This season’s Buckingham Charity Senior Cup final between Banbury United and Cogenhoe United was played at Stratford Fields, home of Buckingham Athletic this afternoon.

It was a highly competitive and close game throughout. Banbury had slightly the better of the first half but chances were few and far between and at the interval the score remained 0-0. The second half saw Cogenhoe look the more likely of the two sides to score early on but they were reduced to ten men after 72 minutes when Karl Bates was dismissed for elbowing Neil Stacey. Just three minutes later, Banbury made the crucial breakthrough. Cogenhoe were on the attack but a breakaway saw Joe Eyre pick the ball up just inside the opposition’s half, use his pace to break through, evade a couple of tackles and then round the goalkeeper before placing the ball into the back of the net from a tight angle.

Despite being down to ten men and now a goal behind, Cogenhoe refused to give up and battled away and probably had their best spell of the game in the last fifteen minutes as they looked to equalise and take the game to extra time. However, the goal did not arrive and so Banbury regained the Buckingham Charity Cup, their third victory in the last four seasons.

Banbury United: Jack Harding, Josh Rose, Ben Polk, Joe Davies, Neil Stacey, Luke Cole, Sean Snelling (Josh Northam 82), Josh Cole, Joe Eyre, Dior Angus (Henry Rose 56), Liam Richardson. Subs (not used): Mikey Earle, Nick Kingston, Martin Hutchcox.