Winchester M1 v Banbury

Winchester showed fighting spirit to claw their way back into a game they could ill afford to lose.

 The home team had to rely on keeper/coach George Harris and the skills of central defender James Pawley to offset Banbury's initial pressure. A quarter of the way through the game, Winchester began to settle and move the momentum to the visitor's end. However, their industry led to few clear chances, the most notable, a Mark Maunsell shot that flew just wide. The balance of the game was tipped after twenty minutes when Banbury's third penalty corner found its way into the net to Harris's right.

 There were chances at both ends in the opening minutes of the second half. Kent Langridge crashed the ball just wide having made a great solo run and then Harris saved well from a Banbury penalty corner. Winchester had two successive corners of their own that came to nothing and with fifteen minutes remaining, Banbury doubled their lead from a broken-down penalty corner.

 Winchester, rather than folding as a near-bottom of the league team might in that situation, stepped up their intent and their quality of possession. Skipper Kieran Malloy was everywhere, conducting events backed up by Harry Trussler whose influence on games increases week by week. It was Trussler who found a way back into the game with a direct dragflick from a penalty corner with ten minutes left on the clock. Five minutes later, Winchester achieved the draw with a brilliantly engineered move starting with Rob Goodchild deep in his own half finding Trussler who sent on to the wide Malloy. His pass through to the running Todd Hutcheson showed great vision and creativity, freeing Hutcheson on the back line who pulled back a bouncing pass to Maunsell on the back post to slot home and pull off a great recovery.

Report - JP.