Banbury District & Lord Jersey Veterans Premier Division
Marsh Gibbon Sports & Social Ground 
Sunday 8th September 2024 

The Vets opened their title defending season with an away victory at Marsh Gibbon FC. An opening league encounter against a new side could have proved tricky. however, the Vets dominated from the start.

Danny Walden started with the same formation that had seen the his team complete a league and cup double last season; our trusted 3-4-2-1. Adam Fleming in Goal,  a back three of Wayne Britton, David Busst and Mark Cheung. In Midfield: Lewis Scott wide right, Andrew Maguire and Steven Howkins through the middle and James Keller wide left. Jorma Seabourne and Omar Salih in front of the midfield and Ross Jackson leading the line.

The Vets domainated possession from the start and controlled the pace of the game, but found the Marsh Gibbon keeper in fine form and he made a string of great saves to keep the scores level. However, James Keller broke the deadlock on 28 minutes when he cut in from left and fired a powerful shot into the far right hand corner from 20 yards out. Jorma Seabourne then grabbed our second after being played through and he calmly slotted it home with a side footed first time finish. Ross Jackson got his 1st of the game on the 41 minute mark when a quick break from a Marsh Gibbon corner resulted in a great team goal which saw the Vets going into the dressing room at half time 3-0 up.

It didn’t take long for Leamington to find a fourth goal, when Jorma Seabourne delivered a lost drilled cross which came off a Marsh Gibbon defender and found the back of the Net. Ross Jackson then got his 2nd of the game with a cool finish into the bottom right corner after a a home player was caught in possession.

Marsh Gibbon then found the back of the net after the Vets gave away the ball and were pushied on 65  minutes. However Ross Jackson quickly restored the score line with another goal on 70 minutes when he got on the end of a through ball and fired low and hard through the keepers legs. Ross then scored his fourth when Lewis Scott was brought down in the area, which resulted in Jackson calmly slotting in the penalty.

Leamington then had a very manic five minutes which saw Marsh Gibson scoring again from a mistake. However Jackson again, reflected our dominant display with another goal on 82 minutes when he slotted home after rounding the keeper. A resounding victory in our first game of the new campaign. 

The next fixture for the Vets is on Sunday 22nd September at Your Co-op Community Stadium, against Longford Park FC Veterans - 10:30am kick off. 

Team: Wayne Britton, David Busst, Mark Cheung, Adam Fleming, Steven Howkins, Ross Jackson, James Keller, Andrew Maguire, Omair Saith, Lewis Scott, Jorma Seabourne. 

Subs: David Care, Adam Hart, Danny Walden.