Binfield slumped to their third defeat in a week when losing 3-2 to relegation-threatened Highmoor Ibis at Rivermoor Stadium on Monday, writes Dave Wright.

Having gone down 4-3 at Windsor last Tuesday and then 5-0 to Thatcham on Saturday, the Moles have hit their worst run of the season.

And the total of 12 goals they conceded appears to expose the main reason for their loss of form. Another is they are slow to get out of the blocks, as in all three games they fell behind to a goal inside the first 10 minutes.

There were less than three minutes on the clock on Monday when they failed to deal with a long pass down the middle and Anthony White lobbed the ball over the advancing Henry Craven from 20 yards.

Soon afterwards, the keeper was beaten by another high ball, but was relieved to see Mitchell Parker’s effort from an angle sail wide of the far post.

Binfield’s first real chance fell to Ian Davies, but his header from James Knight’s free-kick went straight to keeper Kieran Drake.

Mounting most of their attacks down their left flank, the west Reading-based side continued to look threatening and it needed an excellent save by Craven to keep out White’s shot just before half time.

The keeper then denied Parker early in the second half by tipping the ball over the bar before saving comfortably from White’s volley, but Craven could do nothing to prevent White from scoring again on the hour mark.

And it got worse for the Moles when Parker, who had netted a hat-trick on Saturday, made it 3-0 after 79 minutes.

To their credit, Binfield didn’t give up and Kane Fitzgerald pulled a goal back on 90 minutes with substitute Sanchez Commock, one of four players facing their old club, scoring again in the last of the three minutes added on.

After a long stay at sixth, Binfield now look set to finish seventh in the final placings with just one league game remaining.

Manager Roger Herridge commented: “We certainly don’t want the season to peter out. We will have to patch ourselves up for the trip down to Longlevens on Saturday, and that won’t be easy.

“We have got to pick ourselves up and try to find a result from somewhere. We’ve then got our cup final against Thatcham (at Windsor on April 30) to worry about.

“It has been a long, hard season and whatever has happened in the last week is not going to change the fact it hasn’t been a bad one for us.”

Moles centre back Lewis Leonetti will miss the rest of the season through injury, while Tristan Campbell has received a two-match ban following his red card at Windsor.