BINFIELD crashed out of the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup on Tuesday when beaten 5-0 at Flackwell Heath in their first-round tie, writes Dave Wright.

But manager Roger Herridge considered the scoreline was harsh on his players after they had battled hard for 90 minutes.

“Flackwell are a good, well-drilled side and had plenty of possession, but I don’t think they were five goals better than us,” he said.

“There was very little to choose between the sides in the first half. We had a couple of chances, but we made mistakes and found ourselves two-down at half time.

“As for the second half, all their three goals were similar. They (Flackwell) got the ball out wide and put quality balls into areas where it was very difficult to defend.

“Their wide player Usman (Lalustani) was unplayable at times.”

Binfield’s frailties in defence meant it wasn’t the best of nights for new keeper Henry Craven from Southern League side Thame United.

He had made one exceptionally good save before being beaten in the 19th-minute by a Liam Tack penalty after Jack Broome had brought down Jamie Essex.

The evening got worse for the usually-reliable Broome when his attempted pass was intercepted by Tom Gant, who went on beat Craven to make it 2-0 after 39 minutes, The next three Flackwell goals all came from storming runs down the flanks leading to some smart finishes by Gant in the 48th minute, Dean Allen on 69 with Gant completing his hat-trick three minutes later.

Herridge will be hoping for an improved performance when the Moles visit Fareham in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase this Saturday (3pm).

The Moles, who made it three league wins on the trot when defeating Fairford 2-1 last weekend, will be home to Wantage in the league on Monday evening (7.45pm) providing neither side is involved in a Vase replay.