Highmoor Ibis Mitchell Parker Anthony White

Parker bagged a hat-trick in Saturday’s 3-1 win over fellow strugglers Fairford Town and he scored again to add to White’s brace in their 3-2 victory against Binfield on Monday.

The Rivermoor men remain in serious trouble, but the six points from their last two games will certainly boost their confidence going into their remaining three league games.

For 24 hours they were out of the bottom four, but returned to the relegation zone when Lydney defeated bottom club Burnham 2-1 on Tuesday. They have also played two more games than the Gloucestershire side, but it is not yet known how many clubs will be relegated.

Highmoor are home to Tuffley Rovers tonight (Thursday) and Windsor next Monday (7.45pm) before finishing at Abingdon United on April 28.

Parker and White both left the club during the season – for Flackwell Heath and Thatcham respectively – but their return gave the team a major boost, while manager Dec Jacob made other changes after taking over following Marcus Richardson’s departure to Flackwell.

Jacob was pleased with Saturday’s performance, but even more delighted with the display against seventh-placed Binfield.

Parker and White were a real handful upfront, new boys Connor Thorne and George Smith worked tirelessly in midfield and the defence coped admirably with the Binfield attack led by 31-goal Ian Davies.

It took less than three minutes for Highmoor to open the scoring on Monday with White racing through to lob the ball over the advancing Henry Craven from 20 yards.

Soon afterwards, the keeper was beaten by another high ball, but Parker’s effort from an angle sailed wide of the far post.

Binfield’s first real chance fell to Davies, but his header from James Knight’s free-kick went straight to keeper Kieran Drake.

Mounting most of their attacks down their left flank, Highmoor continued to look threatening and it needed an excellent save by Craven to keep out White’s shot just before half time.

The goalie then denied Parker early in the second half by tipping the ball over the bar before saving comfortably from White’s volley, but Craven could do nothing to prevent White from scoring again on the hour mark.

Highmoor looked home and dry when Parker made it 3-0 after 79 minutes, but there was a late scare for them when Kane Fitzgerald pulled a goal back on 90 minutes, with substitute Sanchez Commock, one of four players facing their old club, scoring again in the last of the three minutes added on.

However, Ibis held on for a well deserved win, just their seventh in 35 league games.

Fellow strugglers Woodley took a breather from their survival battle to play Chesham United in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup semi-final on Tuesday and put up a brave performance before losing 2-0 to their Southern League visitors, conceding goals to Dave Pearce in the 29th and 53rd minutes.

Woodley can now concentrate on trying to avoid relegation, but that looks like a tall order. They remain second bottom with just 20 points from 33 games and will need to win most of their remaining five games if they are to survive.

United complete their away fixtures at Longlevens this evening (Thursday) before facing Ascot United at Rivermoor on Saturday, Bracknell next Tuesday (7.45pm) and Royal Wootton Bassett 48 hours later, followed by the return with Longlevens the following Saturday.

AFC Aldemaston crashed 4-0 at home to Holyport in Division One East on Tuesday to remain second from bottom of the table, but three points from their four remaining games would see them leapfrog the side immediately above them, Chinnor, who have completed their fixtures.

The Atom men are home to Wallingford Town on Saturday and Thame Rangers on Monday (7.45pm ko).