Henley 2s score four

It’s been a tale of two quarters of the season so far for Henley 2 nd XI. After a promising start to the
season, they welcomed Staines 2 nd XI on a run of 7 consecutive loses, and fresh from a 7-2 defeat
last week. With Staines a couple of places below them in the table, this was a great chance to pick
up a much needed three points.
On the coldest and wettest Saturday afternoon of the year so far, the two teams got off to a slow
start. 10 minutes in though, and with hands just about warm enough to feel their sticks, Henley
started to tke the upper hand. New recruit from Lyon in France, Nico Jean-Jean, and John Doyle
providing some real vigour to the Henley attack that’s been missing recently.

On 15 minutes, Henley broke the deadlock, some excellent work by the forwards put Doyle into
space and he obliged by slotting home. The conditions didn’t lend themselves to an attractive game
of hockey, and some of the quality on show was pretty poor. Nevertheless Henley persisted and that
paid off when Rechner claimed a deflection via a cross from the right.

So 2-0 up half time, a huge second half was ahead, with three points at stake. The next goal was vital
and in reality it could have gone to either side. But it took some individual brilliance from Jean-Jean
to finally break the second half deadlock when Jean-Jean drilled a reverse stick shot into the bottom right of the Staines goal.

At that point the three points were pretty much sealed. Chances for either side came and went, until
a few minutes before full time, Doyle used his skills to notch his second of the game and
Henley’s fourth.

While it wasn’t the performance that we expect, once the players were dry and warm in the
clubhouse, there was great satisfaction that the 7 game losing streak had come to an end. Next
week, Henley travel to neighbours Phoenix who are currently top of the table.