Banbury Utd U18 3 Cadbury Athletic U18 0

The under 18s entertained Cadbury Athletic this morning, in a hastily arranged league game, following the late withdrawal of our original opponents. Pershore Town were originally scheduled to make the trip to Banbury, but following their drubbing at the Banbury Plant Hire stadium in the cup last weekend, Pershore couldn't field a team this week. So we were grateful to the league and Cadbury for fulfilling the game at short notice.

The squad showed a number of rotations from last weekend with Lewis Middleton, Zach Scott and Nathan Whyman all travelling with the first team to Curzon Ashton, and Lukas Wahlen, Alex Cocks-Hope and Harry Collings all unavailable - however the team started strongly and showed no signs of this having an effect.

There was a couple of early chances for Banbury, notably when Josh McConnell's shot from the edge of the area was blocked by the Cadbury defence, and later Seb showing some good trickery on the left of the penalty area, but not quite being able to get his shot off on goal.

The opening goal arrived on the 10 minute mark. Charlie played a free kick forward from just inside our half, Tadi and a defender challenged for the ball in the air, but neither could get a touch and the ball fell to Tyra just outside the penalty area, he took a few strides closer to goal before dispatching a half volley into the net under the goalkeeper for 1-0.

Tadi who was proving a real handful for the Cadbury back line, had two quick fire chances to extend the lead, both of which were blocked, the second if he could of seen Seb wide of him would of been a great opportunity to feed him in, but ultimately the defence done enough to scramble the ball away. Tyra then saw a dipping volley well saved by the Cadbury keeper as Banbury pressed to extend their lead. Cadbury weren't letting Banbury have it all their own way, and had a period of 10 or 15 mins where they had a bit more of the ball without really creating to many guilt edge chances. Jacob had to make one routine save from distance, but it was comfortable.

On 26 minutes the lead was doubled, and it was a goal of simple construction. Seb got the ball in the midfield and lifted an exquisite pass over the top for Tadi to run onto, he outpaced his defender and slid the ball past the goalkeeper into the net for 2-0. This maintained Tadi's rich vein of goalscoring form with 12 goals in games.

The game went into a bit of a lull as half time approached, with a couple of substitutions perhaps disrupting the flow of the match. Archie Hamblin had come on, and put in an impressive performance at left back. Josh Crossman and Fin Hennessy were also on further up the pitch. The remainder of the half saw good chances at both ends of the pitch. For Banbury Josh McConnell glided past two or three challenges before hitting a stinging effort that the goalkeeper done well to parry, and grab at the second attempt. Cadbury then pounced on a moment of indecision at the back for Banbury, with Charlie dwelling on the ball a little too long, the Cadbury striker nicking it from him but Jacob Humphries in goal was on hand to make a good save to tip it around the post.

Into the second half and it didn't take Banbury long to score the important third goal. Archie Hamblin whipped in a left footed corner that was partially cleared to the edge of the penalty area. Ollie Edmunds picked the ball up and fired the ball into the bottom corner of the net, for his second in as many weeks. 3-0.

It was at this point the heavens opened, and torrential rain and sleet came down, making conditions tricky for good flowing football. Lucas Webb was on in the left wing position and put in a couple of lovely crosses into the box that the onrushing forwards couldn't quite connect with, Tadi and Josh Crossman both then blazing chances over the bar as Banbury had complete control of the match.

It should of been four on 63 minutes. Charlie again delivering a free kick, this time from a few yards into the opposition half, the ball evaded everyone zipping off the wet surface and into the net. The flag though was up for offside, Jacob Hayes adjudged to have been offside and interfering with the keepers line of vision. Replays suggest that the lino got this one wrong.

Charlie was then shown a yellow for a robust challenge just on the edge of the box, but the resulting free kick came to nothing. Moments later though Jacob had to be alert in the Banbury goal to keeper out a strike from just inside the penalty area, as the lads perhaps took their foot off the gas a bit, and allowed Cadbury a bit of momentum in the game.

As the game entered into the final 10 minutes, there were two notable chances for the side to extend their lead. Firstly Lucas Webb meeting a volley around 6 yard out, but it sailed just wide of the post, and then Tom Gaskell providing a lovely cross into the box for Josh Crossman to head over.

It proved to be another good mornings work for the under 18s, particularly pleasing to keep a clean sheet, and build on the good momentum the side currently has. This victory makes it 5 wins in a row for the team. There is a week off next weekend because of the Easter break, but the team will be back in league action on the 6th April hoping to bring up the 6th consecutive win.

Full Time
Banbury United U18s 3 Cadbury Athletic U18s 0
Goaslcorers - Tyra Aitken, Tadi Chivenga, Ollie Edmunds
Assists - Charlie McCloskey, Seb Kola, Archie Hamblin
MOTM - Tadi Chivenga