BRACKNELL Town booked their place in the semi-finals of the Bostik League's Velocity Trophy by producing an outstanding display to defeat Premier Division side Folkestone Invicta 4-1, writes Dave Wright.

And that was despite playing with 10 men for 50 minutes following a red card for centre-half Joe Gater.

The Robins will now be away to AFC Hornchurch – who were hammered 5-0 by Folkestone in the league last Saturday. A date for the tie has still to be confirmed.

The Kent side travelled up to Larges Lane on Tuesday fifth in the table after conceding only one goal in their previous six games, but they left relieved to have conceded just the four goals.

"We were the better side right from the start, we should have had a penalty in the first minute and we had chances to have scored more," said manager Geoff Warner.

"I could not have asked for any more from the team."

With Seb Bowerman pulling out with an injury just before the kick-off, new signing James Cowan came in for his first appearance since joining on "work experience" forms from Oxford United.

And the teenager made an immediate impact, linking up particularly well in midfield with Ash Artwell, and it was the latter who weaved his way through the visitors' defence to open the scoring after 19 minutes.

Eight minutes later it was 2-0 when Jamie McClurg's shot led to Finn O'Mara putting the ball into his own net and on 35 minutes Artwell seized on hesitancy in the Folkestone defence to increase Town's lead.

Shortly afterwards, it was Gater's turn to find himself wrong-footed, sticking out a leg to bring down Adam Yusuff just outside the area. He was the last man and so off he went.

Fellow centre-back Matty Day, who had taken a knock, didn't reappear for the second half, leaving Robins with a makeshift centre-back pairing of left-back Ryan Parsons and midfielder Harrison Bayley, but they coped admirably

Robins did come under more pressure, but it was not until the 53rd minute when Chris Grace, back in goal due to Mark Scott being on the injured list, had to make his first decent save of the game.

Three minutes later the Robins added their fourth goal through Joe Grant after more good work by Cowan.

It was the second time in four days they had netted as many goals, having defeated South Park 4-3 last Saturday with Grant grabbing the winner four minutes into stoppage time.

Folkestone, a light-weight side without any real height in their team, did pull a goal back through Johan Ter Horst's glancing header on 75 minutes, but on the night they always looked second best.

This win will increase Town's confidence even further as they prepare to face Cheshunt at Larges Lane this Saturday in a game involving the second and third placed teams in the South Central Division.

It has been a bad week for Binfield, losing 3-0 at Wantage in the Bluefin Sports Cup on Saturday and 4-0 at third-bottom Abingdon United in the Hellenic League Premier Division on Tuesday.

Bitterly-disappointed manager Roger Herridge described the latter as "without doubt the worst 90 minutes of my tenure and there have been some bad ones in that time."

The Moles will be looking to bounce back when they travel to fifth-placed Bishops Cleeve on Saturday before hosting fellow mid-table Virginia Water on Monday (7.45pm).

Ascot United will be home to Wantage in the semi-finals of the Bluefin Cup after defeating Longlevens 3-2 last Saturday, their goals coming from Lamin Sankoh, Dan Price, both in the first half, and Geoff Kibaki. The Yellamen are without a game this weekend.

Wokingham & Emmbrook drew 4-4 at second-placed Thame Rangers in a Hellenic Division One East thriller after conceding two goals in the last five minutes. Josh Harris, Elliott Rushforth, James Clarke and George Marsh netted for the Sumas, who remain ninth in the table ahead of this Saturday's short trip to fifth-placed Holyport.