BINFIELD’s gamble to play Josh Howell paid dividends as they drew 1-1 with Horndean in the preliminary round of the FA Cup on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

The winger, who has recently rejoined the club from Thatcham, scored a superb second-half equaliser to force a replay.

Manager Roger Herridge admitted before the game he had thought long and hard whether to name Howell in his starting line-up.

“Josh will be the first to admit that he’s still a bit away from where he wants to be in the way of full match fitness,” said Herridge.

“But sometimes when you have players of his quality you have to gamble and hope it comes off – and it proved the right decision.

“Josh is a great player and just wants to be out there on the pitch.

“He scored a great free-kick, which we know he has in his locker, and was also unlucky not to have scored again to win the game for us.”

With Charlie Tuttle unavailable, Herridge was forced to make changes and “we had a few round pegs in square holes” but he was delighted with how his side adapted.

“Ali (Dickie) did a good job in his place, Jack Thompson-Wheeler had a decent game at right-back and (Jack) Broome was excellent at centre-back though it was a bit of a gamble to play him in terms of fitness.”

The manager continued: “There were not many poor performances. We had to play well as we would have got rolled over by a good (Horndean) side. They haven’t tasted defeat so far this season.”