It was an early morning for the lads as we made the long 85 mile trek north to Staffordshire to face Stone Dominoes.
At the start of play Stone were 1 place and 1 point clear of us in the table, so it promised to be another close and tense matchup.

The lads this week started on the front foot. Early pressure on the Stone defence set the tempo for the majority of the game. Direct running from Fin on the left wing led to him getting a strike off at goal that the goalie done well to save, and then pounce on the lose ball.

It was clear from early exchanges that our pace and power was causing problems for the Stone defence. The midfield 3 were playing the ball wide quickly and troubling the full backs on almost every attack.

Banbury took the lead in the 10th minute, Tyra playing wide on the right side of the pitch switched play with a great ball through to Fin on the left. Fin beat his man and smashed another shot at goal, the keeper this time parried it and Cian was the quickest to react to sidefoot the ball into the goal. 0-1.

In their first foray forward into the United half, Stone almost grabbed a fortuitous equaliser. Stone were very neat and tidy in possession throughout, and one such passing move led to a forward player getting a shot away at goal the ball taking a huge deflection off a defender wrongfooting Myron and hitting the post before Myron dived on the ball before the attacker could get there.

The boys were still largely on top, Cian chased down a long ball forward, jumping and heading the ball into his own path, before cutting into the box but this time slicing his shot just wide of the near post.

The back four excellently marshalled by Aidan were defending resolutely. First to all the second balls, they were making sure the Stone forward players did not have a sniff.

Further opportunities came for Fin and Cian. Fin hitting a tame left footed shot at the keeper after receiving a good ball by Jack and Cian when working a position expertly dragged his shot inches wide of the post.

By this point changes had been made, Luke, Toby, Jake and Tom had entered the pitch. Tom made a number of rampaging runs forward that didn't quite lead to scoring opportunities, and Toby was showing tremendous defensive discipline to ensure no time was afforded to the Stone players.

Stone had a speculative long range effort that looked like it might find the top corner, but Myron stretched high to tip the ball over the crossbar, wth Lex clearing the resulting corner to safety.

Half Time 0-1 to United, and thoroughly deserved. The message to the lads at half time was to continue in the same vein. We were on top and needed to make sure we got the next goal and see the game out. At times we played a little too long, and we wanted the ball playing into feet more. The midfield and wide players were asked to get around and support Cian up front who at times was a little isolated.

The lads seemed to take this on board, and immediately Cian was offered some support from the midfield players breaking forward. The Stone goalkeeper made an excellent double save to deny Cian and Jake.

Fin who had been given a breather mid way through the first half was brought back onto the field for Jack. Fin was aksed to have a free role behind Cian. We asked him to get on the ball, and create opportunities for both himself and others. This change paid almost imediate dividends. After winning the ball in the centre of the pitch he played an eye of the needle pass through to Cian. Cian held off the defender, but once again the keeper was out to save well. The loose ball fell to Jake on the edge of the box, and Jake smashed the ball into the net. 0-2. The cushion the boys performance had deserved.

A scrappy period followed where the lads seemed to lose a bit of focus. Play was a little rushed, and the ball was being given away or just belted to safety. This invited a bit of pressure on, and the lads were maybe thinking about some of the winning positions that we have let slip in previous weeks.

A couple more changes were made and the lads started to put their foot on the ball a bit more, and pass into feet. Lennon had entered the pitch and was breaking up play and passing neatly. Once such pass was given to Tom at right full back, a driving run to the byeline by Tom was cut back to Fin but he seemed to hesitate and was closed down before he could get his shot away.

Jake's power and pace was causing problems on the flanks and in the 62nd minute after some good work on the right his cross was blocked and went out for a corner. Jake himself swang in the corner and Cian flung himself at the ball and it flew into the corner of the net 0-3.

Stone had a couple more half chances in the block, firstly a sliced clearance in the box fell to a forward, but Tom threw himself into a blocked challenge, and in the closing minute it looked like Stone were clean through but both Aidan and Tom showed huge desire to sprint back and ease the player off the ball before Myron dived onto the ball and preserved the clean sheet.

A very good performance, a clean sheet and a thoroughly deserved result for the lads, more points on the board in their first season in the MJPL. The lads should be very proud of the way they are progressing.

Stone Dominoes Reds 0 Banbury United 3