We earned a visit to Merthyr in the next round as a result of this fairly comfortable win at the Spencer Stadium, and a longish trip to “the valleys” awaits us, the home side having recorded a 3-0 win over Cinderford in their replay last night.
We started well and Bradley Gray shot wide as we earned a couple of corners, which came to nothing, whilst a long through pass from Matt Day was touched back to goalkeeper Matt Gill and comfortably saved. However, in the 19th. Minute, Mark Draycott seized on Alan O’Brien’s pass and drove the ball confidently into the net. Within 90 seconds we made it 2-0, Draycott again being on target after a break down the left had wrong-footed the Banbury defence. Luke Hopper had a half-chance but lost control of the ball as he broke into the penalty area and we finished the half the better side.
It had been a good performance as we had dominated the game, but we seemed content with our two-goal lead after the interval and even though Banbury were reduced to 10 men when defender Nathan McLeod was sent off for a second yellow card, we still lacked ambition, but
were never in danger ”The Puritans” rarely threatened despite a determined effort from full-back Jack Ashton, the home side only had one real shot at goal, a blast well over the bar from Ricky Johnson, and we clearly deserved to progress into the next round.