JOSH Helmore did it in the FA Cup; now he's done it in the FA Vase as well, writes Dave Wright.

He followed up his winner in the 3-2 victory over US Portsmouth in the extra preliminary round of the FA Cup with another against Virginia Water in the first qualifying round of the Vase last Friday night.

On this occasion, it was the only goal of the tie and it came in the second minute of extra time

And it was the former Thatcham striker's second goal against Waters, having netted in the 2-0 Hellenic League win just over two weeks previously.

On that occasion, the Moles came under the cosh in the first half and were lucky not to have conceded two or three goals in the opening 20 minutes.

But last Friday, Roger Herridge's men started brighter and looked much the better side in the first half, particularly in terms of possession, although their finishing never matched their neat and accurate passing in the build-ups.

Binfield had gone into the game missing several players, including Carl Davies, Jamie McClurg and Idris Kamara, leaving them with just two players plus a half-fit Sean Moore warming the substitute's bench.

In front of a crowd of 129, it was not the most entertaining of games in the first 45 minutes with little in the way of goalmouth action.

The host club's best effort of the half came from Asa Povey, whose powerful drive was smartly pushed away by keeper Matt Jones.

Jones pulled off an even better stop, diving high to his left, to keep out Josh Howell's free-kick, which looked destined for the back of the net.

At the other end, it needed two outstanding saves around the hour mark by Joe Williams, the first from former Bracknell Town defender Josh Hennah, to keep the Moles on level terms.

Shortly afterwards, the former Ross County junior had to race out to the edge of his area to stop another threat as the visitors started to become a lot more threatening, forcing Binfield to play deeper.

Joel Valentin squandered an opportunity to win the game in normal time, but it took just 72 seconds of extra time for Binfield to break the deadlock.

Howell combined well down the left flank with Helmore, who cut inside and fired a low shot across Jones into the far corner.

Binfield saw out the rest of game quite comfortably, helped by the fact Waters were left a man short for the last 20 minutes as Joe McBride left the field injured with his side having used all their subs.