Rampant Robins put six past Fizzers

Shakila Barabhuiya • Published 29 Jul 2010 09:00 0 Comments

NEW signings Dean Thomas and Ben Lyden were on the scoresheet once again as Bracknell Town romped to a 6-0 win at local rivals Sandhurst Town on Saturday.

Steve McClurg's new-look side produced a tremendous performance at Bottom Meadow to notch their biggest win so far on only their third outing together.

Sandhurst started with a familiar line-up but there were two new faces in number 11 Dan Bailey and number 5 Nathan Miles.

Bracknell were buzzing right from the first whistle and scored two goals in the first 10 minutes, a deficit which the Fizzers never recovered from.

Young midfielder Rob Nicholas gave the Robins the lead in the third minute after pouncing on a Thomas shot.

Ben Knight got the second five minutes later with another counter-attack as the Fizzers struggled to cope with the pace of former Finch striker Thomas, who turned 22 last Thursday. He was a live-wire right from the start and caused havoc for the Sandhurst backline.

The Fizzers started to get a foothold on the game midway through the half with full-back Sam Jeffrey hoisting some good balls into the box but chances were few and far between as Bracknell continued to dominate the attacking play.

Sam Wyatt made it 3-0 just before the break firing in at the near post after running completely unchallenged into the box.

Ironically Sandhurst had more shots on goal but none of the efforts were enough to trouble the keeper.

Unfortunately things only got worse for the Fizzers as Thomas scored the fourth after 50 minutes with Lyden, winning and scoring a penalty 10 minutes later.

The Robins left the best till last with Thomas delivering a pin-point cross to strike partner Lyden to glance into the top right hand corner.

One of the few positives to come out of the game for Sandhurst was the return of Darren Wilson who came on for the last 20 minutes after being sidelined since Christmas with a knee injury. Fizzers manager Jon Underwood commented: "If we can get him fit again he'll be a big important player for us so that was a good sign that he came through okay."

Underwood, who started his managerial career at Larges Lane, admitted Bracknell looked anything but inexperienced and said: "They've been building a team from scratch and they look like the team that have been together for years and we looked like the team that was being built from scratch. I was impressed with them."

Reflecting on the performance he said: "I'm not one to panic, I've seen too many funny results in pre-season to start worrying about it. "Results don't really matter at this stage but obviously I'm very, very disappointed with our performance.

"They started great and we didn't and we found ourselves 2-0 down early on.

"I thought after that we matched them in terms of possession and play but they just seemed to be a little bit more hungry than we were, which is disappointing two weeks away from the season."

Bracknell boss McClurg said: "I think Sandhurst were having an off day. We were lucky to get them on a bad day but we're happy that we played well.

"I came here thinking we might lose. Turning out a performance like that is a credit to all the players who were out there."

*SANDHURST Town have appointed Dean Thomas as their new assistant manager to replace Neil Selby.

Thomas joins Jon Underwood at Bottom Meadow in what is his first step into management.

The experienced striker has played for several clubs in the area including Bracknell Town, Camberley and Reading Town and therefore knows the local footballing scene well.

Underwood said: "He's quite well known locally. He's an experienced guy and keen to get into management so this is first step.

"He knows the local area well and he's got some good contacts in football and I think he'll be a good asset for us."

Selby, who took up the reins with Underwood last year, has left due to work and family commitments.

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This article appeared in Villager 28 Jul 10

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