​Puritans boss left furious after defeat

​George Ball had fired Banbury into the lead on 35 minutes, but the visitors levelled things up on 71 minutes through Dan Stokoe and then Henry Snee netted the winner three minutes from time.

And speaking to Puritans Radio after the game, Hollyhead couldn’t hide his disappointment.

He said: “It was incredibly infuriating and an incredibly disappointing result.

"We lacked the killer instinct. We controlled the first-half and deserved to be in front at half-time, and the start of the second-half was a bit of a continuation, but we all know football can throw up surprises when you’re 1-0 up and that’s essentially what led to the last 30 minutes.

"Maybe we got too comfortable and that’s something we’ll have to look at, because there was enough for us in that game to take it away from the opposition.

"Football can change on key moments and goals and it just felt like there was a momentum shift when they did equalise and we didn’t react as we should have done.

"The lack of killer instinct had probably prevented us from being 2-0 up which would have changed the complexion of the game. In large spells we played well enough to be 2-0 up and had the control and balance but goals change games.

"Everyone is furious because although you have to respect your opponents there was enough in the game for us to win it.”

Banbury return to action on Saturday when they make the journey to face Bishop’s Stortford, who like Hitchin are currently in the bottom four.

Hollyhead added: “A few teams have been a bit inconsistent this season and it’s something we’d talked about, and it can apply to us in recent games too. But it’s all about focusing on your next game and learning from the previous game and we’ll certainly do that about the second-half and learn from what worked in the first-half.”