It was a long drive to Derbyshire for the U16s fifth league game of the season away against Gresley Rovers.
Traffic problems on the M42 meant there was also issues in arriving, but thankfully all the players arrived safely and in time for the slightly delays 10.40am kick off!

Given the sides impressive current form, there were few changes to the match day squad. Tyra absent from last weeks win with injury - the side reverted to a box midfield formation with Ollie E and Lennon as CDm's and Lewis and Toby providing the support to Josh upfront.

The lads started the game really well, and were well on top. Josh had a couple of half chances before having a glorious chance to take the lead but his header at goal was straight at the goalkeeper.

The Gresley defence was looking shaky, Josh was bullying them into errors, and it was amazing that the Gresley number 5 wasn't booked for pulling our players back on three separate occasions, as well as booting the ball into the bushes in anger - not at the referee's leniency but more at his own poor performance.

From one of these free kicks though the boys did punish Gresley and deservedly took the lead in the 11th minute. A Free kick was awarded around 5 yards outside of the box. Lewis stepped up and drilled it low into the bottom corner of the net. His fifth goal in as many matches.

The rest of the half was complete domination. Harry was getting himself into some excellent positions with great timed runs on the left wing, however he couldn't quite apply the finishing touch. Firstly, Josh had a cross shot from the right side which Harry connected with in front of goal, his shot though came back where it came from and straight at the keeper on the goal line. The next chance came from a quick free kick. Harry again slid in, but he quickly got his shot away straight at the keeper.

Further chances were created, and it seemed only a matter of time before a second goal came. Aidan headed over from a corner from close range, Pablo had a strong effort well blocked by the defender when looking destined for the back of the net, Lewis struck high and wide from the edge of the box and Toby had a great opportunity when beating his man to the ball from a near post cross, but couldn't beat the keeper.

At half time there was a sense of disbelief that we were only one goal ahead, we had put in a good performance but our wastefulness in front of goal was clear to see. We just needed to get the next goal and put the game to bed.

Into the second half, and despite Gresley getting a little bit more of a foothold, we were still creating good openings. Once more the opportunities were falling to Harry who would on another day of had a hat trick at least. Firstly after a good cross into the box Harry rose to meet a header unmarked but it was high and wide. Pablo then produced a tremendous bit of skill on the right wing, beating his defender and pulling back a perfect pass to harry arriving in the box. But his first time effort was smashed over the bar.

Pablo then produced a good cross for Toby, but his effort was straight at the keeper. If this was a boxing match Gresley would of been counted out, but the missed opportunities were stacking up, and as is so often the case in football it did eventually come back to bite us. After a ball was poked through our defence was caught slightly off guard. Lex appeared to have got back and made a good challenge, but as the ball broke loose the Gresley striker got their just ahead of Nathan who despite pulling is arms away brought him down with his knees as he slid in. The Gresley forward confidently stepped up and scored the penalty. 1-1 after 61 minutes.

The lads done well to gather themselves, given that after being so dominant we were now on level terms. Gresley heads were inevitably high as they sensed what would of been a real smash and grab victory. But again we came forward and got our noses in front just 5 minutes after conceding. Lewis done exceptionally well to beat his marker on the right wing and put an excellent cross into the box, Pablo controlled his half volley well, the keeper making a smart save but this time the ball fell to Zach just inside the penalty area and he smashed the ball into the back of the net 1-2.

Gresley to their credit stuck at it for the remaining 15 minutes. Nathan collected a couple of set pieces well under pressure. To try and counteract the threat of the three Gresley forwards we reverted to a back 4 to try and see the game out. In the final few minutes Gresley had a long range effort high and wide, and Josh looked certain to put the game to bed, but his right foot effort was wide of the post.

A deserved 2-1 away victory for the boys. A game that was far nervier at the end than it needed to be. Heaven knows what the long drive home would of been like had we not won the match! But this win makes it 4 wins in a row, as we move into the top 6 in the league table.

Full Time
Gresley Rovers U16s 1 Banbury United U16s 2
Goal scorers - Lewis, Zach
Assist - Pablo
MOTM - Ollie E