Bracknell Town signalled their Senior Cup intentions against Reading U21’s with a pacy, spirited 4-1 win to secure their place in the Berks & Bucks FA Senior Cup semi-finals.
They were straight out the blocks when Jordan Esprit found the feet of Seb Bowerman to score with just 30 seconds on the clock. And with barely a sip of our tea on a bitter cold evening at Bottom Meadow, Joel Rollinson muscled in on the action as his looping strike caught out Tom Norcott with seven minutes gone. 2-0.
Reading eventually settled into the game and certainly showed their skill and pace consistently breaking through the midfield and getting into striking positions, but struggled to finish their efforts.
Much of the Royals effort came from down the right flank but were met with a collective brick wall of Gabe George at right back and Darryl Harrison in the centre – blocking out any opportunities Reading could have had.
A bouncing Bowerman was back in the spotlight when a sumptuous ping across the field by Dan Roberts fell to the feet of a striding Seb and he made no mistake as he cut inside the box to slot home his second of the game – it appeared he tucked the game in for an early night.
Reading did fire back to ruin the clean sheet when Joe Barough was able to sneak a ball past the fingertips of Michael Eacott but Bracknell weren’t content with the two-goal lead and Bowerman clinched a hat trick after a misplaced pass by the Reading defense to make it 4-1.
There was a worry for the Robins after a crunching tackle on Haydon Vaughan saw a lengthy pause in play before he was stretchered off the pitch.
A neutral fan may well have expected Bracknell to run out of steam against such a youthful side but they were toe-to-toe with the Royals right until the final whistle in front of a crowd of roughly 250.
The Robins can expect to face either Milton Keynes Dons, Beaconsfield Town or the winner of Binfield vs Flackwell Heath in the semi-finals with a date yet to be announced.
The full men’s Berks & Bucks County FA Senior Cup Quarter Final draw:
- Hungerford Town 1-1 MK Dons (MK Dons win 7-6 on penalties)
- Bracknell Town 4-1 Reading FC
- Beaconsfield Town 4-3 Wycombe Wanderers
- Binfield vs Flackwell Heath (TBC)
