The Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium was the place to be for entertainment on Tuesday evening when Banbury forced their way through this pulsating cup-tie to meet Coalville Town in the fourth round of the FA Trophy in the New Year. In a flu-bug hit tie where both sides were allowed to name seven substitutes, Banbury managed four and Bognor could only name two. With the two Brackley games coming next, United rested captain Giorgio Rasulo, Connor Roberts and Jack Stevens, but were glad to use all three in the second-half to make the difference.

Left back Sam Brown pushed forward more often than normal to combine with Ben Acquaye, and he put two fierce crossed over from the bye-line in the opening 20 minutes, cut United failed to get a touch of the ball as it flashed across the unguarded goal and Bognor were left off the hook. However, Banbury took a deserved lead in the 27th minute when Jay Williams fired in a shot from 20 yards which deflected off a defender to open the scoring for United. Shortly afterwards Henry Landers went clear but his 20 yard effort went just wide of the far post with ‘keeper Toby Steward well beaten.

With the second half only seven minutes old, Bognor surprised United’s defence when a left wing cross from Joe Rabbetts found the head of James Crane who guided the ball into the bottom corner of the net to equalise for the visitors. Siox minutes later, Landers went close under heavy pressure when his shot from 12 yards went just wide, and 60 seconds later a Josh Smile shot went the same way from just outside of the penalty area.

In a brilliant piece of substitution Rasulo, Roberts and Stevens all came on in the 60th minute, and the game changed with almost immediate effect. With Acquaye running the Bognor defence ragged and involved in almost every forward movement, in the 64th minute, the ball was only half-cleared to Rasulo who calmly slotted the ball home from 22 yards to restore Banbury’s lead Just two minutes later, it was 3-1 when Rasulo registered his eighth goal in the last eight games, this time from the edge of the six yard box after Acquaye had put Stevens clear, and the young striker unselfishly squared to his unmarked captain to slot home. With ten minutes to go, the visitors put both of their substitutes on and they had an immediate impact also when they pulled a goal back in the 83rd minute when Dan Gifford exposed Banbury’s weakness in the air when he converted another left wing cross with a header into the far corner.

Banbury were now looking very nervous and when Daniel Howick’s right wing cross was smashed into the side netting by Gifford with the goal at his mercy, United were very thankful. However, Acquaye settled a few nerves in the 89th minute when he fired a loose ball into the net from 10 yards after the visitors failed to clear. However, ‘squeaky bum’ time returned when Sam de St Croix fired home four minutes into injury time to make the final score 4-3.

Banbury United :- Ben Taylor, Sam Brown, Josh Smile (captain) (60 mins. Giorgio Rasulo), Jay Williams (60 mins. Jack Stevens), Henry Landers, Ben Acquaye, Jak Hickman (60 mins. Connor Roberts), Ben Radcliffe, Josh Dugmore, Alex Babos, Callum Reilly. Sub (not used) Jack Harding.

Bognor Regis Town :- Toby Steward, James Crane (79 mins. Joe Briffa), Joe Rabbetts, Leon Baker-Neto, Tom Bragg, Craig Robson (captain), Sam De St Croix, Isaac Odokonyero, Dan Gifford, Bradley Lethbridge (82 mins. Daniel Howick)

Attendance – 473