BINFIELD FC defeated Abingdon United 3-2 at Hill Farm Lane to extend their impressive run in a match which saw both sides reduced to 10 men, writes Dave Wright.

The Moles have lost only two of their last 22 Hellenic League and cup games to remain sixth in the Premier Division table and manager Roger Herridge believes even a higher finish is within their reach.

“We are not going to put pressure on all of the sides above us, as the top three or four are not going to be caught, but it’s teams like Flackwell (currently fourth) we want to try to catch,” he said following Saturday’s game.

“We play them soon, but if we are to beat them, we will need to be better than we were today.”

The Moles went 2-0 up inside the opening 16 minutes through Carlo Santoro and Ian Davies, who shortly afterwards added a third, taking his season’s tally to 17 goals.

Tom Butler pulled one back for United, and Herridge admitted: “We were 3-1 up at half time without having played that well.

“It was a heavy pitch and Abingdon didn’t make it easy for us. They were positive, passed the ball well and have some tidy players. There were signs of how they managed to win at Highworth recently.”

Binfield thought they had scored a fourth when substitute Sean Moore got the better of keeper Edward Cavanagh to a high right-wing cross, but it was ruled out.

“It looked a good goal to me with Sean getting the better of the keeper, so I’m not sure why the referee disallowed it. Had it counted, the game would have been over, job done,” added Herridge.

But Butler pulled another goal back on 75 minutes when he was first to react after skipper James Knight had made an acrobatic clearance to hook the ball off the line.

“All of a sudden it became a bit more anxious for us, but in the end we got another three points,” said Herridge.

“It is not a bad trait to win games when you are playing poorly. We will probably play better than this and end up losing.”

Shortly after Abingdon’s second goal, an ugly incident broke out in midfield which led to Binfield’s Joe Gritt, who had been on the field for a little more than 10 minutes, being shown a straight red card.

United’s Kyle Moss followed him off as he saw the yellow card for a second time, the first having come after the whistle had been blown for half time.

With centre-backs Chris Gerrard and Gary Smith outstanding, the Moles held on for a deserved win, giving them a double over Abingdon.

“I don’t think we had any poor performances, but we had more six out of 10s than eight or nine out of 10s in areas,” concluded Herridge. “We have young lads who sometimes have to grind out results, and we certainly ground one out today.”

Binfield are due to face second-bottom Highmoor Ibis at Rivermoor this Saturday (3pm) before hosting mid-table Windsor at Hill Farm Lane on Monday (7.45pm).