BRACKNELL Town manager Geoff Warner did not quite get the perfect birthday present from his players, but he still remained satisfied with what they gave him on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

Rather than the preferred three points, he had to make do with one after seeing his side held to a 1-1 draw at Bedfont Sports in their Bostik League South Central Division fixture.

At one stage it looked as if Warner would return home empty-handed as his side were a goal down with less than two minutes of normal time remaining.

But his decision to send on Sean Moore paid off with the substitute grabbing a superb late equaliser.

"We were not at our best, we were below par," admitted the manager.

"For some reason, we were well off the pace to what we have been recently, we didn't move the ball quick enough.

"In the final third we are normally quick at getting people in to create chances, but we didn't have that."

Part of that was due to the Robins being without their pacy wide-runner Joe Grant, who was away celebrating his own birthday last week.

Despite Town not being at their best, Warner felt mid-table Bedfont did not cause his side too many problems, but quickly added: "We didn't cause them too many either."

He said: "I thought they (Bedfont) looked a decent side. They have a way of playing, which they stick to and were effective.

"Yes, I'm disappointed we didn't win, but at the end of the day getting a point here was not too bad a thing."

The manager also felt the conditions at the Hatton Road ground did not help his side, explaining: "The wind made things a little difficult for us. In the first half when we tried to get runners in behind their defence, the ball seemed to run straight on, although it did hold up better in the second half."

The Robins, inspired by Ashleigh Artwell before he limped off injured, did improve after half-time, however, it was the arrival of substitutes Moore and Kensley Maloney who made the biggest impact.

"They both did well and changed the game a bit," said Warner. "They gave us a bit of momentum and impetus to get back in the game."

Moore struck the underside of the crossbar before scoring in the 89th minute after Maloney had delivered an excellent ball into the Bedfont area.

Grant and centre-back Joe Gater, having completed his one-man ban, will return to the team for this Saturday's home fixture with Uxbridge when the Robins will be seeking revenge for a 3-2 away defeat last October, but keeper Mark Scott and Seb Bowerman remain on the sidelines.

Striker Gavin James is also currently out of contention, with Warner explaining: "He has a problem with his knee which he can't get right. He keeps on trying to come back, but so far it hasn't worked out and so he is going to rest it for three or four weeks."

The manager revealed Bracknell had put in a seven-day approach for a player, but nothing had come of it

He concluded: "I don't think we need to disrupt much of what we are doing at the moment with the team. Hopefully, this was just a bit of an off day and we will back to our best on Saturday."