Banbury United boss Whing wants to keep up the momentum

Andy Whing insists he and his Banbury United players want to keep the momentum going as they gear up for a “really important week”.

The Puritans have enjoyed a fine few days after they claimed a 1-0 success at National League North side Leamington in the second qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup at the weekend before following it up with 2-1 success at Nuneaton Borough on Tuesday night.

They are now preparing to host early pacesetters Needham Market in the Southern League Premier Central on Saturday before heading to league rivals Peterborough Sports in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup next Tuesday night.

And Whing insists confidence is high within the Puritans squad.

“Needham Market have started the season fantastically well and they had a break in midweek with their game being called off so that might have helped them while our lads played on a very heavy pitch at Nuneaton on Tuesday night,” the Banbury boss said.

“We will see how the players have reacted to that but it’s another really important game because we want to keep the momentum going.

“Confidence is really high and when you’re winning games you’re always looking forward to the next one.

“And then we have a really difficult tie away from home on Tuesday in the next round of the FA Cup but it’s a fantastic competition and we want to go as far as we possibly can. It’s a really important week for us.”

A Kelvin Langmead header was enough to give Banbury the victory at Leamington last Saturday and then, in midweek, they trailed Nuneaton at half-time before fighting back after the break thanks to two goals from Giorgio Rasulo, the first of which was from the penalty spot.

“It’s been a fantastic week for us,” Whing added.

“We had a game plan for the game at Leamington, we changed the shape a bit and we thoroughly deserved the win.

“We changed it again for Tuesday night but I was a bit critical of the players at half-time because I thought we could have had a bit more aggression and conviction in our play.

“But our response after half-time was superb. We had a few chances and we managed to get a penalty and, although it was a bit of a basketball game at times, we still had the impetus to go forward and look for the winner and it was great to get the result in the end.”

Banbury, meanwhile, have added a new signing to their ranks with the addition of versatile forward Curtis Morrison.

The 23-year-old, who started his career at Chesterfield, was most recently at Grantham Town having previously had spells at Guiseley and Gainsborough Trinity.

And Whing said: “We’re delighted to welcome Curtis to the football club.

“We’ve been looking for a versatile forward who can play in all four forward positions and when we saw that Curtis was available we jumped at the chance to bring him in.

“Curtis will give us more options in forward areas and add to a really good squad.”