League leaders held by resolute Henley

Among the Superbru® community this was not a game that earned pundits many points. 95.4% predicted a home win. Another 3.1 % were given the default home win afforded to those who had either, forgotten to make their picks because they lead really busy lives and have far more important things to think about than forecasting sporting results, or, as in the case of the Mike Woolfrey’s of this world, are so bad at predicting the results (the table doesn’t lie Bear) that they couldn’t be bothered anymore and are relying on automatic picks. This leaves the 1.5% of fantasists who fly in the face of statistics, league form and available data and opt for the surprise result or are truly partisan to their favourite team. Jonny Taylor went for a 9-0 away win – idiot.

However the more rational Superbru® predictors may well be less inclined to write-off the Amber and Blues future chances after this performance. This was not a story of Bromley and Beckenham racking up a barrage of efforts on goal and a valiant Henley repelling wave after wave of attack and eventually grinding out a grim away point. This was the story of a well organised Henley side who executed their game plan superbly, controlled the game for long periods and had it not been for the excellence of the home team keeper would have deservedly taken all 3 points.

Opta stats emphasis the away teams overall superiority: Henley won 8 short corners, Bromley and Becks won none; Henley had 53 touches in the opposition circle (albeit most of those were Geoff trying to control the ball), Bromley and Becks had 35; Henley had 21 attempts (9 on target), Bromley and Becks had 14 (7 on target).

However it was Bromley and Becks that started the sharper. On the back of five straight wins to start their season it was clear this was a team playing with confidence. There was plenty of fluidity in the front 3 and the ball pace, quickness of movement and intensity in the challenge was overpowering in the opening exchanges as the home side probed Henley’s defences. The home side’s early dominance was rewarded with a goal on 6 minutes as Henley failed to track all the runners and a ball across the circle from the left flank found Nick Clegg unmarked on the edge of the circle, and he fired into an empty net with ease.

This could have been a cue for the unfancied Henley side to capitulate. But this group is growing in confidence and resilience on the back of two decent results themselves. Sticking to the game plan, Henley began to get a foothold in the game. The back line of Sam Heaver, Tom Walter, Rob Rowe and Ed Hughes-Burne started to marshal the movement of the forwards and an efficient team press stopped the home side from moving the ball with the same fluency they had shown in the opening minutes and forced regular turnover ball.

Having started to gain some control in the middle of the park the next challenge was to breakdown a well organised Bromley and Beckenham defence. Geoff Joseph and Luke Gupta worked tirelessly upfront to provide an outlet and a platform for the attack, but for the opening 20 minutes Henley struggled to make inroads into a well set defence.

However with the home side becoming increasingly frustrated and relying on more ambitious passes to penetrate the Henley press, the visitors were beginning to get more opportunity to catch Bromley and Becks on the break and found increasing amounts of space. On 24 minutes Henley were awarded their first short corner and this was duly converted following a slick move which seemed to see Luke Gupta break his duck for the season as the ball hit a defenders foot and appeared to have already crossed the line as Jonny Taylor bundled it in to make sure. Taylor was quick to confirm with the umpire that the goal was his. The umpire clearly felt sorry for the little hobbity figure in front of him, gave him the goal before asking “are you sure that stick is legally long enough?”, but Taylor had already scurried off to the bench for a rest and to tell the long suffering interim manager all about the goal.

The rest of the first half saw Henley grow in confidence now that they were on level terms and start to exert increasing pressure on the home side’s defence, but there were no more significant dramas at either end before the break.

Henley have had good halves before and the way they had nullified the Bromley and Beckenham threat in the first half definitely counted as a good half. This week they looked to put consecutive good halves together. As it happens the second half was in many ways more impressive. The home side looked to be more direct with their passing in the second period, often going to an aerial approach, but failed to ruffle a very organised Henley side.

Henley dominated the opening minutes of the 2nd period. Steve Harding , Ed Foster, Benji Hetherington and Rhys Joyce bossed the middle of the park. Man of the match Hetherington had been afforded a lot of space in the first half, and despite being more closely marked in the second half was utterly dominant both in ball winning and distribution, and alongside Joyce gave Henley the platform to counter attack with regularity.

Harding and Foster were able to get forward more easily as well, as the home side looked to push men forward, and there was much more space to play on the counter. The opening few minutes saw several great opportunities come and go for Henley before the home side scored a fortunate goal following a break of their own on 40 minutes.

The excellent Henry Emmett who had made a couple of crucial saves early in the first half, looked to have a speculative shot from the top of the circle covered before Tom Walter’s attempted interception diverted the ball past the stranded Emmett. Undeterred the visitors continued to create the better chances. Steve Harding rounded the keeper sublimely but could only find the sideboard, the excellent Geoff Joseph and Luke Gupta both brought excellent saves from the keeper from open play, as did Hetherington and the every impressive Ross Hibberd.

Eventually the pressure told and on 50 minutes Henley scored a deserved equaliser as Steve Harding finished from close range after a super move down the right flank involving Joyce, Heaver and Hibberd.

Henley dominated most of the last quarter winning a succession of short corners that brought the best out of the home side’s keeper. The home side rarely threatened until a small flurry with 5 minutes to go saw Bromley and Beckenham camped inside the Henley 25 but resolute defending ensured there was minimal threat.

It finished all square and both sides played at an excellent tempo and intensity throughout. Despite that tempo and intensity and a lot of committed tackles the umpires managed the game brilliantly and without the need to resort to cards.

Overall a very satisfying away point. As Robbie Savage so forcefully put it on 606 on Saturday night, “2-2 away from home, TAKE THE POINT”. However as important as the point, was the manner in which it was earned. A disciplined, incredibly hardworking and at times dominant performance against a very strong opposition should be the benchmark for a tough run of games coming up.

Man of the Match: Hetherington
Dicks of the Day: Rhys Joyce and Sam Heaver (both also refused the tie-breaker pint-off and failed to attend the evening social - #justsaying)

Team: H Emmett, S Heaver, R Rowe, E Hughes-Burne, T Walter, R Hibberd, J Taylor, E Foster, S Harding, R Joyce, B Hetherington, G Joseph, L Gupta