Banbury Men’s 1s Bag Another 3 Points but Leave a Big Target to Grab the Crown
Banbury HC Men’s 1s – 4, Maidenhead HC Men’s 1s – 2
In a very different game to the home match against Slough, Banbury faced the fresh legs of mid-table Maidenhead away, who had not played the previous day. This showed as Banbury struggled to dictate the game as they did on Saturday and the game remained goalless despite Banbury having far more attacks and penalty corners in the first 30 minutes. It was only after 30 minutes that Harry Simons eventually created the breakthrough when he rounded several defenders and passed to George Brooker who slammed home the opening goal to make it 1-0. Maidenhead wasn’t done though and won a controversial penalty flick with 2 minutes of the half left, but keeper Kit Lamb made a great save to his right to deny the goal and keep the lead.
The second half was a scrappy affair with both sides suffering from players off the pitch with cards. It started well with Captain Will Kellett winning a penalty flick which Josh Nunneley scored to make it 2-0. But at one point midway through the second half, Banbury was down to 9 players with keeper Lamb off the pitch for 5 minutes and so the slender lead was bravely defended by Darsh Theara, Pete Lamb Sam Chadbourne, and joint man of the match Joe Allen in defence. Maidenhead reduced the deficit with a goal after 25 minutes when their forward entered the D through several poor challenges and struck the ball home. Banbury reacted well to this and great work through joint man of the match George Godwin and George Brooker led to a penalty corner award which Josh Nunneley scored with his trademark drag flick. With 4 minutes left on the clock, Godwin made it 4-1 to Banbury with a superb reverse stick flick from a very tight angle over the Maidenhead keeper.
Maidenhead wasn’t done though and won and scored a final penalty corner to make it 4-2 to
Banbury as the final whistle was blown.
Banbury Manager, Andy Camp said: “This was a tough ask for the team to come here and win after playing yesterday and Maidenhead having not played, and the tiredness showed a bit. But we played with guts and resilience and got the vital 3 points. This means that next week’s game at home against Trojans is vital that we win and we bag more goals to move from runners up to league champions”.
Photo: James Long on the prowl
Photo: Lamb and Brooker closing down Maidenhead
Photo: Brooker opens the score at Maidenhead