Banbury looked lively early on with a free kick from Josh O'Grady on seven minutes being pushed around the post for a corner by St Albans goalkeeper Nick Jupp. From the resultant corner United actually got the ball into the back of the net but much to the annoyance and surprise of the Town End, the referee saw some infringement on the goalkeeper and the goal was disallowed.

Midway through the half the ball did come down on to the St Albans crossbar before going over and shortly afterwards there was a large appeal for a handball offence from a Liam Dolman cross but the match official thought otherwise.

Banbury had looked slightly the more likely to score in the first half. St Albans had a number of long range efforts which were off target and though they looked lively going forward throughout, Banbury generally defended well to prevent clear cut chances.

However this all changed in the last minute of the first half when United were opened up on their left and St Albans created a clear chance which Lewis Toomey duly converted, slotting the ball past Matt Finlay.

The 1-0 half time deficit was rather harsh on Banbury but the late goal seemed to have a negative effect on the home side for most of the second half as though they "huffed and puffed" they rarely looked likely to equalise with St Albans looking relatively comfortable and looking much more likely to increase their lead than Banbury to equalise.

The turnaround came in the last ten minutes though. In the 80th the ball broke to Ricky Johnson just inside the penalty area on the right hand side and his shot went just wide of the far post, which was by far the nearest United had come to equalising throughout the half. This seemed to spur United on and just a minute later substitute Adeyinka Talabi, who made a difference when he came on and surely must have pushed his claims for a starting place on Tuesday, crossed from the left and Johnson's diving header beat Jupp to make it 1-1.

All of a sudden Banbury were dominant and looking like they might get a winner. In the 84th minute a great individual run from Ben Polk brought out an excellent save from the visiting custodian. It was a Polk free kick in the 88th minute which was glanced into the net by Johnson which put Banbury 2-1 ahead.

However in the 95th minute a St Albans free kick from the right into the penalty area fell to Curtis Ujah who slammed the ball past Finlay to make it 2-2 and deny Banbury the three points.

Though the Banbury players and management will be gutted to have conceded so late, having put in a storming last ten minutes to turn around a 1-0 deficit to lead 2-1, it would have been rather harsh on St Albans if they had left with nothing and overall a draw was probably a fair result.

Playing a side tipped to be up there challenging for honours at the end of the season, United can take some credit for the way they fought their way back into the game late on.

Banbury United: Matt Finlay, Luke Cray, Jack Ashton, Liam Dolman, Jason Lee, Ben Polk, Ryan Howell (Nick Kingston 68), Adam Confue, RIcky Johnson (Tom Lorraine 90), Aaron Woodley (Adeyinka Talabi 60), Josh O'Grady. Subs (not used): Martin Hutchcoc, Lynval Da Costa.

St Albans City: Nick Jupp, Chris Seeby, Ryan Watts, David Ijaha (Gareth Risbridger 72), Curtis Ujah, Danny Gordon, Sean Shields (Chris Henry 83), Micah Hyde, Lewis Toomey, Barry Hayles, Richard Graham. Subs (not used): Aaron Lansiquot, James Gray, Layne Eadie

Attendance: 253

Detailed match report from "Match Reporter" now on site.

A few photos can be viewed by clicking here