Banbury’s poor record at Hardenhuish Park continued on Saturday when they were comprehensively beaten by the Bluebirds in a game that was nowhere near as one-sided as the score suggests, but underlined that any defensive frailties will always be cruelly exposed by the better teams in the League.
From the first whistle, Banbury were quickly into their stride and looked as though they were going to trouble the home side, but in their first attack in the 5th minute, Chippenham took the lead when a corner from the left found Luke Gullick unmarked on the right, and he coolly smashed the ball into the far corner of the net past a bemused Mark Scott. Ten minutes later, the Bluebirds should have increased their lead but Joe Coleman cleared the ball off his own goal-line.
In the 27th minute, United went close when David Stone brought the ball forward down the right, jinked inbetween two defenders as he cut inside, but his shot deflected off another defender and skimmed the crossbar as it went for a corner.
Chippenham doubled their lead in the 33rd minute when a long ball forward got the benefit of a lucky bounce which cleared Ben Milner and wrong-footed Adam Learoyd, leaving Shaun Benison clear, and his cross found Lewis Powell in acres of space, and he had all the time in the world to slot the ball home past the stranded Scott.
Four minutes later, Alex Kite was left unmarked at the far post for a left-wing corner, and he headed home with ease. David Staff went close for Banbury with a free-kick which was dealt with competently by home ‘keeper Ian Gill, shortly before half-time.
Banbury’s fortunes were dealt a blow when Milner didn’t come out after the interval after sustaining a neck injury in the first-half. Early in the second-half, Staff again tested Gill with a free-kick just outside the area but in the 53rd minute any spark of a fight-back was all but extinguished when Powell scored his second of the game when he nodded home after Benison had seen his initial effort come back off the crossbar.
The game then descended into farce as the inexperienced referee missed a bad challenge on Stone which forced the United front man to be substituted, and when United manager Billy Jeffrey asked the referee to look at the player’s injured knee, his understandable insistence caused the referee to send Jeffrey off.
The referee’s afternoon didn’t improve when, shortly afterwards, United captain Nathan Haisley, was caught with a horrific late challenge that left him needing urgent medical attention, and to everyone’s disbelief, the referee re-started the game by handing the ball to the Bluebird’s ‘keeper. Whilst criticism of match officials is never a good thing, they sometimes don’t help themselves very much either.
Chippenham wrapped things up in the 87th minute when Ashley Williams scored to make the final score 5-0.
Team :- Scott, Stanbridge, Martin, Milner (46 mins, Ashton), Learoyd, Redknap (67 mins. Benjamin), Coleman, Haisley, Stone (59 mins, Shariff), Taylor, Staff. Subs. (not used) Hilliard, Murrell
Attendance – 419