OUT AGAIN
EC Banbury 2 Yeltz 1
20 December 2005
Our disappointing run continues with a 2-1 defeat at Banbury in the Errea (League) Cup. After taking the lead through Fozzy, we went behind to two second half goals and couldn't come back. Ho Hum.
The holiday period gives us two home games to get the season back on track - Gloucester are the visitors on the 27th before we host Bath City on New Years Eve. We're down to 14th in the table after the latest results, which is both 10 points below the playoff spots and 5 points above the relegation zone.
Anyhoo, Merry Xmas to all of you out there and lets hope for a happy, prosperous and successful 2006. I'm on my travels over the next few days so the site won't be updated much, and hopefully I'll see many of you at the Bath game where I will break my 2005 jinx!
Match Report from DJ
Banbury United: Tricker; Robinson, Kinch, Sullivan, Redknap, Fuller, Stanbridge, Lamb, Blossom (McKay 78), Baird, Gooderick (Nicholls 90). Unused Subs: Jackson, Foster
Halesowen Town: Gayle; Cooper, Haywood, Preston, Pierpoint, Knight, N. Smith (Drakeley 32), C. Smith (Cowley 87), Forinton, Skidmore, Forsdick. Unused Subs: Bowater, Amos
Referee: W. Ramsay (Coventry) Attendance: 155
Halesowen crashed out of a second cup competition within four days as two second-half goals saw them defeated at the first hurdle in the Southern League Cup. The defeat ended a 40 year-old unbeaten sequence of fifteen games against the Puritans.
Tamworth goalkeeping coach Mark Gayle was drafted in and Aaron Drakeley from tenants Causeway United also made his debut with Nicki Preston taking on the captain's arm-band.
The much-changed Yeltz started brightly and took the lead on 4 minutes when Stuart Pierpoint's right-wing cross was nodded home by Simon FORSDICK from close range.
Stuart Skidmore could have doubled the Halesowen lead in the 18th minute by heading straight at goalkeeper Simon Tricker after a flowing move involving Howard Forinton and Pierpoint. The in-form home side, with just one defeat in their last eleven games, rarely threatened in a first-half which saw Yeltz midfielder Nick Smith stretchered off with a knee injury.
After a scrappy opening to the second period that saw the referee also leave the pitch injured, Halesowen wasted a 63rd minute free-kick with Pierpoint putting the ball wide after Tricker escaped a caution by handling the ball outside his penalty area.
Banbury levelled on 66 minutes when Andy Baird's driving run ended with him finding Ollie STANBRIDGE in the box and the winger placed his angled shot past a diving Mark Gayle into the bottom left-hand corner.
The tie was settled seven minutes later with a wonder strike from Wayne BLOSSOM. An Adrian Fuller free-kick was only partially cleared by the Halesowen defence and the ball bounced for the striker to score with an audacious overhead kick.
Banbury could have extended their lead with Blossom hitting the post and Baird forcing an excellent save from Gayle. Les Robinson also played an 82nd minute through ball for Baird to lob just over the bar. But Halesowen applied pressure in the nine minutes of injury time and almost forced extra-time when Ian Cooper's 30-yard shot bounced off the crossbar with Forsdick blazing the rebound high.