Robins fly through to County Cup 's last eight

Crusaders' lean spell continues with knock-out exit

Hungerford Town 1 Bracknell Town 2

PATCHED-up Hungerford were put out of the Berks and Bucks Senior Cup when Hellenic league Bracknell secured a home quarter final tie with Slough or Wantage Town.

It was Hungerford’s second defeat in the competition this season after they had lost last term’s final with Maidenhead, played just before the league opening.

Bracknell produced some neat football in the first half in particular and deserve their two-goal lead. Seb Bowerman fired in their opener in the 12th minute and James McClurg beat Marcus Beauchamp with a perfectly placed free kick inside the half-hour.

Paul Stonehouse had seen a shot cleared off the line by Carl Davies between the two, but Louis Soares pulled one back as Hungerford showed signs of salvaging the tie.

They had assistant manager Gary MacDonald pressed into service as an emergency centre back, and Academy youngsters Nathaniel Weeks and Gabriel Silva pressed into action with a growing number of players in the treatment bench, and Hungerford never quite had the firepower to break down a well drilled Bracknell defence with Dave Hancock’s goal-line block to deny Silva sealing his side’s last eight spot.

Hungerford Town: Beauchamp; Weeks, Herring, MacDonald, John; Soares, Rodgers, Whittingham, Stonehouse; Hopper, Lawrence. Subs: Wall, Silva, Tyler, Clark.

Bracknell Town: Grace; Hancock, Davies, Gater, Parsons; Grant, McClurg, Withers, Kirby; Cornell, Bowerman. Subs: Senussi, Short, Bennett, Muhoya.