Winning start for Prem 1 new boys

After a great pre-season, Henley were ready for their first ever game in South Premier League Division 1. They were up against recently promoted Banbury who beat Henley 6-0 last season so revenge was very much on the cards from the outset.

The first 5 minutes saw both sides settling into their stride. Henley were finding plenty of space up front and drew first blood in the 8th minute, scoring from a short corner. Foster converting a drag flick into the top corner of the Banbury goal.

Henley doubled their lead 10 minutes later after Foster found Joseph unmarked in the D, who after rounding the keeper was brought down. Joyce duly dispatched the subsequent penalty flick to make 2-0 to Henley.

The Henley press was working well and Banbury were finding it increasingly hard to find a way through and fashion any real chances in the final third. Good defence from keeper Cox and defenders Rowe, Hughes-Burne and Mortimer keeping the Banbury forwards at bay.

Ten minutes before half time, Banbury somewhat fortunately got their first goal of the game. Rowe was harshly judged to have fouled a Banbury forward in a goal scoring opportunity and was subsequently sin-binned for 10 minutes and Banbury were given a penalty flick. Fortunately for Henley, the Banbury forward missed the flick but the subsequent 16 was given straight to the same Banbury forward who duly rounded goalkeeper Cox and slotted the ball into an empty net.

This seemed to spur Henley on somewhat and after good play from Kochar and Joyce in the middle of the park, they found Hibberd unmarked on the right flank. A great ball into the D from Hibberd, found Joseph who finished into the bottom left hand corner with his now famous “first-time hit and roll” to ensure Henley kept their 2-goal cushion going into half time with the score standing at 3-1.

Banbury came out with real purpose in the second half and almost straight away won a short corner. A well worked Banbury move was eventually dispatched at the near post to reduce the deficit to a single goal.

Again, this seemed to wake Henley up from their half time slumber and with Banbury pushing higher and higher up the pitch in search of an equalising goal, Henley were finding more and more space on the counter attack. Great hold up play from Green eventually found Walter on the left side of the opposition D, who managed to squeeze the ball past the keeper and defender to make the score 4-2 with 20 minutes left to play.

Only minutes later, Henley scored again. A lovely ball up the pitch from Kochar found Walter unmarked, who then returned the favour to green and played a great ball into the striker who got the last touch ahead of the onrushing keeper making the score 5-2 to Henley. With 15 minutes left and with nothing to lose, Banbury were pressing Henley almost in the home side’s D and managed to convert their third goal through sheer weight of numbers.

Subsequent Henley teams may have buckled from the pressure but great resilience from the whole squad stopped Banbury scoring any more goals going forwards.

In the last 5 minutes, Henley scored two more unanswered goals. First, Gaze made up for his mistake in the first half to convert a bouncing ball at the back post and with a minute to go Heaver added his name to the score sheet, again converting a bouncing ball at the back post with a ferocious volley.

The final score finished 7-3 to Henley with Ross Hibberd grabbing the Man of the Match award. A great team performance and Henley are off to a great start in Southern Premier Division 1.

Henley travel to Spencer Hockey Club in their next fixture on Saturday 10th October.