Bracknell Town 1 Winchester City 1

Bracknell Town’s terrible week continued as Winchester City fought back to claim a deserved point at Larges Lane.

Only 24 hours after being expelled from the FA Cup for fielding an ineligible player, a below par performance was not enough to keep up their 100-per-cent home record.

Manager Byron Walton handed a start to new striker Nathan Jack, and the debutant took just nine minutes to open his account. However, it seemed the experimental decision to play on-loan defender Tom Baddeley at the back with Michael Buck moving into centre midfield backfired badly.

After just four minutes, Jack raced clear and lashed an effort wide, but he made amends five minutes later after a neat one-two with Errol Telemaque allowed him a free shot. Ryan McIntosh had a strong shot tipped over by Clint Davies, Jack fired narrowly wide while Buck had a header cleared off the line as Bracknell seemed in the ascendancy .

Winchester fought back, though, and Brett Williams and Adam Kelly both went close.

Bracknell’s inability to kill the game off came back to haunt them in the second half as City dominated after the break.

Aneke in the Bracknell goal was a busy man, and he twice denied the influential Williams.

Bracknell recovered and hit the bar through McIntosh, but Winchester came back strong and finally levelled the score in the 85th minute when Kyle Joryeff headed home. City still threatened, but Bracknell held on to claim a draw.

The Robins will be glad to put this week behind them and now have a free weekend following the FA Cup

fiasco, but there’s cup action in the FA Trophy on Saturday, September 27 as Malvern Town visit Larges Lane.

Bracknell Town: Aneke, Dexter, Woodruffe, Baker, Buck (Bantleman), Baddeley, Harvey, Williams, Jack (Grant), Telemaque, McIntosh. Subs not used: Kennedy, Watson.