It was rather an uneventful opening twenty minutes as both sides struggled to create any noteworthy chances. The first promising piece of action from Banbury came in the 23rd minute when Jordan Green let fly from 25 yards, the ball going just wide of the post. However, Banbury would break the deadlock on 30 minutes when good play down the right ended with a low cross by Aidan Hawtin which was knocked home from close range in the centre by Adeyinka Talabi for his third goal in three games.

The goal didn’t though affect the pattern of the game in the remainder of the first half. Leigh Bedwell in the Banbury goal was not required to make any saves of note in the half and Grant Fisher in the home goal was hardly overworked either but Banbury would not be complaining as the one piece of quality in an otherwise forgettable first half had brought them their 1-0 lead at the interval.

Bideford were much improved at the start of the second half and began to have the better of the game. On 53 minutes a Ben Wood shot from the edge of the penalty area saw Bedwell do well to tip the ball over the bar for a corner.

Banbury were now put under a lot of pressure by the home side and it looked just a matter of time until the equaliser arrived. There was though a rare Banbury opportunity in the 65th minute when they were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. Fisher failed to hold Ben Whitehead’s kick and the custodian was rather fortunate that the fumbled ball went up into the air and he was able to grab it at the second attempt.

Pressure on Banbury though continued with Bideford dominating. On 70 minutes a shot from the edge of the Banbury penalty area was well saved by Bedwell low down to his left but the ball was thne crossed back from the right by Sean Downing to the far post where Kevin Squire headed the ball home to put Bideford on level terms. Less than sixty seconds later and shots rained in on the Banbury goal and though the first couple were blocked, Craig Veal was on hand to fire the loose ball home from 12 yards.

It was virtually one way traffic from this point on as Bideford looked likely to increase their lead further. However, against the run of play with just five minutes to go Luke Cray passed through to Leam Howards on the right hand edge of the penalty area who then did well to work his way through into the penalty area and slot the ball from 10 yards past Fisher to earn Banbury a point.

Bideford: Grant Fisher, Ian Sampson,Stephen Reed, Sean Downing, Matt Villis, Dan Harrison, Richard Groves, Danny Wring, Craig Veal, Graham Mercica, Ben Wood. Subs (used): Kevin Squire, Nick Milton, Oliver Barnes. Subs (not used): Ben Watson, Nick Barker.

Banbury United: Leigh Bedwell, Luke Cray, Marvin Martin, Declan Hartigan, (Carl Tappin 83) Tom Fishwick, Jack Westbrook, Ben Whitehead, Aidan Hawtin, Adeyinka Talabi (Leam Howards 73), Jacob Walcott, Jordan Green. Subs (not used): Nkosi Mzungwana, Callum White.

Attendance: 152