Banbury edged past Oxford Hawks to win the Oxfordshire Women’s Cup in dramatic fashion on Saturday.

Seven teams from around the county took part in the round-robin style event at Cokethorpe School, near Witney.

Hawks took on City of Oxf-ord, last year’s defending champions, in an eagerly anticipated first game, and it was Hawks who came out on top 1-0 through a well-worked goal, finished by Zoe Salter.

In their second game, Hawks faced Rover Oxford, and despite peppering their goal from the early stages, they could not find a way through.

Rover broke the deadlock scoring with their only chance of the game after a mix-up in Hawks’ defence.

Hawks then went on to face a young, energetic Witney side, and again they dominated, with Claire Dennis in the Hawks goal hardly called upon.

Hawks played some great and were rewarded with a strike from Kathryn Poulter earning them all three points in a 1-0 win.

Hawks went on to face Wall-ingford, and were thwarted by some quite remarkable goalkeeping, with a number of spectacular saves, and double saves, keeping the Oxford side out.

That earned Wallingford their only point of the day – in a 0-0 draw that was later to cost the Oxford side dear.

In their penultimate game, Hawks faced Henley, and turned on the style to win 2-0 with strikes from Sandra Frankland and Henri Coles.

This meant that in their last game, they faced Banbury, knowing a 2-0 win would bring the title on goal difference.

However, despite an early short-corner strike from Salter, Banbury defended well and the Oxford side could not get the extra goal they needed for the title.

The final hooter sounded and Banbury started their celebrations.

Banbury had reached their final match in such a strong position by beating Rover Oxford 1-0, when captain Lara Wilkinson deflected a short corner strike from Melanie Wilkinson into the net, and Wallingford 2-0 in the first two games.

Wilkinson and Victoria Page scored against Wallingford.

This was followed by a 0-0 draw against City of Oxford and a 2-1 win over Witney.

Mel Wilkinson scored both goals, the first from a short corner, and she then struck the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Henley.

Thanks to their good defending against Hawks, Banbury secured the title by conceding only two goals in the whole tournament.

It was their first County Cup success this century.

Final standings: 1 Banbury 13pts, 2 Oxford Hawks 13, 3 Witney 10, 4 Henley 8, 5 City of Oxford 7, 6 Rover Oxford 6, 7 Wallingford 1.