It was a very disappointing trip up the M40 for Banbury who returned home well beaten from the trip to Redditch who had been third from bottom prior the game.

Banbury made one change to the starting line up from Tuesday with Jack Finch on the bench and George Nash starting. However Finch was deemed not fit in the warm up and Harry Whitehead took his place.

Banbury probably shaded the first half possession-wise but failed to create any clearcut chances. A series of three consecutive corners troubled the home defence but no killer finish could be found and Jack Self forced an error in the Redditch half but his shot from the edge of the box was well saved by Francis low to his left. At the other end Redditch got behind Banbury on a couple of occasions but didn’t take advantage and an Ali shot from 20 yards went narrowly wide of Agboola’s post.

However as half time approached Banbury looked like they a golden opportunity to take the lead. Having pressed Redditch in their half a lobbed ball into the box by George Nash was met by Ricky Johnson and he was fouled going for the header. It looked a clear penalty but after a discussion the referee and assistant adjudged the foul to have happened outside of the area and Banbury had to make do with a free kick. This almost brought rewards as John Mills shot was well saved by Francis low to his left again. This was Mills last play of the game as he limped off just before the break, replaced by Steve Diggin.

It was an uneventful opening to the second half but everything changed on 52 minutes when Brendon Bunn picked up a Marvin Martin header on the left had side and was allowed too much space in the box before firing past Manny Agboola at the near post.

Within 10 minutes it was 2-0 at the increasingly influential Shaquille Leachman-
Whittingham got on the end of a deep cross from the left at the back post and his first shot went past Agboola to make it 2-0.

Banbury pressed to get something out of the game with Greg Kaziboni leading the way.
He showed great determination to get a cross in from the right but Johnson could not supply a first time finish and the close range chance bundled away. At the other end Leachman-Whittingham’s pace caused Banbury problems but he and his team mates profligate finishing kept the score to 2-0 at the final whistle.

Whilst the non-penalty may have changed the outcome there was no denying that Redditch were by far the stronger side in the second half and deserved winners.

Redditch: 1. Reece Francis 2. Jamie Ashmore 3. Nyeko Sinclair 4. Harry Franklin 5. Andrew Parsons (C) 6. Robert Evans 7. Ahmed Ali 8. Robbie Bunn 9. Leam Howards (sub 16. Montel Gibson 75’) Shaquille Leachmann Whittingham 11. Michael Nelson. Subs not used: 12. Samuel Tye 14. Milan Butterfield 15 Mason Birch 17. David Reynolds

Banbury: 1. Emmanuel Agboola 3. Marvin Martin 4. George Nash 5. Charlie Wise 7. Charlie Hawtin 8. Jack Self 9. Ricky Johnson (C) 13. John Mills (Sub 10.Steve Diggin 45’) 14. Lee Henderson 16. Gregory Kaziboni 18. Giorgio Rasulo (Sub 12. Amer Awadh 73’, Sub 11. Mark Bell 80’) Subs not used: 15. Eddie Odhiambo 17. Harry Whitehead

Attendance: 322