BRACKNELL Town overcame the shock of conceding two early goals to force a 2-2 draw at Northwood in the Isthmian League South Central Division on Monday, writes Dave Wright.

After they had gone close themselves through Nathan Minhas, the Robins fell behind in the eighth minute to a neat finish from Charlie Hayward and three minutes later Kweku Conrad-Lucan doubled his side's lead when Luke Holness' through ball left him with only keeper Mark Scott to beat.

Town lost Caden Genovesi through injury in the 24th minute with Dan Carr replacing him.

Minhas pulled a goal back with a powerful header to halve the deficit in the 42nd minute and he was only denied a quick equaliser by a fine save from keeper Rob Partington.

Joe Gater got the ball into the Northwood net from a corner, but the referee spotted an infringement and disallowed the goal, while Nicholas Bignall fired just over the bar.

The momentum was clearly with the Robins going into the second half and the lively Carr was not far away from levelling the scores.

It came as no surprise when they did get on level terms and it was Carr who scored with a header on 75 minutes.

For the rest of a thoroughly entertaining game, play switched from end to end, with Scott saving with his head to deny Lucan, while Carr was thwarted in stoppage time by a last-ditch tackle as he looked to pull the trigger.

Meanwhile, Gater scored twice and had a hand in another goal as Bracknell eased to a 5-0 win at Wessex League side Bournemouth in their FA Cup preliminary round tie on Saturday.

Fellow defender Genovesi was also on target as Robins outplayed their hosts in every department.

Former QPR Under-23 player Genovesi is fast proving an excellent signing, showing lightning pace down the left flank which enables him to join the attack at every opportunity.

And he got himself into the right place in the 23rd minute when he met Gater's excellent cross with a diving header to open the scoring.

After Minhas had seen his header well saved by keeper James Mayo, it was Gater who increased his side's lead in the 35th minute. Bignall brought the ball under control in the area and laid it off to Gater, who curled a fine effort beyond the reach of Mayo.

Town made it 3-0 three minutes into the second half when the home defence had no-one up to the task of stopping the towering figure of Justin Clayton, who headed home a cross from Minhas.

Three minutes later the ball was in the net again, with Carr netting from close range after being picked out by Dan Price.

With the tie sewn up, Bracknell made three substitutions in the space of 13 minutes.

Among those replaced were Harrison Bayley, who was making a welcome return to the team after being sidelined with the knee injury he sustained at the end of last season.

The Poppies were denied a consolation goal by two fine saves from Mark Scott before Town added their fifth goal, with Gater heading Genovesi’s corner back across goal and into the net.

Robins had previously got their home league fixtures off to a winning start by defeating Uxbridge 2-0 on Tuesday of last week.

They stunned their visitors with a quick one-two with Genovesi opening the scoring on 20 minutes and Bignall following up five minutes later.

Minhas, who had been involved in the opening goal, saw his effort scrambled off the line and shortly afterwards he forced keeper Tyler Tobin into making a fine, low, diving save at the expense of a corner.

Scott, in the home goal, had a quiet first half, but that changed after the break with his side coming under pressure as Uxbridge upped the tempo.

But his defence stayed solid and, despite plenty of possession, the visitors struggled to make clear-cut chances, their best effort coming through a 25-yard drive from Alex Paine which crashed against the crossbar.

This coming Saturday, the Robins are home to an Ashford Town side who remain pointless after three games, having scored just one goal while conceding 11.