Crusaders win Trophy replay at Banbury

Two cracking goals in the first half put us safely on the way to the next round of the F,A.Trophy, with the difficult task of a trip to St.Neots to come, a two goal lead which has often proved our nemesis in the past, this time enabling us to play out the second half with fluency and confidence so that the third goal was just the icing on the cake.
The trip to Banbury was not an easy one, and we had an early blow when Garyn Preen, who has proved so impressive since his signing, slid into the hoardings beside the goal and injured his knee, eventually limping off to be replaced by Mark Draycott. However, it was good to see that Day, and Boardman partnership back at the middle of the defence and, as usual the combination was firm and solid,
We did have a scare when Andy Gunn broke through , but he shot well wide, and we settled down to play some good football, Mark Draycott brought a good save from Jack Harding, but there were few real chances in the first half-hour. After 36 minutes , Matt Day (pictured) came forward and hit a terrific goal from almost 30 yards which gave Harding no chance and it was like old times when Draycott rifled in the second goal 5 minutes later to give us a two-goal lead at the interval.
Banbury did not give up, and Paul Strudley had to pull off two good saves to ensure that we kept the margin intact, whilst we played some neat football, showing much of the confidence which seems to have been missing recently and were never in danger thereafter, and the game was already as good as over when Mike Jones came up in support of a strong attack and made it 3-0 in the closing minutes.
Team; Strudley,Tyler, John,Boardman, Day, Rusby, Clark, Rees(Jones) Jarvis,Brown, Preen(Draycott). Subs;Goodger, Stow , O’Brien>