupp on Saturday (3pm) and then travel to Ascot United on Monday (3pm).