ROGER HERRIDGE insists he will continue to give full backing to his Binfield players after last week’s Reading Senior Cup semi-final descended into chaos.
The Moles found themselves 1-0 down to Thames Valley Premier side Woodcote Stoke Row at Hill Farm Lane with just under an hour played before the game was abandoned following six red cards.
Woodcote were reduced to nine men shortly after Sam Green had given them the lead following a second dismissal for violent conduct.
But the game erupted when two more from each side were also sent off, including Binfield duo Liam Ferdinand and Grant Kemp, following a mass altercation between both sets of players, which Herridge himself rushed from his dugout to try and diffuse.
Referee Jonathan Was then took the decision to call off the game in the 58th minute, with no news yet of what the next steps could be.
“There was no way in this world that we were the aggressors in the situation,” Binfield boss Herridge told The Wokingham Paper.
“I certainly support my players 100 per cent.
“We await the referee’s report and we will await the report of the linesman.
“We didn’t start anything that happened on the night.
“Any involvement of my players was basically them trying to break things up, trying to stop their team-mates from getting hit. I’m not sure they could’ve done anything else in the situation to get away from it.
“It’s a very, very difficult situation.”
After the disappointment of losing a County Cup final to Bracknell Town in their last fixture, Binfield missed two good chances to lead through Ferdinand and Brad Pagliaroli.
And Herridge admits that while it was a physical encounter, the melee did come out of the blue.
“I don’t think there was really a sign of what was to come in the second half,” he explained.
“The incident started 10 minutes after the restart. Jack Broome caught the heels of their centre forward. It was a free-kick, but their lad retaliated.
“They scored a goal from it and you think right OK, we’re playing 10 players, we’ve got to pull our socks up and improve on our showing up to that point.
“Then there was another altercation involving one of their lads and Jake White where Jake has got slapped and the Woodcote player has been sent off.”
He continued: “What happened after that, I don’t think there’s any excuse for.
“One of their subs has run off the subs bench and started hitting my players.
“You don’t like to see that.
“If a player sees a team-mate getting hit, they’re not going to stand there and watch it happen. A number of my players rushed over but they rushed over to break the situation up and to pull players away.
“Ross Weatherstone, the Woodcote manager, is a really good guy. He came up to me, my secretary and my committee after the game and apologised.
“I thought prior to the game that 100 per cent of the Woodcote boys were good guys, but 80 per cent of them are good lads and they weren’t involved.
“Unfortunately it was just a small element that on the night, just completely lost control in that five-minute spell.”
The red cards to Ferdinand and Kemp follow on from the dismissals of both Michael Walton and Sean Moore during the previous week’s loss against Bracknell.
But Herridge is eager to ensure Binfield are not branded as a side lacking discipline and says the club will accept whatever fate they are given.
“Up until the Bracknell game, we’d played 34 league games and we’d had two red cards all season,” he said.
“They were both for two bookable offences.
“People will look on Twitter and think, crikey Binfield had two players sent off.
“We’re the least indisciplined team you could ever wish to meet.
“Ferdi (Liam Ferdinand) is a great example. He’s played about 40 games and been booked once all season and suddenly the other night he gets attacked and gets given a straight red.”
He added: “The referee had no alternative (but to call off the game). If he wanted to restart the game, I’m not sure we would’ve been happy with that decision anyway.
“I hope the County FA do the right thing.
“I know in my own mind what I believe the right thing should be, but we’ll accept whatever decision they make.
“If they decide to kick both clubs out of the competition, I think that would be very, very harsh on us.”
