Banbury travelled to Nuneaton's Liberty Way Stadium, looking for a good performance, and were soon into their stride with some quick direct football, and with Ravin Shamsi looking particularly sharp up front, Borough's back line were soon finding it difficult in the early minutes of the game, and with United's game-plan to get the ball to Shamsi as soon as possible, this became the pattern of the game.

Banbury took the lead in the 14th minute with a goal of sheer quality, as a ball out of their own half gave Shamsi a three-yard lead over his marker, and as Borough 'keeper Tony Breeden rushed out, Shamsi coolly lobbed the ball over his head and into the net from 20 yards to put the Puritans into the lead. Four minutes later, an almost identical move sent Shamsi clear again, but this time Breeden made a good save to tip the ball over the bar for a corner.

Nuneaton really couldn't deal with Shamsi, as he continually tormented their back-line. In the 44th minute, United could have gone further ahead when Giorgio Rasulo saw Breeden parry his 25 yard effort, before seeing the ball cleared to safety. Both sides tried to play entertaining football, and the home side were getting frustrated as they failed to pierce the Banbury back line, even though they probably had their fair share of possession.

Nuneaton got the equaliser in the 62nd minute, somewhat against the run of play when full back Ryan Edmunds broke on the right and he raced forward before hitting an unstoppable shot from a very narrow angle, across the front of Jack Harding and into the far corner of the net to equalise. However, within five minutes United took the lead again when another long ball out of defence found Shamsi in the centre circle, and he again raced clear before slotting the ball home from just inside the 18 yard box, for his second of the afternoon, and his fourth goal since returning to Banbury in December.

The game was now end-to-end play, as both sides continued their open play, and the entertainment flowed, with Borough pushing forward looking for an equaliser, leaving space at the back for United to exploit on the break. In the 75th minute, after a poor piece of defending from Banbury, Harding was left in no-mans-land by a header that was never going to reach him, and he brought down Devon Kelly-Evans. Callum Powell placed the spot-kick to Harding's left, and the home side were equal again.

Banbury almost snatched the winner in the 89th minute when Craig Fasanmade sent over a cross-shot from the right which Shamsi just couldn't quite reach at the far post. One minute later and that man Shamsi saw his fierce shot go just wide of the post. In the second-minute of injury time, Harding made a phenomenal save to tip the ball round the post from a free header, and at the other end, Shamsi and Fasanmade both went close, before the referee blew the final whistle.

Banbury United:- Jack Harding, Connor Roberts, Ryan Hughes, Kynan Isaac (88 mins. Craig Fasanmade), Jack Westbrook (captain), Charles Hawtin, Giorgio Rasulo, Pablo Haysham, Amer Awadh (79 mins. Jenson Wright), John Mills (78 mins. Ricky Johnson), Ravin Shamsi.
Subs not used: Eddie Odhiambo, Roger Ngaah Bosio.

Nuneaton Borough:- Tony Breeden, Ryan Edmunds, Nigel Julien, Joel Kettle, Isaiah Osbourne, Jamie Hood, Callum Powell, Jack Byrne, Luke Benbow, Devon Kelly-Evans, Jordan Goddard.
Subs not used: Miles Addison, Tyrell Belford, Kieren Donnelly, Fortune Maphosa, Harry Jackson.

Attendance – 523