Positive start for Banbury Uni

​A 1-1 draw at home to AFC Sudbury on Saturday was followed by a 1-0 success at Barwell on Monday.

And speaking to Puritans Radio after the opening day draw, boss Simon Hollyhead said he felt his side could have won the game, something they did ultimately achieve in Leicestershire two days later.

He said: "There’s a sense of frustration that we didn’t win the game, but that’s encouraging I think because there were things we definitely did quite well.

"We have to keep things in perspective – 13 of the 15 were making their debuts, so it was very pleasing that the players showed the right intent and tried to put into practice a lot of the things we’ve talked about, but there’s no doubt we had enough good situations where we could have scored another goal that ultimately would have won us the game.

"With respect it was a little bit of a surprise when Sudbury scored – our structure in the first-half and the start of the second-half was really good and I didn’t see them play through us once, so when they did score it was a bit of a blow.

"Could we have reacted better? Maybe, but it’s the sixth game as a group together and we were playing against a side with lots of experience at this level and you could see it meant a lot for our players to be wearing the shirt.”

With so many new players in the squad, Hollyhead acknowledges it may take time for the squad to gel, but he’s confident that will be a fairly quick process.

He said: “The process of selecting the team involves several different people and the lads that have started the games have fully deserved that opportunity.

"It’s a case of understanding a little bit where we’re at rather than the fact we didn’t win the game, but there were many aspects of the performance we were very happy with.”

Banbury return to action this weekend with a trip to take on St Ives Town.

For more details of both of the opening two matches, plus news of two more Puritans signings, see page 39.