JOSH Howell bagged a hat-trick as Binfield defeated Bourton Rovers 5-3 in the Hellenic League Cup at Hill Farm Lane on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

But the Moles made hard work of it, having twice to come from behind to overcome their Division Two West opponents who played with plenty of spirit to lead 1-0 at half-time.

“Going forward we looked good, but some of our defending was inexcusable,” said Binfield manager Roger Herridge.

“They (Bourton) will talk about it being close, but actually it could have been seven, eight or even nine nil.

“We scored five goals – three of them were ‘worldies’, we hit the post twice and their goalie made umpteen saves.

“But we cannot concede goals in the way we are doing these days and that is despite us having the best goalie in our league.”

The Moles, with leading scorer Ian Davies on the bench following a lengthy lay-off through injury, looked a bit flat early on and they were also forced into making an eighth-minute substitution with centre-back Lewis Leonetti suffering an ankle injury and being replaced by Liam Gavin.

And two minutes later, they found themselves a goal down when Josh Fielding was allowed time to turn and rifle a low shot just inside the post from just inside the penalty area.

Binfield worked their way back into the game and twice went close through Howell, first with a free-kick that was tipped over the bar by ‘keeper Simon Flower and then a lob which was inches too high.

They deservedly equalised in the 51st minute through Howell’s close-range effort and three minutes later took the lead with Carlo Santoro brilliantly unleashing a high shot from outside the area.

There could have been a quick third as Khalid Senussi struck the foot of the upright with Flower rooted to the spot and then James Knight was also inches away.

However, the Gloucestershire side threatened on the breakaway, with Chris Grace having to dive at the feet of Chris Mills when he broke through and Charlie Tuttle making a last-ditch tackle to deny the visitors a clear shot at goal.

But two defensive errors were punished by Connor Teague, who equalised on 70 minutes and within two minutes he put Bourton back in front.

Binfield immediately hit back and a foul on Lee allowed Howell to make it 3-3 from the penalty spot and four minutes later he blasted home a long-range shot to complete his hat-trick to put the Moles ahead.

“Josh has a lot of quality about him and has more to give,” commented Herridge, who has seen the player return to the club from Thatcham.

“He wanted to go back to them and have a go, but he hasn’t been playing much and so we are delighted to have him back again here.”

Gavin Smith denied the Rovers an equaliser after another error in the home defence before substitute Sean Moore cracked an unstoppable left-footer into the top left corner from outside the area to complete the scoring.

Herridge commented: “We are scoring some great goals, but at the same time conceding far too many. There are a lot of positives about us, but there is a real worry about us defensively and we have a bit of work to before next Saturday’s (home) game against Bishops Cleeve.”

Next Tuesday (October 9) they visit Wantage in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup (7.45pm).

  • TWO stalwarts of the Binfield teams from the 1960s, when they played in the Reading & District League, have died – Roy ‘Jock’ Johnson at the age of 80 and fellow defender Barry Slaughter, who was 10 years younger.
  • BINFIELD Ladies secured their first win of the season, defeating Haddenham 4-1 with goals from Ariesha Stephenson-Lewis (2), Nicky Edwards and Charisse Tregear.