HIGHWORTH Town manager Jeff Roberts admitted that it was a bitter pill to take, watching his side lose a second final in the space of five days.

Having gone down to Swindon Supermarine in the Wiltshire Senior Cup last Thursday, Highworth were unable to respond and fell to a 2-0 defeat to Bracknell Town in the final of the Bluefin Challenge Cup this afternoon.

The two sides went into the break level at 0-0, Ellis McSharry missing the best chance as he was unable to steer his header past the Bracknell goalkeeper, following up an Ashley Edenborough free-kick.

However, a strike from Adam Cornell less than three minutes after the interval dealt Town a blow and they were unable to recover as former front man TJ Bohane made no mistake when he beat the offside trap 10 minutes later.

“It is disappointing,” said Roberts.

“The game never really started with any pace about it and I think we had a few good chances in the first half and were the better team.

“We said from Thursday’s game, we need to start shooting from distance, we can’t keep walking the ball in the back of the net.

“From the free-kick and Ellis heading the ball straight into the keeper, that’s down to a young lad being inexperienced.

“From Thursday night, and getting beat there, I thought we played well there, and we didn’t have that zip about us today or that energy and burst.

“It’s very disappointing going into two finals and losing both.”

Now Roberts’ attentions turn to next season and with plans in motion to develop The Elms ready for Southern League football, the Worthians chief is eyeing up five or six additions in the close season to bolster his squad.

“I’ve spoken to the chairman and told him if we want to push a bit next year, we need a bit more strength in depth,” he added.

“There is nothing harder than trying to win the league.

“We can get all that done next season and be poor next year.

“They’re working hard off the field, we need to get that right on the field.

“If we can keep the nucleus of the lads we want to keep and the other lads we are hoping to bring in, we should have a nice, strong squad next year.”