ARDLEY United have an opportunity to make club history tonight when they attempt to reach the Oxfordshire Senior Cup final for the first time.

The villagers face Oxford City on neutral soil in the semi-final at Thame United’s ASM Stadium.

After scoring 17 goals in comfortable wins against Stonesfield, AFC Hinksey and Headington Amateurs to reach the last four, Ardley face a far stiffer test against the EvoStik Southern League Premier title chasers.

Ardley, who play two divisions below their opponents in the Uhlsport Hellenic League Premier, last reached the semi-final six seasons ago, losing to Carterton.

While manager Kevin Brock is under no illusions about the scale of the task, he believes victory would be a fitting reward for everyone involved with the squad.

He said: “It would be great to to make a bit of history for the club.

“Not just for the players, but for people like (club chairman) Norman Stacey, who have put such a lot of time into getting the club where it is now.

“It’ll be a tough game, but this is an important competition for myself and the players, we’re all Oxfordshire lads.”

Key to the underdogs’ hopes could be top scorer Ryan Brooks, who has 36 goals in 34 games this season.

The game comes at a bad time for City, sandwiched between weekends when they face promotion rivals.

A frustrated Mike Ford is unable to rotate the squad as he would like, with several fringe players ruled out due to injury or being cup tied after playing for other sides earlier in the competition.

The City boss said: “Clearly we’d like to win and all games are important, but it’s less important than the league games we’ve got coming up.

“In an ideal world I’d make a raft of changes but I won’t be able to do that, so I don’t want to pick up any injuries or silly bookings.”

Elsewhere, Banbury United are in Division 1 South & West action with a trip to play-off hopefuls Chesham United.

Banbury are only five points above the bottom four, but the table is so congested that a win tonight could see them climb into the top half, depending on results elsewhere.

Manager Ady Fuller is expecting a backlash from Chesham after winning the Red Insure Southern League Cup tie between the two clubs on penalties last week.

He said: “They’re going to be out to get us because of the cup result.

“They’ll fly out of the traps from the start – I would be saying the same if we had been knocked out – so we need to make sure we match them.”

TONIGHT’S SQUADS Ardley: (v Oxford City, at Thame United) from White, D Beckett, Smith, Garner, Thomas, Richmond, Green, Stuart Bridges, Brandish, Thorne, Brooks, Bryan, Standen, A Beckett, Welch.

Oxford City: from Mooney, Clarke, Blossom, Ballard, Pond, Willmott, Benjamin, Malone, Basham, Woodley, Bell, Martin, Lyon, Learoyd, Barcelos.

Banbury Utd: (v Chesham United, away) from Kemp, Coleman, Polk, Dolman, Thackeray, Emery, Howell, Cole, Johnson, Angus, Williams, Richardson, Kinch, Chilton, Lamb.