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Ladies 4s
Matches
Sat 11 Oct 2025  ·  South Central Women's Division 4 Thames
Henley Hockey Club
Ladies 4s
6
0
Yateley 4
Ladies 4s v Yately

Ladies 4s v Yately

Rachel Herbert14 Oct - 07:52

Another Saturday, another win for rampaging 4s!

Charging into the season with momentum (having conceded only one goal so far, while scoring a whole bunch more) Henley Ladies 4s were in fine form as they walked out onto the “home” pitch at Shiplake College to meet Yateley 4s. Whilst push back was slightly earlier than the previous week, a 2.45pm start was still late enough for thoughts of a comfy sofa and a nice cup of tea to creep into the minds of some of the more senior players. Any illusion of a gentle early afternoon run around was quickly dispelled by Kat Green who, in a pre-match rallying cry, informed the team she wanted to see Henley possession within 30 seconds of play. She was back from having missed all the action last week. And she meant business.

Lulling their opponents into a sense of false security by being slightly unsure of who was playing where or which team was starting with the ball, Henley promptly did what they were told, secured the ball and fired into the D. In what has become a bit of a Ladies 4s signature multi-player-pile-on move, it wasn’t long before Henley caused the Oppo to panic and secured a penalty flick. Bravely stepping up to take her second one in the space of 5 games, Tilly Alderton was cool and calm. Although the keeper was able to block on this occasion, she couldn’t dampen the fire of Tilly’s spirit, who, taking inspiration from songstress Kelly Clarkson (or was it philosopher Friedrick Nietzsche?) “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” maxim, stormed back into the D and with an assist from Emily Matthews, reverse slapped it past the keeper.

Henley remained dominant for the next 15 minutes, winning 3 short corners. A gentle reminder from Kat about positioning on the 4th one saw some text book action on the post to enable Charlotte Moore to get behind the keeper and push (in very slow motion) the ball across the line. A 2-0 lead to Henley inside 22 minutes seemed to wake Yateley up who immediately went on the attack in what resulted in an unusual (for Henley at least) 1 on 1 between their forwards and goalkeeper Sophia Price. As Yateley ran in, Sophia stepped out, and reading the attempt well, dispatched it with ease. From there Henley mid-field picked up the ball and with some smooth 1-2 passing between Bea Watts and Captain Ali JJ up the pitch and into the opposition’s half, Bea accelerated round the right hand side and into the D to take the shot. The keeper blocked, but Bea was hot on the rebound to find the back of the net. Not to be deterred, Yateley went on the attack again, but Ali and Bea’s 1-2 rhythm found form again to allow Jenny Buckham-Hedges to drive like a whirlwind into the shooting circle and find Kathryn Alderton who slotted it in to make it 4-0 to Henley at the whistle.

The mid match pause gave the oppo time to recalibrate and they returned with a more expansive approach. Stretching play and putting the Henley defensive line under some light pressure, our ladies at the back were keen to show that it wasn’t just the forward facing players who could demonstrate some athletic displays of running prowess. In particular, Hattie Wheeler seemed as if she had ingested rocket fuel during the break as she was here, she was there, she was everywhere creating some great linking play to allow Sophia Cunliffe to carry the ball up the pitch to find the forwards time and time again. Picking up on this heightened energy, Nicola Nott was electric up the left wing, chasing down balls and driving them into the D, one of which allowed Kathryn to notch up her second goal (much to the delight of daughter Tilly who was praying the ensuing euphoria would result in a much coveted pair of joggers from Urban for her ?).

Some impressive tracking back from Isla Hallett in defence to intercept any Yateley balls won on a break allowed Henley to keep pressing high. With Kat Green making light work of recovering any balls making their way erroneously into the Henley D, a strong run up the wing by Emily, transferred to Sophia Cunliffe found Jen BH perfectly positioned at the top of the D to receive the ball and slap it into goal. The intensity of the game only seemed to increase in the final 10 minutes with some great work between the mid-field and forwards in the Yateley half and so very nearly a goal for Amy Hill. As the final whistle blew, it was a 6-0 win for Henley and time to reflect on key areas of development for next time.

Congrats to Hattie for player of the match and a special shout out to Emma JJ who took some excellent notes on play from the side line!

Match details

Match date

Sat 11 Oct 2025

Push back

14:45

Competition

South Central Women's Division 4 Thames

League position

1
Henley 4
14
Yateley 4
Further reading