Emirates FA Cup 2nd Round Qualifying

Cirencester Town 1

Banbury United 6

CIRENCESTER TOWN could never recover from the sending off of centre half Alfie Kilgour after just 10 minutes and paid the price as they were knocked out of The Emirates FA Cup by Banbury United.

The Puritans arguably may not have needed the man advantage as they arrived at the Corinium Stadium having inflicted the first defeat of the season on table toppers Chippenham Town in midweek.

Cirencester caretaker manager Jody Bevan had to make a couple of changes to the starting XI compared to the team that secured victory in his first game in charge on Tuesday, as Scott Bevan and Aidan Bennett were unavailable.

Kyle Lapham returned at left back and Charlie Griffin as central striker.

The match started positively enough for the home side but changed dramatically when referee Iain Parsons awarded a straight red card to 18-year-old Bristol Rovers loanee Kilgour.

Jacob Blackstock chased after a ball just inside the Cirencester half in the right channel and Kilgour came forward to cover.

The ball ran away from Blackstock so the young defender made a lunging tackle and blocked the ball solidly, but Blackstock’s momentum meant he fell to the ground. Inevitably the visiting support shouted for a severe punishment and Banbury players surrounded the referee. After a brief discussion with his assistant the referee issued a red.

Cirencester covered the gap in defence by bringing Matt Liddiard into their back line and Ross Langworthy dropped a little deeper in midfield.

Six minutes later Banbury opened their account as Felipe Barcelos volleyed home from six yards.

Despite being a man down Cirencester were pressing hard; Lee Smith had a scissors kick shot which was well saved and Lapham fired a drive just wide of the post.

Soon after Banbury launched a clearance down field and they scored their second through Zac McEachran after half an hour.

The hosts finished the half strongly nonetheless and James Coates hit a long-range shot that was only narrowly over the bar.

The visitors, who played a patient passing game with lots of possession, increased their lead 10 minutes into the second half when Conor McDonough guided the ball inside the right post.

With nothing to lose Cirencester pushed forward at every opportunity and conceded again on the counter attack as Banbury exploited the space for Barcelos to score his second.

The fifth goal for Banbury was particularly unkind to the home side as Harvey Rivers dived to his right to push a header away but it struck Liddiard and rebounded into the net.

Rivers was also called upon to make a couple of fine saves, preventing his side going further behind.

On the stroke of full time, Liddiard pulled a goal back for Cirencester with a firm header but Banbury’s Callum White completed the scoring a couple of minutes later when he worked his way into the penalty area and scored inside the right post.

Cirencester Town: Rivers, Coates, Lapham (Youngsam, 58), Kilgour, Liddiard (capt), Brown, Smith, Connolly, Griffin (Mortimer-Jones, 75), Langworthy, Knight (Elcock, 65).

Unused sub: Farr.