‘We’ll do our homework’ - Banbury United boss Kelvin Langmead previews ‘tough’ Alvechurch fixture

Kelvin Langmead insists Banbury United must maintain their best standards to beat this Saturday’s Southern League Premier League opponents, Alvechurch.

Banbury, booming with confidence following Tuesday night’s hard-fought 1-0 win over title chasers Harborough Town, are currently on an eight-game unbeaten charge.

Banbury United head coach Kelvin Langmead insists his players must maintain focus as the Puritans host relegation battlers Alvechurch in the Southern League Premier Central.

placeholder image — Banbury United head coach Kelvin Langmead insists his players must maintain focus as the Puritans host relegation battlers Alvechurch in the Southern League Premier Central.

But the Puritans must guard against complacency as they take on a team at the opposite end of the standings, with the relegation-threatened Alvechurch posing a different challenge.

“Alvechurch will be a tough game, make no mistake, they're down there scrapping for their lives,” Langmead told the Banbury Guardian.

“They won't come here and just roll over for us, so we've got to keep our standards, make sure that we're bang at it and if we are, I believe we'll get the right result.

“We'll do our homework on them, we'll see what we believe their strengths and weaknesses are and portray that over to the lads. Then it's just a case of focusing on us and I've tried to do that a lot over the last few weeks.”

Banbury will look to carry over their momentum from midweek, a win over Harborough which Langmead was able to prepare for in a slightly different way to usual – thanks to the postponement of the Puritans’ game at Stamford AFC.

On that, and how his preparation for this weekend differs, Langmead added: “Saturday lent its hand to be fair, I was able to go and watch Harborough because our game was off.

“I took my little boy to go and watch that game, so it gave me more eyes on it and I spoke to him about how I felt we could take advantage of where I felt their weaknesses were.

“Alvechurch watch us and we watch them too. We are just focusing on us, making sure we do our jobs right. I fancy us on Saturday.”

Banbury, still with two games in hand, are currently four points away from the play-off positions. If the Puritans win against Alvechurch, there’s a chance they close the gap to fifth-placed Redditch United, who host 18th-placed St Ives Town this weekend, to one point.