University of Birmingham beaten as Banbury claim first victory

Banbury opened the scoring on eight minutes through Harry Simons, flicking home after skipper Will Kellet’s shot had been parried to him.

The visitors levelled just two minutes later, and although Banbury produced some great attacking hockey through James Long, Connor Roberts, Simons, Tyson Nunneley, Kellett, Jacob Buckner Rowley and George Brooker, it stayed 1-1 at half-time.

Banbury got their rewards two minutes into the second-half though, Roberts laying on a perfect pass for Buckner-Rowley to nutmeg the goalkeeper and make it 2-1.

The home side continued to dominate, but chances went begging and it was Birmingham who scored against the run of play just 15 minutes from time to make it 2-2 from the penalty spot.

Banbury didn't let their heads drop, and great work from Buckner-Rowley and Tyson Nunneley won another penalty corner, and from it Nathan Hochman put his side 3-2 up.

The home side were now rampant and Charlie Camp and Josh Nunneley started to create attacks from the back with precision passing, and it wasn't long before Jordi Groenwald won a penalty which was slammed home by Kellett to seal the points.

Banbury boss Andy Camp said: “We knew we could live in this league as the newly promoted team, and in this game we proved we deserve to be here with the best.

"The University are a fast competitive team, but we contained them and controlled the game and we are now third in the league after three games."

This weekend, Banbury face a tough trip to Nottingham University.