Whing excited for the future as Puritans round things off in a thrilling draw

The Puritans rounded off their season with a dramatic 3-3 draw at Scarborough Athletic, which ultimately denied the hosts a place in the play-offs.

Boss Whing felt his team were worthy of all three points rather than just one after Alex Babos, an own-goal and Aidan Elliott-Wheeler’s strike had given them a 3-1 lead at one stage.

But they were pegged back by a late free-kick with the point ensuring Banbury finished in 17th place and clear of the relegation zone having been promoted as Southern League Premier Central champions a year ago.

Whing admitted the departures of key men and injuries to others made life hard for his team but he insists the club can be pleased with their first-ever season at Step 2.

“The game at Scarborough summed up our last few months,” Whing said.

“I thought we were fantastic, we controlled the game and some of our football at times was brilliant.

“We deserved to be 3-1 up and we could have gone on to win more comfortably.

“They threw everyone forward and then they scored a free-kick in the last minute. But it was a good performance to end a topsy-turvy season.

“At the end of the day, we have secured the highest ever position in the club’s history so you have to be proud of that feat.

“We were coming into the unknown and it was a fantastic start but we then had our two main goalscorers (Morgan Roberts and Jack Stevens) sold on and we didn’t replace them with the quality needed really.

“Then we had injuries to big players who missed large portions of the season.

“But, all in all, the way we have come into it and stayed up makes it exciting for the future.”

Whing is now set to hold discussions with the club’s hierarchy as they begin planning for next season and he is expecting it to be a “busy summer” at the Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium.

“We have had some brief conversations with players already and I will be meeting with the club as well to see how we can go forward,” the Puritans manager added.

“It’s been a massive learning curve for all of us, especially me and the coaching staff.

"And now we can all sit down and look to the future.

“We are in a good position and we know where we need to be better.

"I’d like a bigger squad. I know recently we have only had 11 or 12 players but if you look at the first game of the season, we only had one sub.

"It’s pretty much been like that the whole season so we need to address that and look at how we address that.

“It’s really exciting and I’m looking forward to what might be a busy summer.”