Author: Andrew Spiers

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A Tough Opening To The Season For The Moles

The Moles began their league campaign hosting a tough Horndean side who were a new team to the league this year after transferring from the Isthmian South East Division.

A very quiet 15 minutes to start the game was sharply changed after Kelvin Robinson’s opener in the 16th minute. The ‘Deans’ advantage was doubled in quick succession from a cool finish from Horndean’s number 11, Zackary Willett. This sparked a bit of energy into the Binfield team creating a few chances for themselves with some good work around the area. However, they were pegged back again after the referee awarded the visitors with a penalty for a handball against Tyler D’Cruz. This was calmly converted by Tommy Scutt.

After half time, Binfield grew back into the game after Jamie Hilton, Lucas Surpanu were introduced to the affair. Binfield also welcomed back Daniel Lewis who had been sidelined during the end of pre-season. The action included a free kick from Mitchell Parker which he hit sweetly, however rebounded of the post and the ball could not be finished.

Both teams had more chances to add a goal to their tally, however none of them were acted upon. Following more Horndean pressure, they added a fourth, from a Daniel Sibley finish.

Despite Binfield coming into the game and having a much better second half, they couldn’t gain a consolation goal and it finish 4-0 to the visitors.

Binfield look ahead to Longlevens next Saturday as they continue their Emirates FA cup campaign. Whilst Horndean will look to continue their form into their next games.

The Moles are due to travel to Horndean for our final game of 2024, on the 28th of December. However, we meet again on the 7th September in FA Trophy.

U23 Team Photo

U23 Development make Twelftree Debut

The Moles U23 Development side make their debut this season in the Berks and Bucks FA Charles Twelftree Trophy. The trophy is played by Saturday Men’s first teams that play in the regional feeder leagues & below.

The Moles have a bye in the first round and will enter the competition in the second round which will be played on Saturday 12th October.

The first round games will be played on Saturday 14th September so keep an eye on the website for the draw for the second round after that date.

U23 Team Photo

Who are the U23 Development playing this season?

The Moles Development U23 team now know their opponents for the upcoming season. They play in the Thames Valley Premier League Division One and their season will start on Saturday 7th September.

The full list of teams are;

Binfield Development u23
Burghfield Reserves
Fleet Spurs
Goring United
Maidenhead Town Reserves
Mortimer Reserves
Penn & Tylers Green u23
Westwood Wanderers Reserves
Wokingham Town Reserves
Yateley United “A”

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FA Cup Preliminary Round Opponents

The Moles now know who they will be playing in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup. Longlevens AFC from the Hellenic League and Winslow United FC from the Spartan South Midland League played out a 1-1 draw on Saturday in their Extra Preliminary Tie.

The replay finished 1-1 in normal time. Longlevens AFC were the stronger team in extra time and finished 3-1 winners.

The tie will be played on Saturday 17th August.

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Relive The Wokingham FA Cup Goals

How good does it feel to wake up on a Monday morning after winning on a Saturday?

You can relive the goals from our 3-1 FA Cup win over Wokingham below.

Luke Wayborn

Mitch Parker

Charlie George

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Introducing: Horndean FC

Horndean F.c. Logo

Following on from our 3-1 win over Wokingham Town in the FA Cup, the Moles start their league campaign against Horndean FC. As Horndean are one of the new teams to our league, we thought we would do an introduction to them.

Who are Horndean FC?

The club was established in 1887 and only played friendly matches until World War One, after which they joined the Waterlooville & District League. They won the title four times before they joined the Portsmouth League which they also won four times at various levels.

In 1972, they joined Division Four of the Hampshire League and were promoted to Division One by the mid 80s. They joined the Wessex League in 1986 but after finishing bottom of the league in 1994–95, they were relegated back to the Hampshire League, where they remained until rejoining the Wessex League as founder members of the new Division Two in 2004.

In 2010–11 they were promoted to the Premier Division after finishing as runners-up in Division One. The 2022/23 saw the Deans make history with a League & Cup double which saw them promoted as champions to Step 4 for the first time.

How did Horndean do last season?

Last season, Horndean played at step 4 in the Isthmian League South East Division. They were promoted to Step 4 as champions of Wessex Football League Premier Division in 2022-23.

In the 2023/24 season, they finished 14th in the league in a classic middle table position. In the FA Cup, they got through three rounds to the 2nd Qualifying round where they lost 3-0 to Poole FC. In the FA Trophy, they lost to our local rivals Ascot United 2-3. At the end of the season, they were moved laterally into the Isthmian League South Central Division.

This season, they were beaten in the Extra Preliminary Round by Shepton Mallet 1-0.

Where do Horndean play?

Horndean is a village in Hampshire which is 8 miles north of Portsmouth and the village straddles the A3(M). Horndean FC play at Five Heads Park, Five Heads Road, Horndean PO8 9NZ.

