As the UK wondered this week whether any of its great institutions are still holding firm, the ever dependable Henley Ladies 4s crossed over the River Thames and made their way down the A404 to meet Maidenhead Ladies 5s for the next in the series of rematches. Despite the lateness of the hour and the threat of yet more rain, the team had a couple of clear objectives. They were tantalisingly close to scoring a total of 100 goals with 6 matches left and the Club Chairman had (rather rashly as it was turning out) promised them all sorts of goodies, at his great expense ? if they could get to 115 by close of season. Bring. It. ON!

Sixteen matches in, and pre-match strategy chat was getting slicker. Captain Ali was able to draw out the formation, explain the game play and not even Kat-at-the-Back-Green needed to translate it into words of one syllable for the rest of the team. Grown up sounding phraseology: "attacking wing"; "run to the corner"; "box formation in the press on the 16"; "line to goal" was bandied about indiscriminately, with the ladies nodding sagely (and convincingly), until Captain Ali tried her luck with a "concertina" analogy for defensive strategy across the back line which proved a step too far for the collective concentration to hold. Time for a quick warm up with the balls, the obligatory visit to the bathrooms and they were off.

Maidenhead took first push back and it didn't take long for Henley to assert their dominance and win the ball back. This week Henley was experimenting with a 3-3-4 formation which allowed the defensive dream team of Evie Quinn, Isla Hallett, Jenny Ovstedal and Florence Moorcroft to be more involved in the build-up of play, supporting the mid-field and recycling possession of the ball. Although the team had no problem with finding the D, they were struggling to find the back of the net and curiously, the opposition defence were not conceding any short corners. This lot clearly knew what they were doing. Tiring of this stale mate, Charlotte Clarke decided to break the deadlock and subbing in made an immediate impact on play by catching a rebound from the keeper and hitting it straight back to find the back of the net and give Henley their first goal. This was exactly the spark Henley needed and from then it was as if they were on fire. In a good way, of course.

As Maidenhead took the next push back, Charlotte Moore ran hard towards the opposition midfield to intercept the ball and passed to Charlotte JJ. Possessed of an unworldly energy, she ran down straight down the middle of the pitch, past the Maidenhead players and into the D, slapping the ball into goal, just as her dad arrived to witness it. Perfecto! Although it had taken a little longer than usual, Henley had started to find their rhythm. But so too had Maidenhead and they were fighting hard to push the ball down the other end of the pitch. They could try, but they were no match for the feisty intent of Jenny O who was a one woman dynamo of blocking and interception of the ball on the left. Before long, Kat (obviously) had possession of the ball and she was sending it high up the pitch towards the forwards. With a bit of nifty play from Jess Stevens, the ball was back in the D and ready to be flicked into the top left hand corner of the net by Charlotte Clarke, making it her 2nd goal and Henley's 3rd of the match. With some more busy action in the Maidenhead D, Henley finally won a short corner. With the holy Trinity of Captain Ali injecting, Kat-at-the-Back coming to the front and Tenacious Tilly Alderton poised ready on right slip, it was inevitable that Tilly would find the back of the net to make it 4-0 to Henley.

As the last 5 minutes of the first half ticked by, Maidenhead worked hard to move the ball down into the Henley third. But Florence Moorcroft, showing once again that she can motor from 0-60 in a split second, easily outpaced the opposition players to intercept the ball and work with Isla Hallett to transfer it back up the pitch. Now into the D, Henley won another short corner just as the whistle blew and everyone ran up the pitch to support, just as Captain Ali, taking a momentary breather on the side-lines, was helpfully screaming at them to do. How exciting, a bit unusual and very exotic. The first Henley strike was saved by the keeper and the ladies battled to keep the ball within the D, despite the best efforts of the Maidenhead defence to send it out. But in the end, Kat put everyone (including the umpires) out of their misery and with the assuredness of a seasoned pro, scored Henley's 5th goal of the match. She was on top of the mental arithmetic on Henley goal tally and with the promise of some special freebies if the team met their target, she was going to do her bit to get them there.

At half time, the Henley players were in for a treat. A guest appearance by the Henley Ladies 1s coach, Nico JJ, lent an even more professional air to the half time de-brief. The general gist was that now it was time to play some big-girls' hockey. The team were to stop rushing the ball into the D, with the inevitable battle ensuing, and to stretch play out (from right to left and back again) to draw the opposition out before choosing the right moment to strike. To support this more advanced approach, the team were to revert to their usual 2-4-4 formation. Right ho. Sure. And that's when it all fell apart.

Moving away from the comfort of their usual tactic of aggressively pressing the ball high and into the opposition's third, Henley seemed a bit confused on how to effectively stretch play out. Sensing this chink in their up to now impenetrable armour, Maidenhead were quick to capitalise and play was now concentring in Henley's third. On the plus side (every cloud), this mean't that Henley goalie Jasmine Hillyard got to see more action and show what she could really do. Now the oppo were coming for her with short corners and shots towards goal galore. But Jasmine remained cool as a cucumber and rebuffed all of their attempts, keeping the Henley net free of balls and the sheet very much clean, despite the rain now hammering it down with all it's might. Switching things up a bit, Katherine Alderton dropped further into mid-field to support her daughter Tilly and get the ball back up to her fellow forwards Charlotte Clarke and Amy Hill. If it was stretch that Coach Nico wanted, it was definitely stretch that he got.

Although it took a while for Henley to find their feet, the defensive team were calm under pressure. Florence and Evie Quinn ran their socks off and were no match for their opponents when it came to pace and manoeuvres. Isla was, as ever, wholly dependable in the middle, helping the transfers round the back and pushing high when she needed to. Jenny continued to cause pain to the Maidenhead forwards and Kat was able to showcase her mega hits from the back line. The 2nd half was really time for the defence to shine, demonstrating that it wasn't just the forwards and midfielders that could have a scrap in the D and come out on top!

With a total goal tally of 99 goals achieved by the close of the 1st half, was it really possible that Henley would not be able to secure the 100th in the 2nd? Playing slightly more elevated hockey was all very well and good but it didn't seem to be translating all that successfully into more goals, and if there's one thing that this Henley side love a bit of - it's scoring loads of goals. The team need not have feared though, as once they had got their act together, they were back to having more tussling in front of the goal. It may not have been too classy, but they were here to get the job done and as they fought their way through another short corner, it was Amy Hill who put the ball to bed and pushed it through the legs of the keeper to take the score to 6-0 to Henley and 100 goals in total for the season. As the Maidenhead side became ever more desperate (tripping over the teens or smacking balls into their sides), Henley remained in control and in a poised display of show and tell, Captain Ali returned to the pitch to demonstrate a classic peel and turn action in the opposition's circle which positioned her beautifully to smash the 7th goal home and close out the match.

Well done ladies! Another hard fought match (even if the score line doesn't really show it). Only 5 matches left of the season and at home to toughies Slough next week - so no going out and plenty of rest!