Binfield FC 0

Cirencester Town 3

Cirencester Town reached the second qualifying round of the FA Cup after a professional performance away at Hellenic Premier Division club Binfield on Saturday writes Dave Pyzer.

During the first ten minutes in Bracknell, Binfield took the game to Cirencester with Carlo Santoro particularly prominent as he fired wide of the target in the first minute and mounted a charging run down the left flank.

Gradually, Cirencester began to assert themselves and they opened the scoring when a determined run and quality cross from the left corner by Louis Spalding was headed into the top right corner by Alan Griffin at the back post.

Just after the mid-point of the half, the Centurions doubled their advantage when Ben Whitehead darted left to latch onto Mike Pook’s clever free kick into the home penalty area and produced a sharp finish inside the right post.

A few minutes later Whitehead collected the ball and charged into the home box, evading challenges and rounding the keeper, before driving it through recovering defenders to score Cirencester's third.

The visitors dominated leading up to the interval and after the break they had several chances to put the game to bed - striking the woodwork twice within five minutes of the re-start – but as the half continued Binfield kept them on their toes with a spirited performance as they created chances of their own with Eddie Lee heading wide and Johnson shooting wide.

As the game was drawing to a close home, keeper Chris Grace tipped an effort from Antonio Gerrish over his bar to ensure the score remained unchanged and it Cirencester progressed.