On Tuesday 13th December away at Boston united in freezing Siberian temperatures and the only game being played in the National League North saw many of the tramway army in attendance in fancy dress all in good spirits as Banbury ran away 1-0 winners in an exemplary away performance. Watching on there was the Pope, Santa Clause, A bottle of beer, a Hotdog, a dinosaur and many more, but one of the fancy dresses had a back story, Lewis Aston, dressed as the Dart Board. Across 5 seasons, Two hit through a pandemic, Lewis has racked up 180 consecutive games across all competitions including friendlies, when he arrived at the Jakemans Community stadium. This is an astonishing achievement and something Russ Bray known as The Voice of darts due to his unique style of calling and his raspy voice, would be shouting his famous ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY call down the mic. Much like Russ Bray, Lewis has his own unique style as he is regularly seen with his polo shirt and jumper off screaming “SOMEBODY GIVE ME A B” to get the Townend atmosphere rocking. With this in mind, today’s blog is dedicated to applauding the dedication, commitment, and loyalty of a fellow Puritan Lewis Aston as we learn all about his Banbury United journey.
Lewis attended his first Banbury game on Saturday, August 18th 2018, against Leiston FC where Banbury United came out with a 1-0 victory as the all-important goal came in the 67th minute when an error on the halfway line saw Banbury break and release substitute Johnson who fired high into the roof of the net beyond Marcus Garnham. This led to Lewis ‘slowly building a connection with the club more and more as he went down' and eventually getting sucked in. Lewis states that he loves going to watch Banbury as it's his local side and loves watching live football with his mates. This take is like every non-league fan as they understand football is not a TV show at 3pm and there is a whole community at your front door who from the top appreciates and recognises the support of each and every fan. This was highlighted in Lewis’ case during the AGM in November, club chairman Ronnie Johnson congratulated Lewis for his attendance at matches home and away: at the time of the AGM, Lewis had attended 172 consecutive games which led to applause from the other 80 plus Banbury members in attendance.
The consecutive run all started on Tuesday, January 1st, 2019, as he watched on alongside 461 fans in a 3-1 victory over Alvechurch in a 10th vs 11th clash. 4 days later saw Lewis watch his largest league win on game 2 of his 181-game consecutive run as Banbury was prolific and rampant against Barwell with the final score ending 6-1. At the end of 2018/19, Lewis's first season as a Banbury fan saw us finish in a disappointing 17th place with 49 points yet this did not dampen his love for the club as the next season, he was back attending home and away supporting the Puritans. However, in March 2020 the season was curtailed after 32 league games and only 1 point of the playoffs led to all football coming to a halt. This meant Lewis’ run was paused for the time being not knowing when the next time he could watch his beloved Banbury United. During lockdown, Banbury United parted ways with Mike Ford who quoted "The club are in a good position, and I think we have all given it hope it can progress”. With Fordy laying down the foundations after 1 promotion and leaving us a solid southern league premier side again, Andy Whing was the man at the helm when Banbury fans could finally return to watch their club. 147 days on from the 4-2 defeat in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup against Oxford City, Lewis was back watching the Puritans on Saturday 8th August 2020 against Easington sports at Addison Road in the Ron Thomas Memorial Cup.
Even though the 20/21 season was brief, Lewis did get to experience Banbury reaching the First-round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in 47 years after Henry Landers smashed home the winner in the 4th-round qualifying tie vs Bury Town. The season was curtailed after 7 league games due to a spike in coronavirus cases causing the FA cup first-round fixture to be played behind closed doors, so the last available match Lewis attended was Tamworth away in the cup on October 31st 2020. The consecutive run halted for another 36 weeks (253 days) until Aston finally arrived back at the Spencer Stadium in a friendly match against West Brom U23s where the result ended 0-0. Despite no goals scored it was a feeling of hope that football had returned and 4 days later the goals returned too in a 10-2 thrashing against Easington Sports.
Football was back and back to normal in the 2021/22 season as non-league football saw a spike in rising attendances across all clubs. 87% of 1086 people voted to say Non-league is as popular as ever after the Pandemic due to the connection you can create with your local club alongside the affordability of watching a good standard of football. This has been a similar effect on Banbury, as when asked Aston how he attends games and who he goes with, Lewis quoted “Usually train or coach, sometimes car if I have to but I go to games with the tramway army and in the past, the tramway army members who have been going for years”. This shows that the club is growing, and more and more fans are recognising the beauty of non-league creating Banbury to surpass 1000 people in attendance on the regular and the noise on the terraces has improved massively singing songs of recognitions for Andy Whings team as the tramway army has grown members. In addition to the pandemic spiking attendances, the success of Banbury United has also helped as Andy Whing has created a winning culture at the club. This has led Lewis Aston to watch an exciting brand of football which in return has gifted Lewis his best moments as a Banbury fan, Lewis reflected on Morgan Roberts's winner away at Hednesford Town last year as his favourite ever away game which contributed to his favourite ever home game - Tamworth in April 2022. During this game after being 1-0 down due to a wonder strike, Stevens calmly slotted home to level in the second half sending us as Southern League Champions thus creating a moment all Banbury fans have dreamt about.
With Promotion secured, the 22/23 season meant new grounds for Lewis as long past the days of Alvechurch and St Ives away, to big grounds such as Chester, Kidderminster and Boston where they recently put on a show. Lewis made it to 181 consecutive games on Tuesday 20th December whilst watching a 7-goal thriller vs Bognor Regis Town resulting in him seeing his One-Hundredth win within his consecutive run. Lewis's current record during his 181 games reflects as
✅Won 100
⏺Drawn 21
❌Lost 60
Aston states his short-term target is 200 games which will come against AFC Telford at home on March 25th which is also Non-league day creating this as a fitting acknowledgement to one of the most dedicated and loyal Non-league fans and one of the most dedicated puritans the club has seen. In the past 5 seasons, Lewis has seen numerous players in Red and gold in which Lewis provided his Favourite XI during his 181-game consecutive run.
GK: Jack Harding
Cb: Ben Radcliffe
Cb: Connor Roberts
CB: Charlie Wise
Cm Jack Westbrook
Cm Gio Rasulo
Cm: Alex Babos
Cam: Jack Stevens
Rw: Ravi Shamsi
St: Ricky Johnson
Lw: Morgan Roberts
Here at SpencerReds we wish Lewis all the best and hope he keeps smashing significant landmarks of his current consecutive run and we look forward to hearing him shout somebody give me a B at Brackley away on Boxing day.
Thank you for reading this, as ever please like, Rt, comment and share. Your support does not go unnoticed.
Up the Puritans
Spencer Reds.
🔴🟡
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