With Coach Ali Jean Jean taking a planned (but maybe not totally authorised) leave of absence this week, Captain Charlotte Moore assembled the troops with some trepidation and it’s fair to say, a bit of nervous energy. Whilst happy to act as spiritual leader and admin Queen, she wasn’t too sure there was much left in the tank after that to cover off technical support as well. With not even the trusted Jen Buckham-Hedges available to step in as competent adult this week, it was anyone’s guess which way the match would go. Luckily Coach JJ had obtained some best-in-class holiday cover in the form of Louisa England who brought with her a magical and much sought after blend of experience and (relative) youthfulness. The former of these was good news for the team in the sense that there was someone who could shout helpful “left” and “right” instructions at them during the game and the latter good news for her because what she came to appreciate as the match unfolded was that there was no way she was ever being subbed off. As an added bonus, this week the team was pleased to welcome another newbie, Sonja Sidders, who it turns out has a killer hit and some pretty good stick manoeuvres up her sleeve, which meant by the time Saturday finally rocked round the Captain's cortisol levels (and consequent sweats) were under much better control as the line-up was looking rather mighty fine.

With pitch positions allocated and a quick couple of name checks completed, the team lined up to take first push back. Although finishing in the lower end of the league last season, Newbury & Thatcham 4s had got their 2026/27 campaign off to a flying start and they wasted no time in demonstrating how. Although Henley began confidently, Newbury were quick to turnover the ball and were soon pressing high into the home side’s D. Their first shot was deflected by keeper Sophia Price, but Henley struggled to neutralise the threat and Newbury were able to open the scoring with a goal inside the first minute without too much trouble.

It’s fair to say the opposition had caught Henley napping, but this shock event sent a surge of adrenaline through the Henley ranks and they were not going to waste a 2nd pushback. Nina Lloyd sent the ball to Louisa England in centre mid-field who linked with Sonja Sidders, back to Lloyd who’s shot at goal narrowly missed. Newbury worked the ball back to mid-field but were blocked by Evie Quinn who played a tight 1-2 with England to set up the Henley press and work it back into the Newbury D. England side-stepped a defender and set up to strike with the resulting ball caught by Captain Moore on the back post and guided into the goal to equalise the score by the 7th minute.

Buoyed by their early success, Newbury were unperturbed. They were able to exploit some gaps in Henley’s set up to send some long balls far down the pitch and menace the home side’s defensive unit. As this strategy started to pay off, a Newbury attacker struck a sharp ball outside of the D which deflected from a Henley stick into the goal. This disallowed goal and narrow escape was enough to wake the team up to smell the Newbury-means-business coffee. Kelly Woodfin was alert to stray balls threatening the Henley D and quickly picked them up. Despite sustaining a couple of injuries in the process she was still able to transfer these to England, who continued to display her superior agility against Newbury attackers. Quinn formed a strong tag-team unit with Mabel Felwick up the left wing to push the ball further into Henley’s attacking zone, and although Henley had several chances with forward Lisa Robinson always finding the right position, the team was unable to move the scoreline before the half-time whistle blew.

Realising they needed to up the intensity, Henley took to the pitch for the second half with greater focus. Ingrid Johnston and Sophie Ward worked well together in central defence to thwart any incoming Newbury balls and Sophia Cunliffe and Jenny Ovstedal at left and right back were able to apply sufficient pressure to the opposition attackers such that any attempts on goal were wide of the mark. Switching from mid-field to forward, Tara Chesters took on a new lease of life to successfully penetrate the D unmarked on several occasions. She positioned herself well to take strong shots on goal but unfortunately was just wide by a whisker. In the end it was up to England to break the deadlock which she did effortlessly by dodging left and right past 3 opposition mid-fielders to power into the D and around the Newbury defence. Squaring up to the keeper she struck the ball cleanly to find the back of the net and take Henley into the lead.

For the next 15 minutes neither side let up. Newbury continued to step to the ball to intercept and although looking to exploit any Henley weakness, were unable to muster any real attacking force as the clock ticked down. In the final 5 minutes Henley dominated in the press and created several chances but unfortunately were unable to convert and the match finished a 2-1 victory for Henley.

Congratulations to Evie and Mabel who were joint Players of the Match and Sonja and Louisa (in their outstanding debut outing) who received honourable mentions.