Men’s Masters win on their travels

Banbury Masters 1-3 Men’s Masters

Saints took a little while to get into the game on a slow paced  pitch in Banbury and whilst enjoying the majority of possession in the early exchanges – were guilty of trying to force the pass too much in the final third. As the half wore on Saints started to work the Banbury goalkeeper who had a fine game with great chances falling to Dave Henry and a wonderfully crafted opportunity to the evergreen dummy merchant Dave Tebbutt. The stalemate was finally broken just before half time when Jon Noble calmly slotted the ball away from a Paul Denton cross from the right. The second half continued in the same vain with Saints creating the better chances but Banbury still posed a constant threat with the ball they had. It was actually against the run of play that Banbury equalised from a deflected cross. Saints threw themselves forward in search of a winner with Ian McIllwaine & Trev Fidler pulling the strings from midfield and were rewarded shortly after the equaliser with a great goal from Paul Denton cutting in from the right. This goal knocked the stuffing out of Banbury and Saints added a third before full time – a typical Richard Darby poachers goal. A very enjoyable competitive game against a good Banbury outfit – finished off in grand style with teas / beers at the local Indian restaurant.