When do we play Horndean?

As well as the two league games, we will play Horndean away in the FA Trophy.

10th August @ 3pmBinfield vs Horndean Isthmian League South Central Division
7th September @ 3pmHorndean vs Binfield FA Trophy
28th December @ 3pmHorndean vs BinfieldIsthmian League South Central Division
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Match Report: FA Cup vs Wokingham

The game began very brightly for Wokingham Town with a flurry of chances for them but It was met with some classy defending from the Binfield back line. The game intensified after a few strong challenges came flying in from either sides, this forced the referee to introduce the Wokingham number 9 to a yellow card.

The first Binfield goal came from their number 4, Luke Wayborn with a delightful finish into the back of the net to give Binfield a goal advantage in the 20th minute. Just 9 minutes later, Mitchell Parker doubled the Moles’ advantage with a delicious half volley rocketed into the far top right corner.

This caused tempers to flare even more resulting Wayborn and the Wokingham number 7 to also be introduced to Thomas Healey’s book.

As the second half kicked off Wokingham looked for a goal to kick in a come back but were denied by a great block of the line by Elijah’s Bagdonavicius and a fantastic follow up save from the Binfield debutant Kacper Orlowski.

Their chances of a comeback were hindered heavily by Charlie George just nipping a foot into a through ball which just nudged it past the Wokingham shot stopper. The afternoon was soured by the Binfield keeper being dismissed due to an unfortunate handball decision. Mitchell parker took the reins of protecting the sticks for the final 17 minutes of play.

The Wokingham pressure built up over the first 80 minutes was always going to be tough, and they finally found a breakthrough in the 82nd minute after a Parker save onto the post was hammered in on the follow up. It then stayed 3-1 for the final 8 minutes and the final score stayed that way.

Binfield progress to the Preliminary round of the Emirates FA Cup, and also retain the Martin Joyce trophy. A trophy to celebrate the life of the Binfield and Wokingham captain who died in a car accident in 1967.

Rechan and Theo

“Deadline Day” Signings

Manager Ross Weatherstone has signed his final batch of players before the deadline for the FA Cup game against Wokingham Town.

First up are are a returning duo. Rechan Esprit and Theo Pennicott-Bowen both return to the Moles for the 24/25 Season after successful campaigns last time out.

Rechan and Theo

Next up is Brighton Morrison joins us for the 24/25 season after a really strong pre-season campaign with the Moles. Brighton has previously played for Bermudan U20 national team and has been a member of Marlow’s U23 team.

Brighton Morrison

Josh McMenemy will join up with the Moles squad on a 1 month loan from Maidenhead United.

Josh McMenemy

And finally, we have Ethan Gold who goes into the squad for the FA Cup game;

Ethan Gold
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Ross On The Radio

In the build up to the FA Cup game with Wokingham, manager Ross Weatherstone has been talking about the tie on BBC local radio.

First up was BBC Radio Berkshire – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0j939cj – 32 minutes in.

Second up was BBC Radio London where the Moles have been chosen as their team to follow on the road to Wembley. They will follow our progress until we lose and they will keep following the winner – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0j81dr0 – 51 minutes in.

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Deja Vu – Wokingham In The FA Cup

If our opponents in the FA Cup, Wokingham Town, seem familiar that is because we played them in the competition last season. The game was held on a hot and stormy Friday night in front of a ground record crowd of 604.

The Moles were 2-0 winners with goals from Dan Lewis and Noah Chengun. You can relive the goals below;

Martin Joyce Trophy

Martin Joyce Trophy

Wokingham Town FC’s first competitive match for more than 20 years, against Binfield in the FA Cup, will also see a battle for silverware of a different kind.

The Martin Joyce Memorial Trophy, currently held by Binfield, has been up for grabs wherever the two teams play each other.

Martin Joyce Trophy

Martin played for both sides and captained Binfield in the 1960s before being killed in a Wokingham road traffic accident in 1967.

The game is especially poignant for Wokingham Town president Mark Ashwell. His wife, Sue, was Martin’s niece.

Sue’s father John Green donated The Martin Joyce Trophy in the late 70s and it’s tradition has endured for all these years

Mark will present the trophy to the winning side on Saturday afternoon

As well as seeking to progress in this year’s FA Cup, Wokingham Town FC will be looking for revenge for the 2-0 win that Binfield inflicted on the Sumas at Lowther Road in the same competition last season.

That match attracted what was a record crowd of 604 for the Emmbrook venue.

Previous Encounters

Football In Berkshire has reported a previous meeting between the two teams in the Martin Joyce Trophy. In 2016, Wokingham were 3-2 winners. The Moles goals coming from Sean Moore.

Back in 2013, the Moles were 3-1 winners as reported by Get Reading with goals coming from a brace from Carl Davies and Josh Pearson.