Brooker says Banbury must be more clinical to rise up

Steve Brooker says his Banbury side must be more clinical in front of goal.
Banbury's Kieran Symons comes away with the ball with Wycombe's William Budgell in pursuitBanbury's Kieran Symons comes away with the ball with Wycombe's William Budgell in pursuit
Banbury's Kieran Symons comes away with the ball with Wycombe's William Budgell in pursuit

The Banbury manager saw his side draw 2-2 with high flying South Premier Hockey League rivals Wycombe on Saturday.

Brooker saw Banbury create and waste several good openings in Saturday’s division two clash before having Kieran Symons to thank for grabbing a late point.

Banbury started brightly but a combination of squandered early chances and brilliant work from the visiting keeper kept the scores level. The sides fought a tough midfield battle until veteran Matt Bull played a super wall pass with Steve O’Connor, surging forward to pick out Max Grosmith in the D who finished well from close range.

But Banbury squandered their lead early after the restart, conceding a series of penalty corners. The returning Scott Reynolds and his home defence could only keep out so many well practiced moves and William Budgell forced home a shot that deflected past the Banbury keeper.

Both sides continued to fight an entertaining battle and it was the visitors who broke the deadlock through Kirushanthan Sivagnanam with only three minutes remaining. Banbury repeated last week’s successful tactical shift, went to three in defence and threw everything at a Wycombe defence who were reduced to ten men for a yellow card offence.

Banbury won a penalty corner on the stroke of full-time and, with the game in the balance, Symons crowned a fine performance slamming home the last touch of the contest.

Brooker said: “We have grabbed a last gasp point again but we see this was an opportunity lost after the first half chances we failed to convert.

“This week we are back in London at Tulse Hill and we must prove why we are well above them in and claim three vital points to put as back in contention.”

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