Puritans' FA Cup cup clash at Stratford postponed until next Tuesday

The Banbury United players paid their respects to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II ahead of their 3-2 defeat at Peterborough Sports. Picture by Julie Hawkins

Banbury United’s Emirates FA Cup second qualifying round clash at Stratford Town has been put back until next Tuesday (September 20).

The match at the Southern League Premier Central side had been due to take place tomorrow (Saturday) but has now been put back three days at the request of the police.

In a short statement, Banbury said: “The Stratford-Banbury Emirates FA Cup tie originally to be played on Saturday has been scheduled by the FA on Tuesday, September 20 at the request of the police and local enforcing authority.

"We will share details of ticketing arrangements shortly and update with more info.”

Puritans boss Andy Whing is hoping the FA Cup tie will give his players a chance to get last Tuesday night’s defeat at Peterborough Sports “out of our system”.

The Puritans suffered their second loss of the Vanarama National League North campaign as they went down 3-2 at Sports in midweek, their cause not being helped by an early red card for Jay Williams.

Goals from Giorgio Rasulo, from the penalty spot, and Jack Stevens ultimately proved in vain as they were unable to find an equaliser with the hosts also being reduced to 10 men in the second half.

But manager Whing is keen to see his team move on quickly and the next test for them is a tricky trip to Stratford, who have made a positive start to their Southern League Premier Central campaign and have suffered just one defeat in seven matches.

But Whing, who has led Banbury into the first round proper of the competitions in the past two seasons, is looking forward to it, although he conceded his squad is being “stretched” by injuries at present.

“It’s a really tough game and we are a bit stretched at the moment as well,” the Puritans boss said.

“Three of our four defenders from last season are all out and we had a bit of a makeshift defence on Tuesday night.

“It is what it is but we need to get Tuesday out of our system.

“Last season, we bounced back from any defeat really, really well and we said to the boys after the game on Tuesday that we need to move on quickly.

“We have to do everything we can to win the next game. I don’t care if it’s scrappy, we just have to do our best to win the game.

“We have to be a millions times better than we were for half-an-hour on Tuesday, that wasn’t us.

“It’s a bit of a local derby, it’s a good place to play and the pitch is fantastic so it’s one we are looking forward to.”