​Banbury HC are held at home by Repton

Banbury looked more comfortable with their new style of play under player/coach Ben Mackey and the home side's man of the match, Josh Nunneley, scored a screamer from a penalty corner but they only gained a single point from their encounter with the newly-promoted side.

From results so far this season the National League Midlands Conference looks as if it will be a tight affair and Banbury find themselves near the bottom before their trip to leaders St Albans next week.

Jamie Boardman is becoming a player of influence in the Banbury attack and had early possession in the Repton area receiving aerial passes from Nunneley and Mackey but was unable to convert.

It was Nunneley himself breaking from midfield to win a penalty corner from which he scored in the top left corner to give the home side a lead early in the second quarter.

Connor Roberts and Harry Simons created chances but could not extend the lead, meanwhile centre back Pete Lamb put in his best performance of the season and home goalie Will Powell had another great game to keep the Repton side, packed with talented young players, at bay.

The second half began with Banbury on the attack winning an early penalty corner and when the visitors’ keeper slapped away the initial shot it struck a defender's head but deflected to Banbury forward Joe Bostock who volleyed home only for the goal to be disallowed and a second corner awarded which the visitors defended and broke away to gain a penalty corner of their own at the other end.

Banbury continued to create half chances but it was the visitors who completed a left sided move, bundling the ball home from close range only to have their own effort also disallowed, but late in the half their pressure finally began to tell when Mackey desperately slid across the goal to save a close range shot with his body and concede a penalty slotted home by Dominic Bennett to finally level the score.

Banbury manager Steve Brooker said "We feel hard done by with our disallowed goal that would have brought us all three points against strong opposition, but there are clear signs of improvement in our performances as our new players settle in and next week we have our returning overseas star from last season, Jordi Groenewald, returning to the side for our top of the table encounter from which we need to gain something if we are not find ourselves adrift at the foot of the table."​​​​​​​