Banbury United travel to Northamptonshire on Friday night to face another pre-season test away at AFC Rushden & Diamonds, with kick-off at Hayden Road set for 7:45pm.

The Puritans continued their unbeaten start to pre-season on Tuesday evening, edging out a Northampton Town XI in an entertaining 3-2 victory at the Spencer Stadium.

The standout moment of the evening came from Joel Anker, who produced another spectacular bicycle kick goal — his second in the space of just a week.

While Kelvin Langmead will not be overly concerned with results at this stage of pre-season, the continued positive performances and unbeaten start will provide plenty of encouragement ahead of what promises to be an exciting campaign for the Puritans.

Friday night will provide another valuable opportunity for the squad to continue building fitness and understanding, with the opening league fixture now just over two weeks away.

There are no new injury concerns for United, while Ben Nash could also feature after a successful trial spell with the club.

The Diamonds

AFC Rushden & Diamonds currently compete at Step 4 in the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands and play their home matches at Hayden Road.

The Diamonds are managed by Elliot Sandy and have also enjoyed a busy pre-season schedule.

Their latest outing came on Tuesday night, when they suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat away to Rugby Town.

Prior to that, Rushden & Diamonds had drawn 1-1 with AFC Stamford, lost 3-2 to Biggleswade Town, drawn 2-2 with MK Irish, suffered a 2-0 defeat to Spalding United and recorded an impressive 4-1 victory over local rivals Rushden & Higham United.

With both sides edging closer to the start of their respective league campaigns, Friday night promises to be another valuable test for the Puritans.

The fixture will also see United come up against a familiar face, with former Puritan Sam Brown now featuring for AFC Rushden & Diamonds.

Match preview written by Will Hutchinson.