Surely, this was the greatest result in Binfield FC’s long history.
A 5-0 thrashing of Long Eaton United has taken them into the semi-finals of the Buildbase FA Vase and given them a great chance of making it to Wembley later this month.
Liam Ferdinand netted a hat-trick and Sean Moore scored the other two goals as the marvellous Moles produced a five-star performance in Derbyshire last Saturday.
Now only United Services Portsmouth, who defeated Binfield’s Hellenic League rivals Flackwell Heath 2-0 in their sixth-round tie, stand between them and the final.
Once again, it was skipper Moore who inspired his side on by giving them a 14-minute lead, turning inside the area and hooking a shot past keeper Sam Wilson.
A few minutes earlier, he had produced a ferocious shot that flew over via the top of the crossbar.
Yet, the home side also looked threatening in the opening stages with Danny Gordon striking a shot onto the roof of Chris Grace’s net.
But Binfield always offered the bigger threat going forward and they doubled their lead shortly before half-time when Ferdinand’s well-placed shot found the bottom corner of the net.
Read more: Pictures and video from Long Eaton United 0-5 Binfield here
United were stunned and made a double substitution at half-time, but their hopes of getting back in the game lasted less than two minutes with Moore getting on the end of an Ollie Harris free-kick for his second goal and Binfield’s third.
Harris was not far away from adding his name to the scoresheet before Ferdinand made it 4-0 after 65 minutes, making ground down the left and curling the ball into the far corner.
United had conceded only four goals in the eight unbeaten Midland League matches they played before the lockdown, but their defence was breached yet again after 73 minutes when Ferdinand blasted the ball into the roof of the net to complete his hat-trick.
The Moles will start warm favourites for the semi-final, their fifth successive away tie in the competition, four of them coming on consecutive Saturdays.
US Portsmouth are a Step Six club, so have done extraordinary well to reach this stage of the competition. They play in Division One, the second tier, of the Wessex League and were sitting in fourth place with 21 points from 10 games when the league season was terminated.
They did well to knock out Flackwell Heath last Saturday and no doubt disappointed losing manager Marcus Richardson will be hearing from the Binfield management this week.
He tweeted: “A really tough one to take knowing we dominated in all areas apart from scoring.”
As they showed at Grange Park, the side managed by Jamie McClurg and Carl Withers certainly know the route to goal.
The US Portsmouth vs Binfield FC FA Vase semi-final is being live streamed for FREE:
TBTV is live streaming the FA Vase semi final between US Portsmouth and Binfield for free. Go to www.youtube.com/c/TBTVSport and set your reminders.
