Banbury Utd 1 – 1 Basingstoke Town Tuesday 6th February 2018
Attendance – 255
Firstly, can I thank those who all took the time out to come and support the team, on what seemed a freezing cold night, but ended really a snowy February evening.
Terry made one change from Saturday’s starting line-up with Michael Atkinson coming in for Sam smart. So in goal was Colm McAdden, a back four of Wohlfiel, Demuria, Hollamby & Bayliss, the midfield consisting of Captain Charlie Kennedy, Atkinson, Bennett & McKnight. Upfront Bunting & Argent.
On the bench was Goater, Smart, Collier & Wright.
Let’s be honest we started very slowly against a team that was massively bigger than us in many areas of the pitch.
It took Banbury just 8 mins to take the lead following a dubious free-kick that was half saved by McAdden and the rebound was put in.
The rest of the half was fairly non-descript, with Basingstoke offering very little, although the ref refused to book the Banbury defender for an awful challenge on Sam Argent. Maybe we were lucky to go in just one down! At one point the snow was the only highlight apart from the Banbury stewards who looked like they were guarding the queen.
Second half, we came out with more purpose, and in just the 47th min we attacked putting Argent through, but as the keeper came out to cut the shooting angle down, Argent’s clip pushed the ball 2yds wide of the empty net.
2 mins later we were back on the attack, and McKnight fed Bunting, but his shot was blocked by the Banbury gigantic No.6.
Stoke were continuing to have better possession, but were failing to really create a clear chance in the game, but Banbury were offering even less than us.
The snow was starting to reappear as manager Terry Brown decided to change things up, replacing Atkinson for Smart who immediately tore down the wing, but his cross fell harmlessly wide of any Stoke attacking player.
Stoke made a 2nd change bringing on Ben Wright for Bennett. Still we had better possession, but created few real chances and the game seemed to be slipping away, until the 84th minute, as Wohlfiel broke down the right, his cross beat the Banbury defence, leaving Ben Wright’ to superbly hit a first-time volley into the far corner of the net. The 20-odd Stoke fans went delirious behind the goal, as this was no more than we deserved.
Again, the referee who had another quiet game, seemed to be playing the next goal wins rule, but despite playing 7 minutes over the allotted time, the ref finally had to accept the 1 – 1 result.
Final Score: Banbury Utd 1 – 1 Basingstoke Town
Stoke remain 13th in the table, but now unbeaten in 3 games and with four points out of 6 taken away from home, we have Bishop Stortford at home Saturday.
I hope everybody who went today had a great evening out and thanks for your support.
Match Report By Martin French