Monday 17th December 2007 and one of the most memorable moments in the club’s recent history occurred when United visited the magnificent St Andrews Stadium for a quarter-final Birmingham Senior Cup game against Birmingham City. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Solihull where City normally played their reserve team games. However, Alex McLeish had just been appointed the Birmingham manager and he was keen to see his reserve side in action and wanted to do so at St Andrews, City thus asked if we would mind switching the game – I don’t think there was any hesitation in agreeing to the switch!

In front of a crowd of 301, predominantly United supporters, and against a Birmingham side that boasted no fewer than eight players in their starting line-up that had played in the Premiership that season, United were without four of their first choice players through injury and suspension, and yet produced a performance that rivalled anything seen in a red and gold shirt that season, and fully deserved the standing ovation they received at the end.

On a perfect playing surface, Banbury defended stoutly against a team with one eye on the presence of Blues first team manager Alex McLeish, the determination was there for all to see, but the home side were denied in the 15th minute when Mark Essex cleared off the goal-line after young Jordon Mutch had jinked into the danger area. Then in the 22nd minute a header from Scottish International Garry O’Connor was brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by Andy Wheeler.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic though, and the Birmingham defence had to be at their best to cope with the strong running of forward pairing Scott Bridges and Nicky Gordon, and indeed the best chance of the half fell to Banbury, right on the stroke of half-time when a cross came in from the left and found Ollie Stanbridge, but Irish International ‘keeper Colin Doyle made a fantastic save, diving low to his right to deny the Banbury midfielder, and the ball was eventually cleared to safety.

Banbury had kept a clean sheet for an hour, but in the 61st minute, the Blues took the lead. A free-kick was awarded just outside the penalty area, and a yard in from the by-line, and the referee allowed Birmingham to take the kick quickly, even though he was still shepherding the players back, and O’Connor netted from close range, with United still appealing the decision.

Banbury kept their heads up and were denied a penalty when Martin Taylor seemed to catch the ball with both hands, facing his own goal, and although the referee was probably unsighted, his assistant, right in line with the incident, was in dreamland, and the Blues got away with it.

In the 82nd minute, Birmingham flattered themselves by scoring a second goal, when a cross from the left was converted by substitute Mitchell McPike, his close-range effort going in off the woodwork to put an unrealistic slant to the final scoreline of 2-0.

Birmingham City: Colin Doyle, Stuart Parnaby (David Joyce), Franck Queudrue, Martin Taylor, Radhi Jaidi, Asa Hall, Neil Danns, Garry O’Connor, Robert Gradwell (Jamie Sheldon), Wilson Palacios, Jordon Mutch (Mitchell McPike). Subs (not used): Shaun Timmins, Dean Lyness.

Banbury United: Andy Wheeler, Lewis Travers (Sammy Ibrahim 67), Tommy Kinch, Mark Essex, Wayne Blossom, Ady Fuller, Mike Feely (Stuart Bridges 46), Murray Nicholls, Scott Bridges ( Matty Gooderick 58), Nicky Gordon, Ollie Stanbridge. Subs (not used): Anton Sambrook, Jody McKay.

There is an album of 81 photos from that evening recently uploaded to this website. Click here to view the full album.

The first photo below shows Birmingham City player and Honduran international midfielder Wilson Palacios with United player Wayne Blossom. Wilson was on loan to Birmingham City at the time of the Banbury United game from Honduras side Olimpia. However, new City manager Alex McLeish was not convinced enough in what he saw to commit to a £700,000 transfer fee and Wilson joined Wigan Athletic in the January 2008 transfer window. He immediately became a first team regular at the JJB before joining Tottenham Hotspur for £14million in January 2009. You can read an article in the Birmingham Mail where McLeish talks about "the one who got away" and refers to the Banbury game by clicking here
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