Match Preview | Banbury United (H)

Mar 66 min read

Updated: Mar 7

Halesowen welcome Banbury to The Grove for the first time in over six years

Written by Ben Ditchfield

The Yeltz host Banbury United for the first time since December 2018, as they look to go three unbeaten against their opponents and put more pressure on the sides at the top of the league as the season enters into it's finale.

The fixture is stooped in history, this will be the 29th meeting since 1986, and the Yeltz have won 16 of them. The club went a remarkable 13 games unbeaten against The Puritans from 1986 to 2005. In the 14 fixtures that have been held at The Grove, Halesowen have lost just twice, in 2008 and 2010. The Yeltz have lost just one of their last five against Banbury, and just one of their last four at home against them. The last meeting at the The Grove came in late 2018, which saw Lee Hughes and Dan Sweeney score in a 2-0 Yeltz victory. It was subsequently a game that was the sides only victory, in a run of just one win in 17 games from October 2018 to February 2019.

I caught up with Russ Penn during the week, to get his thoughts ahead of this weekend’s match. “We had a fantastic win last Saturday, we went to a tough place, full of expectation to win, which is never easy. We went there and did the job, it was 100% our biggest goal of the season, not just because of the timing, but because it backed up a clean sheet and big performance against Kettering in the week before. Ever since we lost the three games over Christmas (Telford, Bedford & Bromsgrove), we have had to strip back to basics. We lost a few since then, but overall, we have defended well as a team, which has helped us pick up some big points.

"Banbury will be tough this weekend, I respect their manager Simon Hollyhead a lot, he has travelled the world in terms of coaching and managing. He is highly qualified, and has gone to Banbury, and has helped them play a certain way, which is the right way. I will be fully respectful of them, because I think they will come here and turn it on, like all teams do when they come here. We have had a terrific home record this season, and so long may that continue. We have had one of the best goal scorers in the league, which has massively helped us, but Banbury are a side that do not necessarily have that. It can dangerous when a side lack goals because they may try new things.

"When I look at their squad they have some very good players, so we must be ready for them, but more importantly they must be ready for us. We do find it hard to break down sides at the bottom end of the table, despite our good record against them. We do not at home though, which is something we must take advantage of against Banbury, with the pitch and our 12th man which is the crowd. Our bench could play a big part in this game, because it has over the last week or so. The substitutes have contributed to six or seven points for us, whether it is Charlie Wragg, Ben Cassidy or Milan Butterfield.

"You look at the team that finished the game up at Biggleswade, we had Ryan Wynter in the middle of the park, Reece Flanagan and Alex Cameron coming on and getting some minutes, as well as mini-Manning getting the assist. We have a healthy squad now, we had some tired bodies last Saturday, and I thought the subs that came on were very energetic and impactful.

"We have been very ruthless against the bottom teams, we have scored a lot of goals, against Barwell, Lowestoft and Bishop’s Stortford. I always reiterate to not rest on your laurels, if you are having a good day then you must punish teams. I do not think it will be the same against Banbury though, I expect a tough game, not just because of who we are playing, but because of where we are in the league, and the need for points at this stage of the season.”

Following his winning goal on Saturday, I spoke to Penn about Alex Cameron ahead of this weekend. “When we signed Alex in December, we were obviously trying to get forwards in after Jordan Ponticelli went to Tamworth. We then signed him and Charlie Wragg, Alex will probably agree with me when I say this, but I do not think he came to us, as fit as he should have been or would have liked to have been. It took us about six weeks to get him up to the pace of what I wanted from him and where we want to be as a team, but week by week, he is getting fitter. He has a lot more work to do, but I am seeing signs now, not just because he scored, but because he can influence us a lot more than what he has done".

I also spoke to Russ Penn about his former player at Kidderminster, and current Banbury midfielder Alex Prosser, who has not missed a game for The Puritans since he joined them in October. “I was the one who signed Alex at Kiddie from the Villa, he is a very good player, technically good. He loves to boss the midfield, not with his build and strength, but his ball playing ability. We must keep him as far away from our goal as possible, because he has a great strike on him. We will need to get legs around him, so I will tell all of this to the players when we come up with a plan and decide the team shape, to try and pick a team that will win the game.”

Their boss Simon Hollyhead spent several years as an assistant manager in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. He spent four years as assistant boss from 2010 to 2014 at Malmo in Sweden, where he won one league title and one Swedish Cup, and even delve into Europa League and Champions League football. After his time in Sweden, he joined Brann in Norway, before he moved over to Odense in Denmark. The 53 year old moved back to England in 2017, and a year later became assistant boss at League Two Stevenage. He was there for just six months, and did not return to the management scene until Banbury came calling last May, and he has since been in charge for 37 matches.

Banbury have played just one game fewer than Halesowen's 38 this campaign in all competitions. The Yeltz have had 11 players play 30+ games across the season, but The Puritans have had just five, Jack Harding, Yaw Ofusu, Tai Fleming, George Ball and Harry Reilly. Banbury just last week, let go off Jaanai Gordon, who scored just six goals, but was the sides top scorer this campaign. His departure means AJ George is the side's current top scorer, with five, but the forward recently featured in his first game last weekend, after eight games out of the squad. George's last goal came in October, which has meant he has since gone 15 games in all competitions without one.

Their low goals scored count has resulted in them claiming just two points this season from losing positions, 19 points less than Telford, who top that chart. All of this has accumulated to Banbury being involved in just 1.77 goals per game, almost 0.5 less than the next lowest, Alvechurch with 2.26 per game. The team from Oxfordshire are extremely blunt in the attack in the first 15 minutes of games this season, with just two goals in that time period (v Spalding United in February & Leiston in August). The same can be said in the final 15 minutes of games this campaign, with only five goals appearing in that time period, a massive 14 goals less than Stourbridge, who have scored the most after the 75th minute.

Key Seasonal Stats

Halesowen

League Position - 5th

Season Record - PL38 19W 6D 13L 63GS 47GC

Form (Last 5 Games) - LDWDW

Top Scorer - Kieren Donnelly (23 Goals)

Most Appearances - Ryan Wollacott, Conor Tee, Todd Parker & Jak Hickman (37)

Most Starts - Ryan Wollacott (37)

Biggest League Win - 5-0 vs Lowestoft Town & Barwell (Away - 5th November & 14th December)

Biggest League Defeat - 4-0 vs Hitchin Town (Home - 21st September)

Longest Unbeaten Run - 6 Games (5th October - 16th November)

Longest Winless Run - 3 Games (30th November - 14th December & 26th December - 14th January)