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Men's 1s Vs. Trojans 1s - Sunday 10th April 2022

Banbury Finish Joint Top but Miss Out on Promotion on Goal Difference


Banbury HC – 8, Trojans – 1


Banbury were so close to pulling off a miracle and closing the goal difference gap with Premier

League leaders Oxford University but the storming 8-1 victory over mid-table Trojans fell 4 goals

short of the target in the last match of the season. Captain Will Kellett led from the front scoring 4 goals but it wasn’t enough for promotion.


Banbury started well and were 1-0 up within 6 minutes when a perfect aerial pass from James Long found Will Kellett in the Trojans D who rounded the defence and slammed the ball home. Three minutes later the ever-busy George Brooker slipped the ball to Kellett who made it 2-0 with a vicious strike. Trojans were rocked by this but started to dictate the midfield more and the game began to flow end to end meaning Pete Lamb and Darsh Theara in the heart of defence had to work hard to keep the 2-0 lead. After 25 minutes man of the match, Josh Nunneley threw a long aerial pass to George Godwin who beat 2 defenders and lobbed the ball over the Trojans keeper to make it 3-0.


Trojans reduced the deficit with a well-worked penalty corner to make it 3-1 shortly after but

Nunneley made it 4-1 shortly before halftime when Kellett found him on the top of the D and he

struck the ball home to the left of the goal. Half time came with Banbury needing 8 goals and they weren’t far off the target. After 11 minutes George Godwin won a penalty flick and the Trojans keeper was sent off for 5 minutes. Kellett scored the penalty to make it 5-1. Just 4 minutes later Banbury won another penalty corner and Nunneley’s drag flick was saved illegally leaving Kellett to score the subsequent penalty flick to make it 6-1.


Harry Simons, Sam Chadbourne, Brooker, and Joe Allen started to dictate the midfield and after 20 minutes Kellett won another penalty corner which Nunneley scored with his trademark drag-flick to make it 7-1. Banbury smelt blood and Long and Lamb worked hard at the back with Richard Hobley to build more attacks. This left Banbury vulnerable to counterattacks and it took a fantastic triple save by keeper Kit Lamb to keep Trojans out and the 6-goal advantage. Banbury’s 8th goal came with ten minutes left when Simons hammered the ball home after a Nunneley drag-flick could only be partially saved. Trojans, however, weren’t done and some deft work won them a penalty which was missed and Banbury could breathe a sigh of relief. The last 5 minutes was all Banbury with Jacob Buckner-Rowley, Kellett, and Godwin coming close but the goals just weren’t coming and the match finished a fantastic 8-1 to Banbury with another 3 points in the bag to give them joint top status with league leaders Oxford University.


Banbury Manager Andy Camp said “what a season we have had. After a slow start, we’ve put

together a great winning run and overtaken the teams in the top four to finish joint top of the South Central Premiership. We only missed out on promotion goal difference by 4 goals and in the last 3 games the lads put away an amazing 23 goals to make the leaders sweat until the last match before they knew they were clear. In two weeks we face Wimbledon at home in the England Hockey Cup 4th round – so there is still silverware to play for”.

Photo: Captain Kellett bags 4 goals

Photo: Man of the match Josh Nunneley bags 2 goals

Photo: BHC Men's 1s Team Photo

Photo: Joe Allen closed the midfield all game

Photo: Chadbourne on the charge

Photo: Long and Buckner-Rowley on the hunt

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