The rain stopped just in time for kick off as Tamworth made the journey south to face us at Horton View.
Tamworth Academy hadn't played too many fixtures prior to kick off, this being only their 5th game of the season. But they had started strongly with 3 wins and a draw from their first 4 games.
The game on paper looked to be a close one, with two equally matched teams, and so it proved to be!

United were missing a number of players from last weeks impressive victory against Coventry City. There were welcome returns though for Oliver Corney from his 3 match suspension and Ollie Edmunds who slotted seamlessly into the centre of the midfield.

The game started tentatively with both teams seemingly waiting to see what weapons they had to hurt each other. We certainly seemed to the better of the two sides early on as we tested the keeper with long range drives from both Lennon and Will.

Disaster nearly struck in the 8th Minute. Harry laid the ball back to Nathan in goal - as Nathan went to kick the ball upfield the ball took a nasty bobble over his foot and rolled agonisingly towards the goal, but thankfully just inches wide of the post.

The opener came after 12 minutes - Ollie E won the ball tenaciously in the middle of the pitch and played a perfect slide rule pass wide to Finlay on the left wing. Fin drove at the full back, easily beating him for pace. Cutting in onto his right foot he slightly sliced his cross/shot across the face of goal where the other wide man Jake was on hand to smash the ball low and into the net 1-0.

This seemed to give the lads a confidence boost, and for the remainder of the half United were much the better side. Ollie drove wide from distance, Luke then played a nice ball over the top for Will who beat the goalie to the ball. He lifted it over the keeper but it didnt quite have enough power on it to take it past the goal line - a defender was back to clear.

We continued to apply pressure to the Tamworth defence and could of doubled the lead with two excellent opportunities from corners towards the end of the half. Will put in two excellent crosses - the first fell to Aidan in the middle of the box but he couldn't quite turn the ball home as a combination of the keeper and defender kept the ball out. The next corner was again brilliantly whipped in from Will, Ollie E connected on the full volley but his effort was inches over the cross bar.

By this point Lennon had dropped deeper into a more disciplined midfield role with Luke pushing on to support Will - Lennon was showing a great work ethic and commitment pressing Tamworth and breaking play up in midfield. After winning the ball he once again fed Fin wide who got away from his marker but couldnt quite get a clean strike at goal with his left foot.

Half time whistle went with the lads 1 nil ahead and maybe a little disappointed not to have been able to add a second.
We talked about being disciplined in our shape, working together as team, and understanding our positional responsibilities on the pitch.
We didn't want to be over-run in the midfield. Tom had come on at full back, and Oliver came on at centre back.
I stressed the next goal was important and to be tight defensively at the start of the half!

Naturally - within two minutes of the restart my words came back to bite me and we had conceded an equaliser. Tamworth played a nice throughball to their centre forward. Our defenders were caught a little flat footed and the striker placed the ball nicely beyond Nathan. 1-1 with 38 minutes on the clock.

It got worse 2 minutes later, Tamworth now sensing blood were pressing high and forced our defence in to a rare mistake. Dwelling on the ball and being caught in possession, their winger was through on goal, Nathan came out and made a smart save, however the rebound was poked into the net 1-2.

There followed a 10 minute spell where the team became a little bit ragged. We were sloppy in possession and didnt relax on the ball. Tamworth were having their best spell of the match. Nathan comfortably fielded a long distance effort, and an effort from a tamworth player was just wide from inside the box.

Jake picked the ball up out wide and went on a mazy run - noticing the keeper slightly off his line he lifted a shot just a little high and wide from outside the box. From where I was standing it looked it might just be heading in.

The game was getting a little bit tetchy and heated. In truth the referee hadn't really got a good grip of the game and there were a number of pushes and fouls that were allowed to go unpunished. Tamworth were committed and fighting hard to keep infront. But at times this resulted in some rather nasty late challenges. On 50 minutes Jake was taken out by a Tamworth defender. The referee signaled for a free kick after initially allowing play to continue. Jake had to come off for a period of recovery. John coming onto the to make his competitive debut for the U14 MJPL side.

From the resulting free kick, Fin smashed an unstoppable effort high and into the top corner of the net, the keeper no chance at all! He seemed to slip as he went to take the kick, but this didn't stop the power an accuracy of the drive 2-2 and at this points anyone's game.

Fin was moved upfront to partner John as we pushed to be the team who took the 3 points. John done superbly well to hold the ball up and play a great ball wide to Luke. Luke cutting inside and hitting a good strike just wide of the post.

The game was scrappy at this point, with lots of interruptions in play for fouls and tussles. A nasty late tackle on the left wing on Harry went without punishment, when a card really should of been shown. The resulting free kick played in by Will, which Fin hit from the edge of the box on the half volley, the keeper down low to save by the post and back up to get the rebound just before Luke could get their to tap home.

10 minutes were left to play when Jake re-entered the pitch wide on the left. The game had become a bit of a battle in the midfield. Lennon and Ollie were both doing a tremendous job winning the ball, pressuring Tamworth in possession and breaking up play.
Tom was having another great game at right back, and on a number of occasions stopped the Tamworth winger in his tracks.

The decisive moment came two minutes from the end of the game. The ball was played through to Jake outside the area he beat the defender for pace before the keeper came flying out and clattered into Jake, the loose ball rolling to Fin who also was taken out by the defender, but beat the man to the ball and poked it into the empty net. Cue wild celebrations from the Banbury United players. The game would certainly have been brought back for a penalty had the ball not ended up in the net, as the foul on Jake was again another cynical one.

Owing to the stoppages in play the game went into a 75th minute, but the lads defended resolutely, the ball being played long by Tamworth into the box but Oliver and Aidan defending their lines well.

The final whistle went and United had come out on top in a exciting and very enjoyable game of football.
The team in their first season in the MJPL has come along way, and the togetherness and spirit of the group was clearly evident during the game today.

Banbury United 3 Tamworth Academy 2