ROGER HERRIDGE insists Binfield must cut out their habit of conceding early goals if they are to have any chance of toppling Thatcham Town in Monday’s cup final.
The Moles will go into the Perpetua Press Floodlit Cup clash as clear outsiders against a side unbeaten in 39 matches, a run which stretches way back to October.
Thatcham have since gone on to clinch promotion from the Hellenic Premier and also have an FA Vase final to look forward to at Wembley next month.
By contrast, Binfield go into the game at Windsor’s Stag Meadow on the back of four straight defeats, including a 5-0 loss to Thatcham, to end their league campaign in seventh place.
A worrying trend in each of those four matches is falling behind inside the opening 10 minutes every time and not being able to recover to pick up any points.
And Herridge knows that has to stop.
“We’ll certainly go into Monday’s game with some sort of plan,” the Binfield boss told The Wokingham Paper.
“The most frustrating thing for me at the minute is how many goals we’re conceding in the early minutes of a game.
“It’s an unbelievably disappointing habit.
“At Windsor we’ve had a player sent off and conceded a penalty and then gone 2-0 down. At Longlevens we’ve conceded in the first minute and we conceded in the first minute at Highmoor Ibis.
“It leaves me speechless.
“I said to the lads on Saturday, let’s make sure we’re switched on and we’re set and we don’t give away anything silly in the first few minutes again and blow me, we’ve let a bloke have a free header from a corner and they’ve gone 1-0 up.”
He continued: “We can’t allow that to happen against Thatcham.
“They’re on the crest of a wave. They’ve got a squad that I believe will compete in the higher reaches of the league above.
“They haven’t lost in 39 games. We are going to have to be on top of our game and hope that they are having an off day.
“In all honesty, we’re going to go into it as obviously big underdogs.”
One thing Herridge has not struggled to do is reach cup finals.
Following Reading Senior Cup glory at Wokingham and Emmbrook, Herridge moved to Binfield in 2014, quickly becoming manager and Monday will be his sixth final in charge.
But all five previous showdowns have ended in defeat with two losses to Bracknell Town last season following on from disappointments against Henley Town, North Leigh and the Sumas.
“I’ve had three Reading Senior Cup finals, a Floodlit Cup final and the County Cup final so in three-and-a-half seasons at Binfield, it’s my sixth cup final,” said Herridge.
“We’ve proved that we can get there, we’ve got to find a way of winning it.
“Last year in both finals we were up against a very good Bracknell side, with probably similar squad issues to what I’ve got for next Monday and this year we’re up against a very good Thatcham side.
“I was fortunate to win a few cups at Wokingham and what it does go to show is winning things at this level isn’t easy.
“We’re under no illusion, if we’re to be successful next Monday, it’s certainly not going to be an easy night for us.”
Binfield have some selection issues with both Josh Howell and Lewis Leonetti ruled out through injury while Sanchez Commock and Kane Fitzgerald are cup-tied.
And while Herridge acknowledges it will be a tough test, he is refusing to write off his side’s chances of glory.
“We have shown that we can compete against the best sides in the league,” he said.
“We showed that against Highworth and we showed that on that night where we should’ve got something from Bracknell.
“We certainly need to recapture the form we had then.
“We’ve certainly been a little way off of that for the last couple of weeks, but if we perform to our potential and maybe they have a little off day, we’ve got every chance of winning the game.
“We’ll have a plan to try and frustrate them and we’ll make sure we stay in the game for as long as possible and we’ll take our chances when they come along hopefully.
“The underdog sometimes does come through. Hopefully it will be our night.”
