Bracknell Town let slip a two-goal lead at Uxbridge on Saturday to draw 2-2 – and, understandably, Bobby Wilkinson wasn’t a happy man.
“It’s tough to take, I am very disappointed,” the manager fumed.
“If we had taken our chances in the first half we would have won. It was a game of two halves, but we still had chances at the end to have won.”
The unbeaten Robins generally dominated the first half although, after conceding two free-kicks just outside the penalty area, they saw Mark Scott pull off a couple of smart saves early in the game.
The keeper then produced the best save of the afternoon to push out Alex Paine’s shot at point-blank range.
However, from then on, it was largely all Bracknell as they launched dangerous raids on the home goal.
So it came as no real surprise when Seb Bowerman let fly from just outside the area to open the scoring after 20 minutes, his low drive appearing to catch keeper Tyler Tobin by surprise.
Then a Louie Soares delivery from the left whistled across goalmouth without a team-mate able to turn it over the line.
But Bracknell fans – who made up a good portion of the 130 crowd – were cheering again when left-back Caden Genovesi joined the attack and struck a well-placed shot past the keeper to make it 2-0 in the 43rd minute.
Soon afterwards, another smart move ended with Bowerman’s shot going into the side-netting.
Uxbridge sent on ex-Robin and Reading FC player Nicholas Bignall for the second half and within minutes the big striker went close to scoring.
Left-back Ryan Haugh forced Scott into making another good save and, with another effort striking the post, Uxbridge were fighting their way back into contention.
The hosts – whose midfielders included former Reading star James Harper – pulled a goal back through Mahlondo Martin in the 78th minute. And six minutes later it was 2-2 with Mark Bitmead powering his way through and despite being hotly pursued by four defenders, he kept his cool to place the ball past Scott.
The equaliser set up a thrilling finish to the game with Bracknell coming the closest to grabbing a late winner. Bowerman’s clever chip set up an opportunity for Dan Bayliss which Tobin did well to keep out and Bowerman saw his effort flash just wide.
Dropping two points shows that Wilkinson still has some work to do with his team. They were missing a few players through injury, but the manager is execting two will be fit for the Emirates FA Cup tie with Isthmian League rivals Marlow at Larges Lane this coming Saturday.
Marlow team boss Mark Bartley watched the game at Uxbridge, so will be well prepared and his main priority will be to find a way to try to stop Bowerman, who was the best player on the field, weaving more magic down the flanks.
Tickets for Saturday’s FA Cup match can be purchased in advance online here priced £8 adults, £5 concessions and £1 under 16s. According to the Robins website, all tickets sold at the gate will be subject to a £2.00 surcharge.
A full round-up of all the Saturday action is available here.
