Boss happy with progress as Tudors fight back

​It was new boss Bobby Wilkinson’s first chance to see his new charges in action since taking over earlier in the summer, with several new faces making an appearance.

Speaking prior to the game, he had told the club’s media channels that he’d been really pleased with how his players had approached the pre-season schedule.

He said: “Full credit to the boys and everyone at the football club.

"We’ve come in and have been working extremely hard with double training sessions and work in the classroom too.

"I’ve been really pleased with everyone’s commitment and standards and it’s been really enjoyable.

"We’ve had to work hard on the recruitment side – the six weeks of the summer are so important because you want to get the right calibre of player in and bring the right people to the football club.

"We had to rebuild from the bottom and we’re going with an 18-man squad this year, although we’ll have an extra couple of players in pre-season because you might pick up injuries.

"We kept three or four on from last year and probably need two or three more new signings and hopefully when August 10 comes round we’ll have a more settled side.”

Saturday’s game saw Bracknell go in front early on from the penalty spot, and they doubled their lead on 35 minutes before adding a third before the break.

Hemel responded well in the second-half, however, having made a large number of changes, and Alfie Cerulli quickly pulled a goal back before then adding his second soon afterwards when he latched onto a cross and dispatched a difficult chance.

And Joe Iaciofano then levelled things up with five minutes to go when he cut inside and fired home a left foot shot.

Hemel then hosted Rayners Lane on Tuesday night (9th) after this week’s Gazette went to press, their next scheduled friendly being on July 20 at home to Barnet (1pm) as the game with Oxford United on July 19 has been cancelled due to a change in Oxford’s schedule.