Banbury United reached the last 16 of the Isuzu FA Trophy on Tuesday evening against a strong Coalville outfit that could well be playing league football against their hosts next season. United did exceptionally well considering the players that were missing through various reasons, including injuries - Connor Roberts & Josh Smile, suspension - Giorgio Rasulo, not signed before original date of tie - Keane Barugh & Cody Johnson, but the integrity of the team was still to the fore, sticking to the philosophy of the squad, ie. working hard and playing for each other. The first shot of the game was in the 7th minute when James Golding charged forward and tried a shot from distance which flew wide.

Coalville went close in the 10th minute when Tom McGlinchey sent in a fierce cross from the left which Tim Berridge almost connected with at the far post. Then, somewhat against the run of play, Banbury took the lead in the 26th minute, when Alex Babos forced his way into the penalty area and found Jack Stevens. He crossed from the left to Henry Landers who smartly struck the ball home from the edge of the goal area.

Banbury went further ahead just six minutes later when Stevens went on a terrific charging run to put pressure on Raven’s ‘keeper Paul White who was given no time to comfortably clear his lines and he panicked and smashed the ball against Stevens who crossed the loose ball for Landers to drill his and Banbury’s second into the empty net to make the score 2-0.

Just six minutes later, the best goal of the evening resulted in Coalville getting back into the game when their captain, Joe Doyle-Charles drove in a shot from 25 yards which kept low and just inside the post to reduce the arrears and liven the game up, with a 2-1 scoreline.

When referee Tallis had to helped from the pitch just before the break with a muscle injury fears of a fourth replay for an abandonment may have been in spectators’ minds but a fourth official was on duty and with new personnel the game continued.

This second half saw a period of pressure from the visitors which Banbury did well to contain, and they had to defend stoutly to keep the Ravens out. The visitors freshened things up on the hour with a double substitution. This spurred Coalville on and when Ben Acquaye brought Connor Smith down, Jack Harding was called upon to save Berridge’s penalty. He also denied the visitors with a point blank save from a header that was headed back to the goal, headed off the line then headed over.

Banbury retaliated shortly afterwards by bringing on the fast and lively Craig Hewitt, and he certainly troubled the Coalville rearguard with some forward running play, and he got round the back of both full backs with his ‘head-down’ approach work. Indeed, he got his just rewards in the 78th minute when, in a fine individual run across the edge of the penalty area, he fired in an unstoppable effort to put Banbury 3-1 up.

It was now a case of putting the shutters up, and this worked until the fourth minute of injury time when substitute Luke Shaw fired a free-kick just inside the post from a fairly tight angle to give the last couple of minutes play, including a last gasp dangerous free kick, an edge that United could have done without but the win was secured.

Banbury United :- Jack Harding, Sam Brown (captain), Kelvin Langmead, Jay Williams, Henry Landers, Jack Stevens, Ben Acquaye, Jak Hickman, James Golding (65 mins. Craig Hewitt), Alex Babos, Callum Reilly. Subs (not used) Aidan Hawtin, Ben Taylor.

Coalville Town :- Paul White, Connor Smith, Alex Dean, Jake Eggleton, George Wilson (59 mins. Steve Towers), Tendai Chitiza (69 mins. Luke Shaw), Joe Doyle-Charles, Billy Kee (59 mins. Ash Chambers), Tim Berridge, Tom McGlinchey, Chris Robertson. Subs (not used) Jake Laban, Kian Taylor, Eliot Putman.

Attendance - 592