Banbury United retained the Buckingham Charity Cup, and in doing so winning it for the fourth time in five seasons, with a 4-1 win at Stratford Fields, the home of Buckingham Athletic.
United went in front as early as the fifth minute when a free-kick on the left taken by Scott Bridges was headed into the net by Albi Skendi at the near post.
Stony Stratford equalised in the 11th minute when a mistake by Luke Cray allowed Shaun Carr through to equalise. However, Stony were only level for two minutes as an excellent through ball by Ashley Dumbleton to Adeyinka Talabi presented the Banbury striker with a one-on-one chance with the goalkeeper and though he over-ran the ball, the custodian fumbled what appeared to be a relatively routine collection and Ade was presented with a simple tap-in.
The rest of the half saw Banbury dominant. They came close to increasing their lead in the 28th minute when a Kynan Isaac shot was parried by the Stony goalkeeper, only for the ball to be hacked away by a defender just before the following up Skendi could get to the ball. Four minutes later a Dumbleton shot was saved by the keeper's legs.
Banbury finally got their third goal in the 41st minute when Isaac nicked the ball off a defender in midfield, took it down the left before crossing to the incoming Talabi who headed the ball home to make it 3-1 at half time.
Unfortunately, the second half was marred by a couple of rather unsightly mass skirmishes between players as the sun seemed to get the better of tempers. Stony were reduced to ten men on 67 minutes after an awful tackle on Isaac though thankfully the United forward was able to continue.
United's fourth goal arrived in the 80th minute when substitute Leam Howards was brought down inside the penalty area when through on goal. The young striker was given the opportunity to take the penalty himself and converted the spot-kick with some style into the roof of the net.
With another Stony player being shown a second yellow before the penalty kick had been taken, presumably for arguing with the match official, Stony had to play out the last ten minutes with just nine men.
Match Photos here
Banbury United: Kwame Fordah, Luke Cray, Conor Collins, Ashley Dumbleton, Scott Bridges, Harold Agyeman-Prempeh, Adeyinka Talabi (Leam Howards 55), Ben Polk, Albi Skendi, Kynan Isaac, Nabil Shariff. Subs (not used) Marvin Martin, Jack Ashton, Sam Moore.