Cottam double, plus Wray and Draycott strikes, secure win for injury-hit Henley

Henley 3rd team travelled the short distance across Sonning bridge to face Reading 3rds on an icy Saturday.

Starting with impressive pace and movement, Reading looked dangerous from the start playing with a style and intensity that belied their mid-table league position, the visitors at first struggling to retain possession and maintain control on a bouncy pitch.

Regaining composure and piecing together some more incisive moves, Henley started to play higher up the pitch and were duly rewarded by a goal from John-Joe Cottam, finishing strongly after his own rampaging run from a slick pass delivered by Ian Rechner.

However, Henley were struck by injuries which could have cost them the match. After just five minutes, instrumental centre half James Baker was sidelined with a hamstring injury, joining the incapacitated talisman Julian Herbert on the bench.

Reduced to a bare 11 and also lacking star striker Tim Barrass from the starting lineup, Henley looked vulnerable. To make matters worse, midfielder John-Joe Cottam then suffered a thigh injury and was consigned to playing a stationary holding role up front, putting the remaining outfield players under more pressure.

In spite of the injury crisis, Henley went into the break 1-0 up, and in the second half started to take more control of the game. This was down to commanding performances at the back from Tom Bodeker and Ed Newbold, supported by sterling and combative efforts from Jack Draycott and Leo Packham in the midfield.

With more space and composure, Henley started to create more chances. Several goal-front tap-ins were squandered, but one resulted in a penalty corner. With penalty corner specialist Baker off the pitch, Cottam stepped up and threaded a clever ball back to injector Draycott, who finished resoundingly. Harry Wray then finished powerfully from close range to take the score to 3-0.

But Reading still looked dangerous with their robust midfield linking in with a fast forward line, who were relentless in making intelligent runs into the Henley area. The home side crept back into the game, with a glove-height penalty corner flick defeating the unfortunate Cordrey. This was quickly followed by a speculative aerial ball which was picked up by a Reading forward to take the score to 3-2.

But the Reading comeback was snuffed out with a move inspired by man-of-the-match James Rechner, which sealed victory for Henley. A superb move through Newbold and Draycott found Rechner on the right, who skipped past the Reading defence and drove powerfully along the byline, delivering a quality final ball to Cottam in front of goal who this time made no mistake.

Henley go into the Christmas break at the top of the league, having only dropped three points and scoring an impressive 50 goals so far – averaging 5 per game. Second-placed Oxford 4ths have a game in hand, and the two are due to face each other shortly in a rescheduled fixture – which promises to be an exciting top-of-the-table clash.

Henley – M Cordrey, R Austin, T Bodeker, E Newbold, L Packham, J Draycott, J Baker, W McCreery, J-J Cottam, J Herbert, H Wray, J Rechner, I Rechner