A disappointing afternoon as Winchester City hit four to condemn United to their first league defeat since the opening day of the season

United would go behind as early as the sixth minute when a mistake at the back presented an excellent chance for Jamie Barron and he competently converted past Jack Harding from 15 yards.

The half became an equal affair as the game developed. On 25 minutes United went close to equalising when a Zac McEachran corner from the left caused problems in the six yard box with the ball falling to Ricky Johnson eight yards out but his on target shot was hacked off the line by a defender.

However, on 44 minutes Winchester would take a two goal lead when there was some more less than impressive defending from United before a neat flick through set Barron in on goal and he struck the ball fiercely from ten yards into the top corner of the net for his second goal.

Banbury were better in the early stages of the second half. In the 50th minute a McEachran free-kick saw the ball only cleared as far as Leam Howards 12 yards out but the United striker shot over the bar.

Any hopes of a Banbury come-back would though effectively disappear on the hour mark when Warren Bentley superbly volleyed the ball home into the top corner of the net from 20 yards.

Just four minutes later it was 4-0 when Bentley was set up by Dan Cann and he made no mistake striking the ball home from eight yards for his second goal of the game.

Bentley should have got his hat-trick on 75 minutes but was denied by Harding who brought off an excellent save from close range.

A minute later United went close to scoring when McEachran put Johnson through and though his shot was well saved by Brendon Norris the loose ball fell back to McEachran whose on target shot was kicked off the line.

It was the proverbial “bad day at the office” but United manager Mike Ford will be expecting his side to respond positively to their first league defeat since the opening day of the season when they travel to play league high-flyers North Leigh.

Winchester City: Brendon Norris, Adam Tomasso, Leigh Mills, Jamie Barron, James Thoroughgood, Robert Flooks, Francisco Santafe-Vivo (Matthew Benham 60), Bouwb Bosma (Michael Hubbard 72), Zach Glasspool (Harrison Fay 70) , Warren Bentley, Dan Cann. Sub (not used): Luke Benalli.

Banbury United: Jack Harding, Callum White, Jon Steedman, Ollie Stanbridge (Duran Martin 63), Charlie Wise (Jack Westbrook 46), Andy Gunn, Zac McEachran, George Nash, Ricky Johnson, Leam Howards, Nicholas Kalakoutis (Darius Browne 46). Sub (not used): Jacob Blackstock.

Attendance: 192