ROGER Herridge, the Binfield manager, admitted he hadn’t had much sleep prior to his side’s big local derby at Bracknell at Larges Lane on Friday night, writes Dave Wright.

But even in his wildest dreams he could not have imagined how the game would pan out.

With the Robins caught napping on more than one occasion, Binfield made a dream start with three goals inside the opening 25 minutes.

Bracknell did pull two goals back, but the Moles held on to record a well-deserved 3-2 win in an entertaining game watched by an excellent crowd of 345.

“It was a fantastic win for us,” said Herridge.

“I’ve got to be honest, I had a sleepless night last night (Thursday) thinking about this game because I thought it was going to be like coming into the lion’s den.

“I wasn’t sure about team selection as we were missing several players and we had only one centre-back fit.

“We were playing a team second from bottom of the table, but with a squad probably capable of finishing in the top six.

“I came here expecting a really tough test with a depleted team.”

Skipper Alex Luis and James Knight were both suspended, Jack Broome, Lewis Leonetti and Danny Horscroft are all injured and Reid Brown was sidelined with tonsillitis.

Michael Walton and Chris Dean were both forced to play despite nursing groin injuries.

“When you take all that into consideration, I think it was a tremendous performance from us tonight,” added Herridge.

“I think there were a lot of players in Binfield shirts who did themselves some favours and there were some heroes out there.

“During the game players were looking at me to suggest they wanted to come off, but, fair play, they kept going and did a great job.

“This is probably our best three points of the season based on the fact how depleted we were and with players having top play when injured. They had to dig really deep to get the result.”

Herridge singled out midfielder Carl Withers and striker Liam Ferdinand for special mention, saying: “For me they were the two stand-out players, but everybody did well.”

Callum Whitty has been outstanding for Binfield in the past and the big centre-back still knows where the back of the net it. Sadly for him, his goal on Friday came at the wrong end.

There appeared a lack of communication in defence, as keeper Garry Aulsberry was well off his line when Whitty, following a long punt up field from goalie Nathan Silver, headed the ball into his own net from the edge of the area.

That came after eight minutes and Liam Ferdinand doubled Binfield’s advantage on 16 minutes, having been set up by Chris Dean, and Ferdinand created the chance for Jemel Johnson to make it 3-0 after 21 minutes.

Moles went close to increasing their advantage before they conceded a 37th-minute goal to one of their former players, Kensley Maloney, who fired home after Seb Bowerman’s effort had been blocked by Walton.

Midfielder Maloney, however, was taken off at half-time with manager Mark Tallentire switching Declan Kirby from defence to midfield, Damian Smith moving across the back line and George Lock coming in at left-back.

And in 45 minutes teenager defender Lock, who dealt admirably with Binfield’s pacey wide man Josh Howell turned in a man-of-the-match performance.

Bracknell did come more into the game in the second half and pulled a second goal back on 63 minutes when Silver, making a rare mistake, failed to hold a cross and spilled the wet ball into his own net.

Soon afterwards, Whitty saw his effort deflected for a corner, from which fellow centre-back Carl Davies fired wide of the Bracknell woodwork.

But Binfield also had a couple of chances at the other end and fully deserved their three points.