Scorers for CM: Jamie Smith Jack Hitchen (2) Jake Gerring
The game was played on a cold but sunny day with Cumnor playing the first half with a stiff breeze behind them.
Cumnor had much of the early possession but they were unable to score with virtually all forwards and midfield players missing chances of various degrees of difficulty. Eventually Jamie Smith opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a well taken shot 20 yards out on the left.
Ironically this seemed to spur on Banbury and they played some of their best football of the match. They were rewarded with a goal after 28 minutes from a shot in the penalty area low to Kane’s left giving him no chance.
Jack Hitchen restored Cumnor’s advantage with a great shot 15 yards from an Obaida Mohamedi pass. This meant the half finished 1-2
Pete's half time talk asked for more effort from the players in the second half and to try to play the simple passes. He also reminded them that Banbury would be pleased with their first half performance and warned them to expect some long balls from them as they were playing with the wind in the second half.
The talk did the job as it’s fair to say Cumnor dominated the second half but Banbury were resilient in defence. It took until 70 minutes before Cumnor added to their lead with a sweetly taken shot by Jake Gerring from around the penalty spot.
Jack Hitchen got his second goal and Cumnor’s fourth after 75 minutes with a opportunist strike 5 yards out as Banbury started let their heads drop.
Banbury were probably the more relieved to here the final whistle as Cumnor were beginning to look like adding to the score line. Banbury should be pleased with the effort they made today, they had a couple of chances to draw level at 2-1 and defended well. I thought their goalkeeper had a great match.
Cumnor dominated the game and played some really good football in patches but struggled to deal with the conditions. It was a boggy pitch particularly down the centre and the wind didn’t help. Considering the relative league positions of the clubs Cumnor were expected to win comfortably but Banbury, judging by today’s performance are not a bad side.
Today’s Match of the Match goes to Jack Hitchen for his good work in midfield and the two well taken goals