Oxford United 2 Banbury United 1

Oxford won their first silverware of the season this evening with a comfortable victory over Banbury in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup final. Eddie Hutchinson opened the scoring for United midway through the first half, and ROS Declan Benjamin made sure of victory with two minutes remaining. The Puritans scored a consolation goal in the second minute of added time, but never really threatened to send the game into extra time, thankfully.

Oxford's side comprised a mixture of senior professionals and youngsters, with stand-out performances from goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe, who made two stunning saves when the score was 1-0 and had a good game overall, James Dobson, who needed to play well to overcome the handicap of wearing Niall Hodgkins' pink boots, Shane Killock, before he went off injured towards the end of the first half, Killock's replacement Jack Smith, and left-back Magical Marvin Martin.

Hutchinson gave United the lead with a header on 22 minutes from a Matt Day cross, and Dobson went close with a wicked left-footed drive, while Banbury rarely came close to the Oxford goal in the first half. That changed after half-time, when Hinchliffe had to be at his best to deny Banbury, as Day and Barry Quinn looked a bit shaky in the centre of defence, although in the first half Quinn looked comfortable in midfield. Matt Taylor should have put the game beyond doubt with five minutes to go when he broke clear of the Banbury defence, but he drove his shot straight at Joe Murrell. With two minutes remaining a good saw Smith work the ball to Taylor, who played in Benjamin. The powerful midfielder took a touch inside the defender and powered an unstoppable shot past Murrell to make the game safe. Deep into stoppage time Ollie Stanbridge scored Banbury's consolation after a slip by Day, who was trying to see the ball out for a goalkick.