Banbury United U18s made the trip to Solihull on Saturday to face Silhill FC.
At the start oft he day Silhill were sitting a few places above United in the table, but Banbury were looking to build on the last two good performances - and that was certainly the case at full time!

The starting 11 was unchanged from the week before, but Niccolo and Mick were back in the squad amongst the substitutes.
As was the case last week, the team were lightning fast out of the blocks, and effectively put the game to bed inside the first 30 minutes.

The opening goal came on 6 minutes. Jack Kimber played a nice slide rule pass through to Brook - who still had plenty to do. Brook cut beat his man twice, cutting back onto his right foot with a lovely turn before dispatching low into the bottom corner 0-1.

One nil became two just two minutes later. A very similar goal in its construction, this time Tyra received the ball on the right wing, he clipped a lovely ball over the centre backs to find Brook again who once again beat his man and fired a low drive into the corner of the net, this time in off the post for 0-2.

On 10 minutes Seb Kola clipped a nice ball into the box that Ollie Edmunds met with his head, but the keeper done well to collect the header under pressure. There was no respite for the Silhill defence at this point, and on 16 minutes Banbury had the chance to put the game to bed.
Jack Kimber passed the ball through to Tyra to chase. The ball had looked a little heavy, but Tyra managed to get to it infront of the keeper, who slid out and took Tyra out in the penalty area. Seb stepped up to take the penalty and sent the keeper the wrong way, side footing it into the right corner of the net 0-3.

Silhill regrouped and started to get a bit of momentum of their own in the game. Jacob Humphries had to make a really good save when Silhill's number 15 was through 1v1, but from the resulting corner the ball wasn't defended well, and the ball was forced over the line as United struggled to clear their lines. 1-3.

For the remainder of the first half, Silhill had slightly the better of proceedings, as the goal seemed to revitilise them a bit. They were first to the second balls and were winning the individual battles. They had a couple of good opportunities, but where wasteful in front of goal. At the other end Tyra had the ball in the back of the net, but was adjudged to of been offside.

Into the second half, Banbury had made a number of changes with Mick, Niccolo, Dan, Lucas and Max all on as we looked to freshen things up on a boggy/heavy pitch. Banbury started to regain their composure in the match and had a couple of good chances to extend the lead. None more so that in the 50th minutes when a Ollie Edmunds header struck the near post, the ball fell to Jacob Hayes six yards out but his effort was blocked on the goal line, and the ball was scrambled clear.

Dan Messenger was looking lively, and was unlucky when he appeared to slip on the edge of the area just before getting his shot off at goal, Lucas Webb then came even closer when his deflected effort came crashing off the post.

The game became a little tetchy with the ref seemingly a little card happy. Mick picked up a yellow as he slipped into a tackle and there was also yellow cards for Silhill's number 16 and 24.

On 74 minutes Tyra who was causing a lot of problems for the defence was sent through, the Silhill keeper came charging off his line, but was never getting to the ball before Tyra, taking him out and earning a yellow card. The ref deeming that Tyra was going a little wide and therefore no red card was shown.

A minute later and the game was sealed! Ollie Edmunds looped a through ball over the defence to Brook, who calmly placed the ball between the keepers legs and into the goal for his hat trick, and the team's fourth. 1-4.

Silhill were reduced to 10 men with a little over 5 minutes to go, in an almost carbon copy of his previous yellow card the Silhill keeper was shown a second yellow as he took Tyra out when coming off his line. The referee had no choice but to dismiss him.

Banbury created further chances to increase the lead with Tyra shooting wide, and Niccolo forcing a terrific save from the stand in keeper, who tipped his effort onto the post. Silhill had lost their discipline and had two further players yellow carded, and after the final whistle the referee showed a straight red to their dissenting number 23.

A terrific performance and result for the team, against a strong, physical Silhill side.
This brings up three victories in a row, with the side showing some really good form. Next weekend we are back at the Banbury Plant Hire Community stadium for a home fixture against Leek Wootton.

Full Time
Sillhill FC U18 1 Banbury United U18 4
Goalscorers - Brooklyn Da Silva Lobato x 3, Seb Kola
Assits - Tyra Aitken x 2, Jack Kimber, Ollie Edmunds
MOTM - Brooklyn Da Silva Lobato