MANAGER Roger Herridge hopes history won’t repeat itself when Binfield FC face Henley Town in the Reading Senior Cup final at Madejski Stadium tonight (7pm ko), writes Dave Wright.

The Moles played in two finals last year against teams from a lower division and were beaten on both occasions.

One of them came in the Senior Cup, where the Premier Division side lost to Herridge’s former club, Wokingham & Emmbrook, who had just won Division One East of the Hellenic League.

Henley are also members of Division One, but they, too, have now been promoted to the top division.

They finished third, but both champions Penn & Tylers Green and runners-up Bicester cannot go up due to ground issues.

“We were all disappointed to lose two finals to teams from lower leagues especially as I felt we got mugged a little last year (by Wokingham) and hopefully that won’t happen again this time around,” said Herridge.

“I’ve seen Henley play a couple of couple of times this year and if they are able to get their strongest side out, I think it will be an even game as they’ve got some decent players like Asa Povey, Grant Kemp and Sean Moore.

“I am looking forward to Thursday and it should be a decent game.”

Herridge added: “I am sort of making a habit of getting there (the final).

“It is one of the longest-running cup competitions in the country and it is a nice prize to play at the Madejski.

“It is good for those boys to have that as their last game of the season.”

The Moles booked their place in the final with a 2-0 win over Premier Division rivals Highmoor Ibis at Scours Lane on Saturday thanks to a goal in each half from Josh Howell and James Knight.

“The best team on the day won,” continued Herridge.

“Highmoor will say they were missing Mitchell Parker and Anthony White up front, but we had a lot of players missing ourselves.

“They (Highmoor) were always going to have a go and they put four up front late on and we started to look a bit tired and got a big leggy.

“When you become physically tired, you become mentally tired and make poor decisions, but apart from one late effort from Danny Lingwood they didn’t really threaten us and Nathan (keeper Silver) never had a save to make.

“We had a couple of other scoring opportunities, but in the second half we didn’t get their defence turned enough and Lingy (Lingwood) got stronger and became more dominant.”

Herridge admits he will face selections problems ahead of tonight's final.

With several players missing, he gave a first start to Jamie McCarthy in midfield and the Moles boss reckons he was their best player.

“He was the reserve team manager’s player of the year,” said Herridge.

“He did most of the simple things well, made the right decisions and I will have to look at myself that he has played in the reserves all season and I have not given him a game until the semi. He has done really well.

“Callum (Carlisle) at right back also did well, he’s only 18.

“Reid Brown, who’s also 18, also played well, as did Lewis Leonetti who is 20.

“AJ (Alex Luis) is 23, so it was a young side out there.

“When you look at our starting line-up, Knighty (James Knight) was our oldest player out there at the age of 25 and he scored a cracking goal.”

Looking ahead to the final, Herridge commented: “Several of those who were missing for the semi final are still away, but I think Jack Broome and Chris Dean could be available, so I certainly have a few decisions to make before naming the team.

“I’m confident we have enough quality in the dressing room to get a result and hopefully we can end the season on a high.”