MANAGER Mark Tallentire is confident he can restore Bracknell Town’s fortunes and keep them in the Premier Division of the Hellenic League.

In his first home game in charge, he saw the Robins lose 2-0 to Royal Wootton Bassett in the second round of the Bluefin Sports Cup on Tuesday night.

But Tallentire said: “There were loads and loads of good signs to come out of the game.

“I was quite proud of some of our (individual) performances, especially as we haven’t had really any time to work with them and get the team into a pattern.

“Wootton have been together for ages and you could tell that. That was the difference between the two teams.”

Having been busy in the transfer market, Tallentire fielded a much-changed side compared to the club’s previous home game against Highmoor Ibis last month.

New signings Callum Whitty, Carl Davies, Johnnie Dyer and Dave Fenton all played, but James Suarez was forced to drop out due to a family matter.

Jamie McClurg, an experienced midfielder whose previous clubs include Binfield, Slough and Met Police, has also joined but is currently sidelined with a groin strain.

Tallentire, having seen leading scorer Shane Cooper-Clark move to Thatcham this week, revealed more signings could follow and is hoping to bring in another striker before their game at Ardley United this Saturday.

“We are going to be a work in progress,” added Robins’ new boss. “I am bringing in a lot of new players in a short space of time and it will take time to get to where we want the team to be.”

Some of his new players have not played in recent weeks and their lack of match sharpness was exposed on Tuesday.

“Tonight’s game sort of epitomised that,” said Tallentire after seeing Steve Robertson (75mins) and Harvey Scholes (87) score for the Wiltshire side.

“I felt the first half was pretty even and we just edged the last 15 to 20 minutes of the first half and unlucky not to have scored during that period.

“But going in at half time I felt we wouldn’t be able to keep that pace up and that showed in the last 20 minutes. We fell away, due to fitness, and that was the key to tonight’s defeat.

“Some of the lads are going to need to do a little bit of training on their own to help themselves to get to the fitness levels needed. We will get stronger as it goes.”

Tallentire has retuned to Larges Lane at a time when they are languishing second from bottom of the Premier Division with just two wins and four draws from 15 games.

He added: “We are in touching distance of the teams above us, but need two or three wins to get us going. We need to get a little sharper, a bit more competitive and create a bit more going forward.

“I am confident we will definitely have enough in our locker to keep the team in the division and then we can start building for the future.”

The Robins are three points adrift of fourth-from-bottom Ardley and that is why Tallentire describes it as a ‘ massive one for us’.

Six points adrift of Bracknell at the foot of the table are Wokingham & Emmbrook, who slumped to their 17th defeat in 19 games when losing 5-0 at home to high-flying Highworth on Tuesday.

This game marked the half-way stage of their league campaign and the Sumas are going to need a massive change around in their fortunes if they are to haul themselves clear of the relegation zone.

Manager Dan Bateman admitted it was ‘not good from us tonight against a good side’ but is hoping to see his side bounce back when they travel to Gloucestershire to face mid-table Longlevens on Saturday.

Sumas fell behind to a Dan Drewitt goal after nine minutes, but, with keeper Sean Woodward having another excellent game, they managed to stay in contention until the 68th minute when TJ Bohane doubled Highworth’s advantage.

Nathan Gambling then netted a hat-trick in the space of 11 minutes to seal a win that takes the Worthians up to fourth in the table, above Ascot United on goal difference.

Binfeld bounced back from their 5-0 defeat at Kidlington on Saturday by beating Abingdon United 2-1 in the first round of the Berks & Bucks Senior Trophy on Tuesday.

Liam Ferdinand fired the Moles ahead after eight minutes, only for the hosts to equalise four minutes later through George Reid.

Carl Withers restored Binfield’s lead on 17 minutes, but shortly afterwards the midfielder was forced to leave the field with a groin strain and could be doubtful for the home league game with Highmoor Ibis on Saturday.

Binfield will be away to league rivals Ascot in the quarter-finals of the county trophy.