This was Banbury’s first visit to Rowley Park, and in their best performance so far this season, despite having twice as many chances as the home side, two goals in as many minutes left them pointless and still looking for their first win of the season.
United put the Saints under pressure from the opening whistle, and with a sizable travelling band of supporters giving good verbal account of themselves, the team responded well. It was therefore somewhat against the run of play that St Neots took the lead in the 18th minute when Stefan Moore took advantage of some poor marking to convert a left sided cross from close in.
However, Banbury continued to push forward and they got their just rewards in the 24th minute when a free-kick from the left saw the home side fail to clear, and Ricky Johnson smashed the equaliser into the net from 6 yards out.
Following a dominant first-half, the home side came out for the second-half looking a lot stronger than their lack-lustre efforts in the first, and United were forced back on defence for the opening encounters, but in the 54th minute a ball out of defence found Josh O’Grady in plaenty of space to the right of the centre circle, and he moved forward with pace, before checking back, moving into the middle and firing an unstoppable curling 25-yarder into the top corner of the net to give Banbury a deserved lead.
Banbury should have gone further ahead in the 73rd minute when, a few seconds after coming on, Tom Lorraine put the ball over the bar from three yards out after being put through by Johnson, when it looked easier to score. Banbury were made to rue this, and the many other wasted chances when a ball in from the right went to the far post where the on-rushing Dan Jacob slid the ball home from close in to equalise.
The dagger blow then fell in the 80th minute when Jacob received the ball wide on the left and cut back from the bye-line before firing a fierce low drive into the far corner of the net to give St Neots an unlikely win, in a game that was territorially controlled by United.
St Neots Town: Jack Giddens, John-Paul Duncliffe, Declan Rogers (Callum Stewart 46), Ollie Thorne, Arthur Lee, Jordan Gent, Lewis Hilliard, Jay Davies, Stefan Moore (Jack Werdley 88), Ben Mackey, Dan Jacob. Subs (not used): Ed Adjei, Chris Manangu, Ryan Sharman.
Banbury United:: Tom Cross, Luke Cray, Jack Ashton, Liam Dolman, Jason Lee, Ben Polk, Nick Kingston (Josh Cole 63), Adam Confue, Ricky Johnson, Adeyinka Talabi (Tom Lorraine 73), Josh O’Grady (Ryan Howell 87). Subs (not used): Aaron Woodley, Harold Agyeman-Prempeh.
Attendance – 332
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