BINFIELD MANAGER Roger Herridge has challenged his side to pick up maximum points from their next four home games as they look to close the gap at the top of the Hellenic Premier Division.
Moles boss Herridge described it as ‘the perfect Saturday afternoon’ as he watched his side pick up three points against Lydney Town, while their title rivals Westfields were held to a 1-1 draw, allowing Binfield to cut the gap at the top of the table.
Binfield have their sights set on the league title where they currently sit 13 points behind pace setters Westfields, but with four games in hand to play.
“It’s all about winning games for us. You’d like to go out there and put on a great performance, but we’re at the business end of the season and we’ve put ourselves in a great position,” said Herridge.”
“You have to find a way to win, sometimes you’ll go out and play well and it’ll come easy, other days you have to find a way to win ugly and that’s what we did on Saturday.
“When you have a stop start period it can affect the momentum and intensity, like it will with everyone.
“It was overall a great afternoon because we picked up three points and the only side above us in the league dropped two. It was the perfect Saturday afternoon.”
Adam Cornell marked his debut by scoring the only goal of the game in another vital win on Saturday to take the Moles two points closer to the league leaders.
“Adam is someone I know well from my time as Wokingham manager, and he’s been at binfield before,” continued Herridge.
“He’s a proven goalscorer, a quality footballer and if you get balls into the right areas, you know he’ll get on the end of them and that’s what he did on Saturday.
“He’s on a dual reg from Hartney Whitney. We don’t know how many games he’ll play but if he plays three or four of our remaining fixtures, it’ll be a benefit for us.”
Despite their positive league positon, the Moles face another tough test with a congested fixture list due to several postponed games over the past few weeks.
“We don’t have a development team so it’ll be a test of a relatively small squad but we’ve got a few dual reg signings which have been important to make sure we are as strong as possible.
“Both of my assistants have good contacts as well which we’ve utilised. It’ll be a testing period to play all of those games.
“We’ve got to play 14 games before April 25, and that’s set in stone because after that the FA have dates set aside for play-off games.
“We have the issue of the cup game against Fairford that keeps getting called off. We’ve made an agreement with the league and with Fairford that when we play them in the league in a few weeks time, that the result will count towards the cup game so it’s almost a double header.
“If it’s a draw, it will go to penalties to determine who goes through and I think that’s a sensible solution from both clubs.
Binfield’s busy fixture schedule continues with two games in three days as they host Longlevens on Saturday before facing Brackley Town Saints.
“There are three sides now in the division that have a real chance of winning the league. Westfields are the favourites and in my eyes it’s for them to lose.
“But every three points we pick up and the longer we go unbeaten, it might put the pressure on them. We’re due to play each other on Good Friday and that promises to be a great game.
“Longlevens are a decent side. They proved that by beating Shrivenham 6-1. If we don’t get our game right, we might not get the result that we want.
We’ve had a few one-nil victories lately and we did that when we went away to Brackley. They are generally a young, athletic and technically good side. We’ve got four home games on the trot and our target is to pick up 12 points.
“We then have six or seven games on our travels so it’s important to get maximum points in our next home games.
Saturday to monday is a tough ask for anybody. Some players take it in their stride, some others may find it tougher.
“We’ve got some key players who are injured, with Asa Povey and Jamie McClurg, who is one of the most influential players in the league, so we need to get them back on the pitch as quickly as possible. He makes a huge difference with his play and leadership on the pitch.”
