BRACKNELL Town skipper Dave Hancock was full of praise for his teammates after seeing them battle back from 2-0 down to beat Ware 3-2, writes Dave Wright.

Goals from substitutes Seb Bowerman and Adam Cornell brought the scores level before Liam Ferdinand snatched the winner in stoppage-time.

Their victory has virtually sealed the Robins' place in the South Central Division play-offs, while denting Ware's chances of a top-five finish.

On a day when Hayes & Yeading secured the title, second-placed Town moved four points clear of the third club Cheshunt ahead of their trip to tailenders Egham last night (Tuesday).

So there was much to celebrate at Larges Lane on Saturday as groans turned to cheers in the space of 45 minutes.

"I'm glad football has two halves," said Hancock with a smile.

"To come back from 0-2 against a decent side showed guts, determination and quality. We got our reward with the late winner. It was a massive win for us."

Hancock gave an extra pat on the back to Bowerman, who is now near back to his best after being sidelined with a fractured leg, scoring one goal before setting up Cornell's equaliser.

Yet, it took more than half the game for Town to break Ware's stiff resistance.

The Hertfordshire side had hammered Bracknell 7-2 at home and looked to be on their way to becoming the first side to win a league game at Larges Lane this season when racing into a two-goal lead.

The first came on 20 minutes when Ware launched a swift counter-attack which led to Dave Cowley setting up Brandon Adams, and the left-winger also supplied the cross which saw Adams swoop in to head past keeper Mark Scott in the 31st minute.

At this point, Town were looking second best, failing to get a grip in midfield – where they were badly missing the injured Jamie McClurg – in addition to showing a lack of cohesion in attack, while also giving the ball away far too easily.

Town had appeals for a penalty turned when Ferdinand's attempted flick past Louis Rose appeared to be handled by the Ware defender, and again when Ash Artwell went down in the area.

It was an uncharacteristically messy performance by Bracknell and it was obvious changes had to be made at half-time.

Anton Rodgers, still feeling the effects of a knee injury on his home debut, gave way to Kensley Maloney, while a switch to a more attacking formation led to defender Joe Gater being replaced by winger Bowerman.

Clearly fired up, Town started the second half on the front foot, steadily gaining momentum, yet Town had a close escape themselves when Ware's Albert Adu was denied a goal by a combination of Ryan Parsons and the post.

However, the Robins continued to do most of the attacking and their pressure eventually paid off in the 68th minute.

Ferdinand did the spadework down the right and pulled the ball back into the crowded goalmouth, where Bowerman turned it past Calum Kitscha.

Eight minutes later, Ferdinand and Joe Grant combined down the right to put Cornell through and the striker rounded Kitscha before slotting the ball into an empty net with Ware appealing for offside.

With their tails up, the Robins continued to fly towards the Ware goal.

Grant was inches away from turning home Bowerman's cross, Matt Day saw his header deflected away for a corner, and Ferdinand was not far away from getting on the end of another Bowerman delivery.

Town, however, were not to be denied with their winning goal coming in the first minute of time added on.

Day, who had an excellent game at centre-back, instigated the move which also involved Grant, Maloney and Bowerman, with the latter's cross from the left being squeezed home just inside the far post by Ferdinand for his 27th Bostik League goal of the season.

Bracknell travel to mid-table Northwood this Saturday.