Coming off the back of a three-game unbeaten run, Henley Men’s 1st XI travelled to third place Staines HC last Saturday, in what proved to be a day to remember for the amber and blues.

With a strong squad of 14, Henley started the game at an excellent tempo, creating chances almost from the starting whistle. After three minutes Henley took the lead after a quick free hit from Rhys Joyce found Ed Foster on the edge of the Staines D, who swivelled past his marker and found Sam Heaver in space. Heaver’s deft touch found midfield maestro Matt Riches, who finished with aplomb, flicking the ball across goal into the back of the net.

Seven minutes later the home side equalised after a loose ball in the Henley D was pounced on by Staines’ forward Matt Wells, who jabbed the ball home from close-range. This sparked Henley into life and the remaining 60 minutes of hockey was pure poetry in motion.

On the 15 minute mark Henley retook the lead through an Ed Foster penalty corner drag flick, which with help of a slight deflection, nestled into the top left corner of the Staines goal. Moments after, Foster grabbed his second of the day after a flowing counterattack lead by Henley captain Jonny Taylor and Dr. Luke Gupta ended up with Geoff Joseph in space, who squared the ball to Foster for a simple finish.

Smelling blood, Henley continued their first half surge, adding a fourth goal through Henley legend Robbie Mortimer, who expertly deflected Matt Riches’ raking through ball past the Staines goal keeper.

On the stroke of half time Henley then scored a fifth, as another flowing move ended up with Geoff Joseph volleying the ball home from close range on the eighth time of asking, after seven previous saved attempts from one yard out.

With the score 5-1 at half time, Henley knew the home side would come out fighting in order to salvage some pride. Sure enough, Staines pressed higher up the pitch and it took some resolute defending by Toby Phillips, Danny Sutherland, Kyle Soulsby and Pete Roseff, supported by a string of fine saves by Ryan Foggoa in the Henley goal, to keep Staines at bay.

With this sound defensive platform, Henley were able to counter-attack at will, causing endless problems for the Staines backline throughout the second half. Henley scored a sixth goal through Sam Heaver, after Foster and Charlie Shaw played a neat 1-2 on the end of the Staines D. After seeing his first shot saved by the goal keeper, Heaver kept his cool with two defenders on the goal line, flicking the ball into the far corner of the net.

Five minutes later Robbie Mortimer was bored of how routine the win was becoming and decided to leave the ground to travel back to Henley. Wonderful arrogance from the marauding defender. Ed Foster then completed his hat trick, scoring his twelfth goal of the season after a raking Rhys Joyce aerial found the Henley forward, whose first touch took the ball around the Staines goal keeper at head height, followed by a half volleyed reverse stick shot into the far corner of the goal. A definite contender for goal of the season.

Kyle Soulsby continued to make strong tackles and was unlucky to receive a yellow card for his extra enthusiasm towards the end of the game. To complete a fine afternoon, Henley scored an eighth goal two minutes from time, as Shaw deflected Foster’s penalty corner into the Staines’ net.

Final score:

Henley: 8 (eight)
Staines: 1

The 8-1 score line slides in at number 9 in the top 10 biggest wins for Henley M1s in the 21st century. A good day out for all involved.

Man of the match: Ed Foster
Dick of the Day: Robbie Mortimer (forgetting that he was supposed to be picking up his daughter from her dance class instead of playing hockey in Staines).