Banbury United coast in to the next round of the FA Cup

7th October 2022

THE MAGIC OF THE FA CUP

Banbury United 2-0 Berkhamsted Match Report

Banbury secured a place in the hat for the fourth-round qualifying draw on Monday afternoon, they are just one round from the first-round proper after a hard-fought 2-nil win against Berkhamsted on Saturday afternoon. Goals from Josh Dugmore, his first for the club on 51 minutes and the first goal of the season for Henry Landers on 76 minutes, secured the Puritans’ progression.

It was the visitors who got the match underway with neither side really threatening during the early stages. The first half chance for Banbury was with Dugmore almost finding Landers but the ball is put out for a corner which comes to nothing. Shortly afterwards Jack Harding was forced into a good save from a shot by Lynton Goss.

The last chance of the first half came in the 27th minute with Giorgio Rasulo who created a great chance for himself, his bending shot is inches wide of the far post, so close to the target. Just before the half-time whistle was blown by referee Ben Johnson Connor Roberts fires high and wide.

All even at the half-time mark, Sam Brown replaced Ben Radcliffe for the second half. The Puritans faithful didn’t have long to wait to break into song and cheers. In the 51st minute, Dugmore found himself in the right place to have a simple tap-in for his first goal for Banbury thanks to the ball being fed through by Alex Babos.

The crowd erupted, 782 in attendance on Saturday certainly made themselves heard after that opening goal.

The second half came alive, Babos brought out a good save from the Berkhamsted keeper Craig Hill in the 61st minute. Ben Acquaye was in the thick of the action finding his way through the defence with his ball almost met by Babos and just one minute later after causing more problems for Berkhamsted defenders Hill makes another good save.
Hill did well to connect with a Landers shot in the 66th minute but can’t keep the Banbury man’s effort from hitting the back of the net, 2-nil and the first of the season for Landers.

Jak Hickman was brought into play replacing Jay Williams. Hill became a busy keeper gathering a shot from distance by Josh Smile in the 81st minute followed by a free kick just inches outside of the box just a couple of minutes later after shots of a penalty were waved away by the referee after consultation with the nearside assistant.

Hill made a couple more crucial saves in the dying minutes with the added pressure that the Puritans were applying. A final change for Banbury with Will Owens replacing Landers in the 89th minute didn’t leave much time for him to play even with the added 2 minutes.

Monday afternoon Banbury is in the hat for the Emirates FA Cup 4th Qualifying round with the match to be played on Saturday 15th October, this means that our league match at home against Bradford (Park Avenue) will be rearranged for a future date. The Puritans are just one win away from the first-round proper, can we make that hat again?

Meanwhile, we face a long trip to Blyth Spartans next weekend in Vanarama National League North action.

Banbury United: 1 Jack HARDING (GK), 2 Connor ROBERTS, 4 Josh SMILE, 6 Jay WILLIAMS (12 Jak HICKMAN 77’), 7 Henry LANDERS (17 William OWENS 89’), 8 Giorgio RASULO (Capt), 11 Ben ACQUAYE, 15 Ben RADCLIFFE (3 Sam BROWN 45’), 16 Josh DUGMORE, 19 Alex BABOS, 20 Callum REILLY

Unused Subs: 13 Ben TAYLOR (GK), 20 Aidan HAWTIN

Attendance: 782