Henley held by defiant Tunbridge Wells

Off the back of 8 straight victories, Henley travelled to bottom of the league Tunbridge Wells’ full of confidence and hoping to keep their lead at the top of the table to 7 points. On paper this should have been a simple task and only the most ardent of Tunbridge supporters would have bet against anything but a Henley victory. Unfortunately complacently took its toll....

As has been the norm over the last few weeks, Henley got off to a sluggish start and barely touched the ball in the opening 10 minutes. Tunbridge were having all the possession and broke the deadlock after 8 minutes. Good work by the Tunbridge midfield found one of their forwards open in the D. He duly dispatched his reverse stick shot past the diving Cox.

Having opened the scoring, Tunbridge could sense an upset in the making. Only a great toe-tip save by Cox prevented Wells doubling their lead. This seemed to wake Henley up a bit and good attacking work by the Henley midfield resulted in their first short corner of the game. Only a great save by the Tunbridge keeper kept Gaze from drawing things level.

With 15 minutes gone, Henley rung in the subs and the intensity was upped considerably. Henley pressed higher and higher up the pitch and the Tunbridge defence was starting to make mistakes. Good work by Hibberd, Joseph and Joyce on the right flank enabled Tailor to find some space on the top of the D. His first time shot hit a Wells foot and the subsequent short corner was eventually finished off by Joyce at the second time of asking. 1-1.

With the scores level, Henley were beginning to control the game. A miss-trap by the Wells defence enabled Joseph through on goal. He found Gupta open in the D, but his first time shot was saved well by the Tunbridge keeper. With 5 minutes left of the half, Henley took the lead for the first time. Good work by Foster, Mortimer and Green on the left flank eventually found Gupta unmarked at the back post who converted into an empty net. 2-1 Henley.

The second half started at a furious pace with Henley continuing to press Tunbridge’s defence. Some good tackling by Joyce, Foster and Ralph enabled Henley to turn over the ball on multiple occasions deep into Tunbridge territory. Unfortunately a combination of final passes going a-stray, sloppy finishing and some great goal keeping kept Henley at bay.

With 20 minutes left, Woolfrey was bundled over by a Wells’ defender after looking certain to score. Henley were given a penalty flick and Well’s were down to 10 men. Well’s man of the match goalkeeper guessed the right way however and saved the Henley P-flick. Well’s responded immediately and after Henley went down to 10 men, Well’s equalized with a good finish at the near post.

With the scores at 2-2 and Henley looking for a winner, holes were beginning to appear at the back. A quick break by Well’s resulted in a forward being left open at the back post. His first time shot was dispatched past Cox. 3-2 to Wells.

With a minute to go and with Henley’s unbeaten season looking it jeopardy, Henley won one last short corner in the dying seconds. A well worked move found top scorer Gupta who finished well from a tight angle. 3-3.That turned out to be the last play of the game and although Henley managed to keep their unbeaten season alive, their lead at the top of the table has been cut to 5.

Next Match is against Trojans on Saturday at Jubilee Park and Henley must improve if they are to win their last 5 games and gain promotion into South Prem 1.