Rover Oxford claimed their first Oxfordshire Men’s County Cup with a 1-0 win over Banbury in the final on Saturday.

Having already clinched the Oxford Hawks Men’s Summer League title, with an undefeated campaign that saw them beat Banbury in the final match, Rover were full of confidence.

And it was left to two of Banbury’s goalkeepers to help them to victory as regular keeper Chris Mitty is still recovering from injury.

Rover began badly, finding themselves one down within two minutes of their first game against Banbury 2nd.

But an equaliser a minute from time rescued a draw.

Rover built on this to defeat Bicester 2-1 and then beat higher-ranked Henley 2-1, thanks to two goals from Daniel Smyth, putting them top of their group.

Banbury had coasted through their group with a 2-0 win over Abingdon – Tyson Nunneley and George Brooker scoring – a 1-0 success against City of Oxford (Simon Boardman netting) and 2-0 win over Oxford Hawks (Dave Clark and Boardman on target).

So the semi-finals were set. It would be Banbury v Henley and Rover v Hawks for a place in the final.

Hawks had only ten men, and Rover comfortably won 2-0, thanks to two James Neilsen goals.

The first came from a mistake in the Hawks back line where Neilsen found himself with a one-on-one with the keeper.

His second goal came when Smyth squared it to him, and this time he beat the keeper with his first effort.

The other semi saw Banbury dominate against their perennial rivals Henley, though it was a solitary strike from youngster Will Powell which saw them through.

In the final, Rover caught Banbury on the break to grab the only goal of the game.

It was from a Rover hit out following an overloaded Banbury attack that Ben Richards threw an aerial down the inside right channel that was collected by Smyth.

Smyth forced the keeper to come out and narrow the angle, and squared the ball to the supporting Neilsen, who tucked the ball into the empty net.

The only real worry for Rover was the comedy cramp suffered by Neilsen as he hit the deck chasing a long ball into the D.

With some last-ditch tackles, and one great save by the on-loan Banbury 2nd keeper, Rover were left to celebrate their first County Cup success.