Banbury Unbeaten But Frustrated
Banbury HC Men’s 1s - 3 Maidenhead HC Men’s 1s - 3
This midweek match was a game Banbury should’ve won and taken all the points but a poor patch in the second half gave the opposition a share of the spoils.
The first half was a lesson in control and possession as the Banbury midfield of James Long, Harry Simons, George Brooker, and George Godwin stamped their authority on the Maidenhead team leaving forwards Steve O’Connor and Captain Will Kellett to run riot. Banbury were 2-0 up within the first 15 minutes with a fine opportunist goal by Brooker as he expertly slapped the ball into the opposition goal off the keeper’s pads, and then just two minutes later Godwin carved his way through the left of the Maidenhead defence and scored with a brilliant reverse stick
flick. For the rest of the half, Banbury piled on the pressure down the flanks through Tyson Nunneley and Sam Chadbourne and really should have gone into the break with more on the scoresheet.
The second half started with Maidenhead coming at Banbury more aggressively and for the first 15 minutes, Banbury rode the storm, especially through the hard work of Pete Lamb, Joe Allen, Josh Nunneley and Darsh Theara. But an unchallenged pass from the left of the home side’s D found an unmarked Maidenhead forward who expertly deflected it past keeper Kit
Lamb’s head to make it 2-1. Then Banbury lost focus 5 minutes later when Maidenhead won a harsh penalty corner decision and despatched it with a strike into the right of Banbury’s goal to make it 2-2.
Then came the best goal of the game when the man of the match Josh Nunneley crashed from the halfway line through the Maidenhead midfield and defence and at full pelt flicked the ball from the edge of the D high into the Maidenhead net to give Banbury a 3-2 lead.
Banbury should’ve managed the game better with 15 minutes to go but Maidenhead with 4 minutes to go again threw everything at Banbury and found a pass down the right-wing which was then crashed unchallenged into the D for a Maidenhead forward to score a half clearance to end the game 3-3.
Manager Andy Camp said “the positives are we are still unbeaten and challenging for the top spot but we should’ve scored more given our chances and domination in the first half and we should’ve managed the game out to retain the 3 points. Our next two league games against Oxford and then Oxford Uni will be a real test - we have to take our chances and defend more robustly to get the six points”.
Photo: George Brooker Goal
Photo: MVP Josh Nunneley