Acquaye 'We are in control of our own destiny' as Banbury United restore 16-point lead with great win over Waders

Bromsgrove Sporting this weekend's opponents
Ben Acquaye in last weekend's 0-0 draw with Nuneaton Borough   PICTURES BY JULIE HAWKINSBen Acquaye in last weekend's 0-0 draw with Nuneaton Borough   PICTURES BY JULIE HAWKINS
Ben Acquaye in last weekend's 0-0 draw with Nuneaton Borough PICTURES BY JULIE HAWKINS

Pictures by Julie Hawkins

After being held to a goalless draw at Nuneaton Borough at the weekend, table-topping Banbury United came back in style to beat another struggling side, Biggleswade Town 4-0 on Tuesday evening.

It restores their 16-point lead at the top of the Southern League Premier Central, although nearest rivals Coalville Town and Rushall Olympic have two games in hand.

Jack Finch was man of the match against Nuneaton BoroughJack Finch was man of the match against Nuneaton Borough
Jack Finch was man of the match against Nuneaton Borough
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A fantastic team performance saw Banbury sweep aside their midweek visitors, under new manager Robbie O’Keefe following last week’s departure of Chris Nunn.

Goals from Ben Acquaye, Morgan Roberts, Chris Wreh (who also missed a penalty) and a late spot kick from Giorgio Rasulo saw Andy Whing’s side to a dominant victory.

Whing was without several first choice players out injured or on the subs bench on Saturday. And with others out of position they put in a sterling effort to keep a clean sheet and come home with a point.

So Tuesday’s man of the match Ben Acquaye was very pleased to make sure of victory against the Waders, another relegation-threatened side.

Nuneaton hit the barNuneaton hit the bar
Nuneaton hit the bar
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“As the gaffer said beforehand, tonight was a very important game for us that we had to win, we can’t keep dropping points,” said Acquaye in a Puritans Radio interview after the game.

“Even though we got a draw at the weekend I thought it was two points dropped because we need to keep winning games and I’m happy that we did tonight.”

With their 16-point lead at the top of the table, the players are conscious of the fantastic opportunity they have this season.

“We are in a position that we have just got to focus on ourselves,” added the opening goal scorer.

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“We are in control of our own destiny and have just got to keep going and keep believing in ourselves that we can win games.”

Manager Whing felt their second half display was “absolutely outstanding”, after not really enjoying the more tentative first half .

“There was a lot more fluidity, the shackles were off and they didn’t really trouble us at all,” he said. “It was good to have Kelvin (Langmead) back giving us more composure at the back. All in all it was a good night for us.”

Whing is also hoping to have more players fit again soon.

“There’s always been something that’s stopped us picking a settled team,” he explained.

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“It’s relentless but hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can have a few back. Saturday was a well earned draw with the back four we had out.”

Mid-table Bromsgrove Sporting are this weekend’s visitors.

“It’s going to be a tough game against a decent team who will be completely different from what we played earlier in the season,” added the Banbury boss.

“The new management team have got some new players in. It’ll be tough, but if we play anything like we did in the second half tonight we will be OK.”

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