Nuneaton Borough hold Banbury United

Entertaining Draw

Nuneaton Borough and Banbury United played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Liberty Way on Saturday afternoon.

Ravin Shamsi scored twice for the play-off chasing side in between of a Ryan Edmunds strike. Callum Powell rescued a point from the penalty spot late in the game to keep alive Nuneaton’s play-off chance.

Nuneaton looked to get back to winning ways after last week’s 2-0 defeat at Kings Langley and started well at Liberty Way. Luke Benbow and Jack Byrne both tried their luck in the opening 12 minutes but were denied by both the Banbury defence and goalkeeper. Banbury took the lead when Shamsi lobbed Tony Breeden in the 14th minute, seconds after Devon Kelly-Evans came close for Boro. The goal is Shamsi’s fourth goal in four games for the Puritans.

Shamsi nearly doubled the lead moments later, only for Breeden to deny the shot-stopper. With Boro a goal down, Kelly-Evans came close for the hosts. Edmunds, who was playing as a wing-back, came close to scoring one of the goals of the season. The ball was sent to the number two before he flicked the ball over the head of the Banbury defender before firing the ball low at Harding.

Boro were level just after the hour mark when Edmunds smashed the ball across Harding and into the back of the net. However, Shamsi resorted the lead for Banbury when he beat the Nuneaton high line before composing himself to beat Breeden for the second time.

In a spirited performance, Boro grabbed their second equalising goal when Powell scored his second penalty of the season after Harding took Kelly-Evans to the floor with a rash challenge.

Shamsi, who caused problems for the Nuneaton defence all afternoon, nearly grabbed his hat-trick for Banbury with another burst of pace before failing to direct his effort on goal.

Nuneaton Borough FC