Birmingham Senior Cup Second Round
Phillps 66 Community Stadium
Tuesday 19th November 2019

Brakes edged through to the next round of the Birmingham Senior Cup after a seesaw encounter with near neighbours Banbury United swung back in their favour thanks to a last minute winner from top scorer Josh March.

Their defence of the trophy they won last season looked in the balance as the high flying Southern League Puritans came from behind to lead at the break having been second best, but they failed to capitalise when they were on top, and were punished at the death by March, who only joined the action in the closing stages along with Kaiman Anderson and Jack Edwards as Paul Holleran looked to win the tie.

The manager had made changes from the victory at Bradford at the weekend, resting Junior English completely while Joe Clarke was on the bench. In came Jordan Murphy for his first game since early September, while Connor Taylor, Kieran Dunbar and Dexter Walters also started.

Walters was heavily involved in the first half action, driving in the first effort of the evening low, Puritans keeper Jack Harding watching the ball all the way.

The Sky Blues loan man then played in Taylor only for an offside flag to be raised. The two then swapped roles, Taylor slipping Walters in on the left, his cross to the far post finding Murphy, who opted to shoot when heading towards goal might have been the better option.

Walters fired a free kick wide of the target before Murphy squared for Dunbar to strike first time from the edge of the box, but straight at Harding.

Walters saw a shot blocked behind for a corner before engineering the opening goal of the night on 24 minutes, taking on and beating defenders on the left and benefitting from the run of the ball slightly before his shot struck the bar. Fortunately Murphy was perfectly placed to nod into an empty net.

The Solihull Moors man looked sharp despite his lack of game time, and dragged a shot across goal and just wide after taking on two defenders on the edge of the box.

The visitors hadn’t threatened prior to this but Jaanai Gordon fired a warning shot across goal and wide. Walters fired another effort wide before driving a free kick into the arms of Harding, before Banbury equalised completely out of nothing on 40 minutes, a left wing corner headed into his own net by James Mace, who was under no pressure whatsoever.

Jake Weaver had barely had anything to do up until this point, but managed to hold a shot at the second attempt before he was picking the ball out of his net for a second time, Connor Roberts firing home at the far post following another corner right on half time to leave Leamington stunned.

Despite arguably taking the lead against the run of play, Mike Ford’s side opened the second half with great appetite, forcing a hurried save from Weaver and winning a string of corners. However, Leamington turned the tables by levelling things up on the hour mark, Mace atoning for his own goal by picking up a knock down from Carline from a left wing corner to control and slam a shot under Harding.

The centre back came close to a second goal when he launched himself at Morley’s deep free kick into the Banbury penalty area, the ball dropping past the far post.

The visitors were not getting forward with the same frequency they had done in the early stages of the half, but as Brakes introduced March and Anderson to try and turn the screw Banbury’s own substitute Mohammed Ahmed darted down the right only for his inviting cross to be ballooned high over the bar by John Mills.

Morley drove a free kick over the bar as the contest edged towards stalemate and a penalty shoot out, but s comedy of errors led to Kynan Isaac needlessly conceding a corner, heading the ball behind from at least twenty yards. The initial ball into the box was harmless enough but it was recycled intelligently by March out to Dunbar, who drove it back in low. After a brief scramble Banbury could only clear it as far as March just outside the six yard box, and he rammed it straight back into the net to secure a second consecutive win for his side.

Attendance: 162

Leamington: Jake Weaver, George Carline, Stephan Morley, Callum Maycock, James Mace ©, Jack Lane, Jordan Murphy (15 Kaiman Anderson, 74), Callum Gittings, Connor Taylor (14 Josh March, 74), Kieran Dunbar, Dexter Walters (12 Jack Edwards, 79).

Subs not used: 13 Ben Newey, 16 Joe Clarke.

Banbury United: 1 Jack Harding, 2 Connor Roberts, 5 Kynan Isaac, 6 Jack Westbrook, 7 Charlie Hawtin, 10 Pablo Haysham (4 Eddie Odhiambo, 86), 11 Claudio Dias, 14 Lee Henderson, 15 John Mills, 17 Morgan Roberts (16 Mohammed Ahmed, 70), 18 Jaanai Gordon.

Subs not used: 3 Gedeon Okito, 19 Craig Fasanmade.

Referee: Mr Ben Cooke

Assistant Referees: Mr Ian Croston & Mr Scott Postin

Brakes Man of the Match: Callum Maycock.

Managers’ Reaction

‘I don’t think you could argue that for the first forty minutes it was a good, controlled performance from us. It was missing goals, then all of a sudden we made some strange decisions and seemed to lose our way a little bit. Banbury were probably the better team either side of half time but we settled down, started playing through the pitch again, started playing some decent football again and got our rewards at the end.

‘It served its purpose in that we got Jordan (Murphy), we got Kieran Dunbar, Dexter Walters and Connor Taylor on the pitch and got some good minutes into them, and then we’ve been able to bring on a few of the boys who are normally on from the start and do all the hard work, and when the game is a bit stretched they’ve come on and made an impact, so yeah, it was a good night all round.’