The Lily Hill Park side put in a stirring fightback but ultimately lost 37-31 in an epic clash with unbeaten league leaders Exmouth on Saturday, and the Welshman is now targetting this coming Saturday’s trip to Barnstaple to kick-start their season.

He admitted: “We’ve had a difficult start compared to some of the other teams and it’s all about gaining momentum.

“We’ve lost ours a little bit but Barnstaple is one we can go down to and hopefully win and start building our momentum and climb back up the league.” Bracknell were 37-12 down to Exmouth with 20 minutes remaining, but hit back in thrilling fashion to claim two bonus points in defeat.

And Greenslade-Jones insists their commitment bodes well for the future: “The boys showed great character. We were 20-odd points down but we fought our way back into the game and scored some excellent tries. If there was another five minutes, we could have won.

“We got a bit of self-belief and before you knew it we were banging in tries left, right and centre. But unfortunately we didn’t start the game too well.

“We need to go to Barnstaple and do a number on them because they’ve been struggling.” The performance against Exmouth was a step up from the dismal defeat to rivals Redingensians, but the coach is backing his side to improve.

He revealed: “We spoke as a group of players about the penalties we conceded and our focus in training was to put eight phases together.

“Unfortunately, after we had eight phases we tried a silly little off-load or there weren’t enough people quick to the breakdown.

“Exmouth forced turnovers and the reason they’re a good team and top of the league is because three of those tries they scored were pretty much 60, 70, 80 metre tries and from our possession.

“You’ve got to give them credit, they’re a good team, but I thought on our day if we hadn’t made those mistakes, we could have beaten them.” He added: “When things aren’t quite going your way you don’t get the decisions or the bounce of the ball, or the off-load somebody doesn’t quite catch it and things just snowball. It’s up to us to pick ourselves up as a group.

“We’ve got to be more streetwise and get the referee on our side. I thought discipline-wise we were better. We only gave 10 penalties so there’s certainly improvement, but we can probably get better by another 25%.

“We play for the jersey and never give up. Proof of that is in the pudding. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the result, but I’m sure we’ll get back to winning ways.” It was a thrilling late fightback from Bracknell RFC after a slow start put them on the backfoot.

The unbeaten Devon side took the lead with a George Meadows penalty in just the second minute, and doubled their advantage to 6-0 when the fly half added another successful kick.

Bracknell came back into the game but after battering away at the visitors try line, conceded a turnover and Exmouth went the length of the pitch to score a brilliant try, rounded off in the corner by wing Matt Ryan.

And worse was to come for the Lily Hill Park faithful as a searing break by the leaders’ full back Oli Rice - in which he beat at least eight tackles - ended with scrum half Gary Hooper taking the final pass to score. With Meadows knocking over the conversion, Bracknell trailed 0-18 after just 23 minutes and were in danger of facing a rout.

However the hosts showed their character and grabbed a way back into the game just after the half hour.

Following another period of concerted pressure, the ball was spread wide to wing George Owen who finished superbly in the left corner. His excellent conversion reduced the arrears further and half time arrived with the score 7-18.

If Bracknell were going to challenge they really needed to score first after the break, but after a run of powerful play from the visitors’ forwards, Hooper was able to snipe through the fringe defence to extend the lead to 23-7.

And the result was seemingly settled shortly after when Bracknell again proved their own worst enemy, turning over the ball on the Exmouth line and allowing them to go the length of the field for a second time with George Savage’s converted score making it 30-7.

However, the final 20 minutes saw Bracknell produce a sensational effort, initially closing the gap through a Joe Price try but then ceding the advantage again when outside centre Mark Wathes’s try was converted to put the score at 37-14.

But the irrepressible Owen then bagged his second try to cut the gap again, and Bracknell secured a try bonus point when Stuart Silvester powered over to make the score 37-26.

Exmouth lock Jack Pyne was then sin binned as the hosts rattled their opponents to the core, but despite Owen sealing a hat trick after collecting a perfectly weighted Stuart Mackay grubber, time ran out and they succumbed to a 37-31 reverse, albeit collecting a losing bonus point for their efforts.

The game was likely to be fly half Dan Antonelli’s last before he moves with work to Dubai, and coach Rory Greenslade-Jones paid tribute to him after the game.

He gushed: “Dan is a great guy, a very good rugby player and a friend of mine. He is an example of what Bracknell stands for. He’s always at training and always puts his body on the line.

“He’s not the biggest of chaps but his stature on the pitch is of someone who is six foot three.

“If everybody has the same values and characteristics as Dan, then Bracknell Rugby Club will not go too far wrong.”