Gordon’s departure is big blow for United

Jannai Gordon goes on the attack during his last game for Banbury United against Alvechurch. Photo: Steve Prouse

Jaanai Gordon has left the Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium and is expected to join Oxford City later this week.

Gordon’s goals have helped propel the Puritans up to second place in the BetVictor Southern League. Gordon bagged 12 goals in Premier Central and 15 in all competitions since joining the club this season and signed off by hitting the late winner on Saturday against Alvechurch to earn United all three points.

Ford seemed resigned to losing his top scorer after that game and said: “Jaanai Gordon has been outstanding for us, for him to score the winning goal was great and sent everyone home happy.”

Chairman Phil Lines said: “It’s disappointing to lose our top scorer but there have been several clubs sniffing around. Anyone who is scoring goals is always going to attract attention, that’s football and we just have to get on with it.

“We’ll look to get another striker in and we’ve still got Ricky Johnson to return when he’s back to full fitness.”

The Puritans head to Rushall Olympic on Saturday on the back of taking maximum points in their last three outings, albeit against clubs at the wrong end of the table.

But Ford said: “In recent years, we haven’t managed to see off teams in the lower half of the table but we’ve picked up nine points from three games against those sorts of sides. I don’t generally look at the table but it’s nice to see where we are, we know what we’re trying to achieve.

“We talked about how many wins we wanted this season and, with nearly half of the campaign gone, we’re well on our way to that.”