BICESTER Town’s joint manager Eddie Nix was left to lament his side’s bad luck with injury after they crashed out of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup in a 3-0 defeat at home to Hook Norton, writes Tom St John.

Both Adam Garner and captain Adam Beckett were both forced off with knee injuries, during the first-round tie.

They join the walking wounded at Town, who also have sidelines injury list.

Bicester came up against a strong Hook Norton side, the Uhlsport Hellenic League Division 1 West leaders, who showed they will be a hard side to beat this season.

The game started disastrously for Bicester, when after just two minutes, Beckett’s back pass to keeper Ryan Watt was too short and Dan Reeves waltzed through to score.

Hooky doubled their lead on 35 minutes, when a long throw into the penalty area was poorly defended and Stevie Howkins found space to smash the ball low into the corner of the net.

Two minutes later, Watt clattered into Howkins and conceded a penalty.

The Town keeper redeemed himself by guessing the right way and saving Howkins’s spot-kick.

However, Howkins had the last laugh in the 57th minute when he found the roof of the net with an assured side-footed finish to make it 3-0.

Nix was downcast by the defeat.

He said: “Our main priority may be the league, but don’t try and tell me that people don’t care.

“Cup games bring momentum and confidence – this is a big competition for us.

“We’ve got a 14-day wait until our next game.

“We’ll regroup, hopefully with some players back from injury and we’ll go again.”