BRACKNELL Town have been knocked out of the Perpetua Press Floodlit Cup by Thatcham Town and must now fear how many more times they will finish second best to the Kingfishers, writes Dave Wright.

The Berkshire rivals are poised for a neck-and-neck battle in the Hellenic League title race, although both look certain to gain promotion.

And the pair will also clash in the Bluefin Sports Hellenic League Cup final providing Thatcham win their semi final at Abingdon United tomorrow (Thursday).

Admittedly, the Robins rested several of their first-team regulars for this tie last Thursday, but then so did their visitors.

Fortunately for Bracknell, they didn’t give Chris Grace the night off, as once again the keeper produced an outstanding performance, enabling the Robins to escape with only a 2-0 defeat.

Against lesser goalies, Shane Cooper-Clark would have bagged at least a hat-trick on his return to Larges Lane.

The ex-Robins striker had to be content with just one goal, his well-placed free-kick from outside the area beating the helpless Grace to his right.

His 52nd goal of the season came on a night when Town left out their two leading scorers, Adam Cornell and TJ Bohane, who had 60 goals between them.

The FA Vase finalists were not only superior in the attack, but in most other departments as well.

Bracknell struggled to match them in the speed of thought and movement, while the visitors were also physically stronger.

Yet, the Robins’ determination and fight made sure the Kingfishers could never ease up throughout this semi final, which was watched by another decent Larges Lane attendance of 277.

The hosts – in the hands of reserve team managers Robbie Creech and Andy Findlay – were chasing the game from as early as the fourth minute, when Cooper-Clark blasted home his free-kick.

They fell further behind in the 21st minute to a smart finish from former Binfield striker Jemel Johnson and from then on the Kingfishers, playing with so much confidence, never looked like relinquishing their advantage.

Defender Damien Smith, who was skippering the side, was not far away from cutting Bracknell’s deficit, his low shot being pushed away by keeper Chris Rackley, diving low to his left, while Seb Bowerman and Kensley Maloney both saw efforts deflected away for corners either side of half time.

Although Bracknell made a promising start to the second half, it wasn’t long before the visitors were creating chances, but they were unable to beat the in-form Grace, who pulled off particularly smart saves from Cooper-Clark and substitute Ekow Elliott.

The Robins played the last 15 minutes with 10 men after Maloney was involved in a hefty challenge, triggering off a flare-up among several players, and when the midfielder laid his hands on Thatcham’s Tom Melledew he was shown the red card.

l SEB Bowerman took his season’s tally to 24 goals as Bracknell Town won 2-1 at Tuffley Rovers on Saturday.

The wide-man, his side’s best player on the day, opened the scoring in the 13th minute from the penalty spot after TJ Bohane had been brought down by Ryan Davies.

Within five minutes, Robins extended their lead when Joe Gater got on the end of Jamie McClurg’s corner.

But it didn’t take long for Rovers to pull a goal back with Brett James finding the net from the edge of the area, the ball going in off the post.

Carl Davies was not far away from scoring a third for the title-chasers when he got on the end of a cross from Joe Grant cross, who was later denied by a fine save from the home keeper.

It was third-placed Bracknell’s 11th consecutive win in the league.