​Banbury HC battle back to win thrilling quarter-final

It means a place in the semi-final of the highest level cup hockey competition in the country, where they are likely meet a side of fully professional players in April.

Home keeper and man of the match Fergus Dunleavy was put to early work, needing to save penalty corner in only the third minute, made all the more challenging when Jordie Groenewald was penalised for an early line break and the home side had to defend a man down.

The game swung back and forward but the visitors won another penalty corner and scored through Chris Tagg.

South African midfielder Groenewald redeemed himself minutes later, winning a penalty corner that was sent just wide, before another corner was then won and this time Charlie Camp’s drag flick was brilliantly saved by vising keeper Alex White.

When the visitors won another penalty corner it took a goal line save from defender Josh Nunneley to keep the lead to only one but two minutes later Rob Santonna smashed home into the top right corner of the goal and give Fareham a two-goal lead at the half way mark.

The second half began better from the home side but the visitors were able to extend their lead when Matt Dicker finished a well-rehearsed penalty corner move.

With only ten minutes remaining, Banbury suddenly woke up, tightened their game and began to draw ill-discipline from the visitors.

Connor Roberts dazzled his way past four defenders to win a penalty corner that was slammed home by Josh Nunneley to give the home crowd something to cheer about.

The Banbury fight back unsettled the visitors with Tyson Nunneley tripped in the opposition D only two minutes later to win another corner, launched into the top corner for his brother to get his second of the game.

With Banbury now believing the come-back was possible, Groenewald shot home from a narrow angle to level the scores with only five minutes to go. The visitors rocked but were able to cling on to leave it level at full time.

In hockey a draw is settled by a one on one against the opposition keeper rather than a penalty shoot out. Banbury went first with their first three failing to score but the visitors were only one up as Dunleavy kept Banbury in the game.

Josh Nunneley then beat White in the visitors’ goal to level the score but the next Fareham player managed to beat Dunleavy to make it 1-2. Tyson Nunneley then took over to level the scores and move to sudden death. Dunleavy again saved the first effort from the visitors but Groenewald coolly beat the keeper to sweep into an empty net and seal the win in style.

Manager Steve Brooker said: “We have, again, shown that we can compete with the very best and now progressed further than any other Banbury team in the top competition in the country.

"This is a very significant achievement for the boys, the club and for Banbury – we are really proud of the performance which sets us up well for the second half of the League season so we can really look forward to our journey in 2024.”