ROGER HERRIDGE believes his Binfield side are better equipped now to deal with losing to Bracknell Town than they were earlier in the season.
The Moles were flying high at the top of the Hellenic Premier Division before being knocked out the FA Vase by two late goals from their rivals in September.
But that loss sparked a disastrous run of form which saw Herridge’s charges go seven games without victory, losing six, to slip into the bottom half of the league table.
It was more late heartbreak for Binfield when the two met again on Tuesday night in front of almost 500 people at Larges Lane with Kensley Maloney scoring a stoppage time winner in a 3-2 success.
But the Moles boss is confident his team will not suffer a repeat of their early season slide as they prepare to travel to Gloucestershire to face Longlevens on Saturday.
“I think we probably suffered from a little bit of a hangover after being knocked out of the Vase,” Herridge told The Wokingham Paper.
“Maybe some of the personalities we had in the dressing room at that particular time possibly weren’t as strong as they could have been.
“But I’ve got no doubts we will be fine this time around.
“In the dressing room afterwards on Tuesday the lads were positive.
“I think they knew we had given a good account of ourselves.
“I’m certainly not going to take Longlevens lightly on Saturday but with the squad I’ve got at the moment, I can’t see us having a hangover.”
Defeat to Bracknell marked the end of a brilliant series of results which have propelled Binfield back into the league’s top seven.
Back-to-back victories over title-chasing Flackwell Heath and Thame United was followed up by a draw at Brimscombe and Thrupp on Saturday.
And Herridge says that little run of form has completely transformed the mood at the club.
“I was disappointed to lose on Tuesday night,” admitted the Moles boss.
“But 10 days ago prior to the Flackwell game, we probably would’ve got beaten three or four nil by Bracknell.
“So we’ve come a long way in the last 10 days.
“You can see they work incredibly hard and all the new signings that have come in have done fantastically well for us and made a real difference.”
He added: “We’ve just got to stick together and see if we can push on.
“We’re seventh in the league, it’s very tight there in the middle.
“Two weeks ago we were looking over our shoulder but currently we’re still looking at what teams we can pick off above us.
“We’ve just got to concentrate on getting back on the horse on Saturday.
“We’ve got to take the positives from the Bracknell game.
“We’ll pick ourselves up again on Saturday, we’ve got a trip down to Gloucestershire to play a hard-working Longlevens side and we know it won’t be easy.
“But if we play like we did against Bracknell, we’re going to be winning more games than we’re losing, that’s for sure.”
