United suffer heavy defeat at Bracknell

United's run of tough fixtures continued on a warm late August afternoon when they made the short trip to Larges Lane to face a Bracknell side that came agonisingly close to promotion last season.

On today's performance they will be in the mix to go up to Step Four come April as they comfortably beat a Woodley side still searching for their first league goal of the season.

The first shot of the match fell to Town's Joe Grant who blazed over after United only half cleared a left wing corner. At the other end, a low Josh Drew cross was cut out at the near post by Bracknell keeper Chris Grace.

Town then took a firm grip on the match nearly going ahead after a crazy goal mouth scramble that saw several last-ditch tackles and the right post being struck.

Most of the early pressure was coming from the left flank with winger Seb Bowerman and full back Josh Hennah looking impressive. The former's cross found Adam Cornell who tested Woodley keeper Alex Reed with a close-range shot.

John Bennet was then denied by Reed before the deadlock was broken when Bennett fired in a powerful shot from fifteen yards.

Looking for a response, debutant James Tennant missed the target whilst Reed was again called into action to beat out a Bennett effort.

Bracknell doubled their lead on the half hour with a sublime individual goal by Hennah. Picking up the ball just inside the United half he ghosted past several challenges before arrowing a low shot into the right corner from twenty yards.

Woodley's best chance of the half fell to Drew who saw his well-hit strike saved by Grace after picking up a Danny Horscroft pass. The hosts Joe Gater then did really well to cut out a Drew pass that would have seen Tennant in on goal.

The half ended with a nice Bracknell move; a Hennah cutback found Cornell who just missed to the right.

HT Bracknell Town 2-0 Woodley United

Both sides traded shots in the opening minutes after the restart. Horscroft found Greg Beckett who shot over whilst Reed once again bailed out his team with a fine stop from George Short.

Town made it 3-0 on fifty minutes when Cornell turned home a Grant cross.

United made a double change on fifty-nine minutes when Drew and new signing James Suarez made way for Marvin Hinds and Ashley Ledger.

The substitutions worked well with Woodley having more of the ball and some nice passing between the midfield three of Ledger, Horscroft and Jake Nicholls. However, chances were rare.

Bracknell on the other hand continued to create scoring opportunities. Hennah saw a shot saved before Grant headed over.

With sixteen minutes left United made their final change when Carl Prestidge replaced Beckett.

The final stages saw Bracknell rub salt into the wounds as they turned on the style netting three times in the final thirteen minutes. Some brilliant wing play from Bowerman ended with him picking out Grant who beat Reed.

Looking for a consolation, Horscroft had a shot blocked before Bowerman completed the rout with a brace. His first was a well-placed shot into the right corner; he then beat Reed from the penalty spot after a foul on substitute Dan Roberts.

FT Bracknell Town 6-0 Woodley United