So here it was, the end of the 22-23 season and we had a home league game v Reading Abbey. A late upgrade from pitch 2 to pitch 1 meant that our huge crowd got a great view (and were closer to the bar!), as Bracknell kicked off the first half playing downhill.
We dominated the first 5 minutes with pressure and territory, until a clearing kick from Abbey evaded the Bracknell defence and Abbey broke away to score, 0-7 against the run of play. More Bracknell dominance followed, until another Abbey breakaway put them 0-14 ahead after only 10 minutes, having scored from their only two visits to our half, very frustrating.
Bracknell Colts continued to press forward, and began to string together many phases in the middle of the pitch. Following good ball retention, Will took advantage of a gap between the Abbey centres to smash through into their 22, and Kyle showed quick thinking to pick up and dive over. Fin couldn't quite add the extras, but we were up and running at 5-14.
Casey then received a yellow card for a debatable high tackle, before Bracknell went back on the offensive to continue dominating possession and territory. However, Abbey managed to escape their half, kicked out wide for their flying right wing to chase and put themselves 5-21 ahead heading towards half time. The coaches rolled a couple of subs - both for injury and tactical - and Ross's first touches were part of some great running moves down the left to the Abbey line. After multiple drives by forwards and backs Ross burrowed over in the corner, and we were back at 10-21. However in the final minute of the half Fin nearly intercepted an Abbey passing move on the wing and was yellow-carded for an alleged deliberate knock-on, so we would have to start the second half back at 14 men.
The second half began the same as the first - with Bracknell pressure and dominance only to be undone by an Abbey breakaway to move 10-28 ahead after 5 minutes. To our huge credit, heads didn't drop and we built more pressure deep into the Abbey half and Will broke through several tackles to score. Fin converted and we were 17-28 behind. For the next 10 minutes we created some great opportunities but the final pass eluded us, until Will got the ball on the Abbey 22 and wrestled through to score again. Fin converted to put us 24-28 behind and as Abbey then got a yellow card for a high tackle, we sensed our chance to snatch a great victory in the last 5 minutes.
However, it wasn't to be and despite a really solid performance we were left to ponder what could been if we had taken all our chances and not conceded so many breakaway tries whilst we were asleep at the start of both halves! Highlights of the match included Luke showing great athleticism with some barrelling runs and throwing a couple of great showboat basketball passes, Ali doing what Ali does best and singlehandedly giving a mauling masterclass by ripping and stealing a couple of balls he had no right to win, and a big shoutout to everyone in our lineout which worked almost perfectly throughout after having been an Achilles heel for much of the season.

by Phil Wells