ROGER HERRIDGE is hoping he will be able to sleep soundly on Friday night as he and his Binfield side aim to banish the memories of their last meeting with Woodley United.
The Kestrels caused a huge shock when they beat Herridge’s men 3-2 back in September to record their first ever victory in the Hellenic Premier Division.
And the Binfield boss admits that particular loss was a bitter pill to swallow as he prepares to do battle with Woodley again in the reverse fixture at Hill Farm Lane on Friday (7.45pm).
“I’ve got to be honest, that was a real low point,” Herridge told The Wokingham Paper.
“I didn’t enjoy that afternoon at all.
“Fair play to Woodley, they won the game. Actually on the balance of play we probably didn’t deserve to lose but there was certainly quite a lot lacking from the side that we put out that day.
“I didn’t have a pleasant night’s sleep after that one.”
That defeat was the Moles’ third loss from their first six league games but they have certainly enjoyed better fortunes since, losing just twice more in their 18 Premier Division matches since.
It has been all change for Woodley too.
That victory did not spark an upturn in form on the pitch, winning just three times in the league since, but off the field they switched manager with James Anderson replacing Michael Herbert three weeks after beating Binfield.
“They’ve had a few changes but I’ve watched them a couple of times since and one thing that hasn’t changed of Woodley is they’ve still got some good players,” said Herridge.
“They’re still very organised, they’re very hard to break down and very hard to beat.
“They’ve got a real good team spirit where they work hard for one another and I’m sure they’ll enjoy coming down to play on our pitch on Friday night and they know what they’ll get from us.
“They know we’ll try and get the ball down and pass it which is what they do so it’ll be a proper game of football.
“I’m certainly not going to underestimate Woodley.
“The majority of games they’ve played this year, they’ve been in the game. They haven’t
had too many tonkings.
“They’ve got a young lad in charge who is learning his trade really. I’ve got a lot of time for him.”
After a two-week break, Binfield returned to action on Saturday with a 6-1 win at Shrivenham in the Hellenic League Cup thanks to a Brad Pagliaroli hat-trick.
Ian Davies, who scored two of Woodley’s goals in their 3-2 win over Binfield back in September, also netted twice for the Moles having since made the switch across Berkshire.
That takes their run to five wins from six games and just one defeat in 14 as they look to gatecrash the Premier Division’s top five.
As for Woodley, their 2-0 defeat at Brimscombe and Thrupp leaves them third from bottom and without a win in nine.
But Herridge feels the Kestrels have enough to avoid relegation.
“I don’t think Woodley will go down,” he said.
“I think they’ll pick up points and finish fourth or fifth from bottom, learn from the experience and next year I’m sure they’ll be stronger for it.
“I’m expecting a tough game. I know they’ll be well up for it, especially Danny Horscroft based on the fact he played for me at both Binfield and Wokingham.
“Danny’s by far their best player and probably their biggest threat. We need to pay special attention to Danny.
“It’s certainly not a foregone conclusion. If you’re not on it, you’re going to get beat in this league.”
He added: “We’ve put ourselves in a great position to maybe look to finish a bit higher.
“We’re in sixth place, we’ve got Brimscombe on our shirt tails and Windsor if they win their games in hand will be neck and neck with us.
“But we’re not really looking too far behind us, we want to target the next team above us which at the minute is Flackwell Heath.
“The mood in the camp is we’re trying to pick off a team above us rather than worry too much about a couple of teams behind us.”
