The Robins have been in fine form under Pennicott-Bowen, and went into the first ever Friday night game at Hill Farm Lane having lost just once in six, winning four.

But things unravelled in spectacular fashion as the majority of the 223-strong crowd were sent home happy, and the Bracknell boss admitted he had not seen the nature of the defeat coming.

He confessed: “I’m not sure where to start. They were better than us in defence, they were better than us in midfield and they were better than us in attack.

“We were missing four wide players but I wanted to keep the same system because it has worked for us. But we were lacking pace and it was a case of putting square pegs in round holes.” He vowed his side will bounce back from the defeat in the weeks to come and said: “The good thing is we have got 14 more league games and we will focus on trying to finish in the top 10.

“We have some big games at home to Ardley, Highmoor Ibis, Binfield, Flackwell Heath and Ascot and we want to do well. We will never compete with the budgets of some of these teams but we aspire to play at that level. We will learn from this.” Binfield started the brighter on a freezing cold evening, and were rewarded for their fast start when centre back Callum Whitty headed home in the 10th minute.

The Moles continued to dominate and Bracknell were indebted to goalkeeper Garry Aulsberry - who had kept a clean sheet for Binfield in his solitary outing for them earlier in the season - for keeping the hosts at bay.

He denied Josh Howell with a fine diving save before producing an even better effort to stop Marcus Ushiro-Lumb’s header from point blank range and Adam Dickens’ follow-up attempt.

At the other end, the Hellenic League Premier Division’s top scorer, Shane Cooper-Clark, fired a free-kick over on his return from suspension, but Binfield extended their lead just before the break as Jemel Johnson squared for Dickens to roll the ball into an empty net.

It was 3-0 early in the second period as Johnson’s 25-yard strike crashed off the crossbar before rebounding off the back of the unfortunate Aulsberry into the goal.

Bracknell showed some character and Cooper-Clark volleyed over, but the introduction of Ian Davies and Josh Pearson highlighted the strength in depth that Binfield have at their disposal.

And it was the latter who put a gloss on proceedings, curling home a clever free kick from 22 yards before he made it 5-0 with a speculative effort which Aulsberry should have saved as the seconds ran out.

Bracknell return to league action when they visit struggling Shrivenham on Saturday (3pm).