SOUTH Berkshire men lost their perfect MBBO Regional Two record as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Banbury 2nds at Cantley Park, writes Richard Ashton.

The hosts started well and man-of-the-match David Harris, Tom King and Daniel Ray all had opportunities to open the scoring, although it was Banbury who broke the deadlock when Mark Crowley hit the back of the net in the 14th minute.

Rob Badley came close to equalising shortly before the interval, but he did provide an assist for Neil Bennett to make it 1-1 on 49 minutes.

However, that was as good as it got for the home side, Ian Reynolds restoring the Banbury lead within a minute of play resuming.

South Berks continued to battle away, but they did not really come close to levelling as their fine start to the season suffered its first blip.

South Berkshire will hope to return to winning ways when they travel to Oxford Hawks 3rds on Saturday (noon).

In MBBO Division Two, South Berkshire 2nds dropped to second bottom following a 3-1 defeat at Milton Keynes 3rds.

Matt Darvell did the damage for the home side, sinking a brilliant hat-trick which rendered Tony Heaver’s effort for South Berks as merely a consolation.

South Berkshire 4ths earned a point after drawing 1-1 at home to Leighton Buzzard 2nds in Division Four.

Matt Taylor was the hosts’ goalscorer, with Matt Nash replying for Buzzard.

In Division Eight West, South Berkshire 5ths suffered a second defeat in three games as they were edged out 1-0 at Milton Keynes 5ths.

South Berkshire Terriers made it three Division Eight East wins from three as Phoenix & Ranelagh 3rds conceded. South Berks are awarded a 3-0 victory as they continue to set the pace at the head of the division.

In a friendly, South Berkshire Supervets went 2-0 up against Amersham & Chalfont, but had to settle for a 2-2 draw which included a late equaliser.

South Berkshire Ladies moved up to second in Premier One of the Trysports Three Counties League thanks to an emphatic 5-0 rout of Oxford University 2nds. South Berkshire host Maidenhead 2nds this coming Saturday (noon).

In Premier Two, South Berkshire 2nds found the going much tougher at leaders Witney 2nds, eventually falling to a 3-0 reverse.

South Berkshire 3rds slipped to a fourth Division Three defeat in four as they lost 4-0 to Henley 3rds, while in Division Five, South Berkshire 4ths surged to the top with a 7-0 annihilation of home side Banbury 5ths.