Henley 4s draw with league leaders

Henley 4s returned from an extended Christmas break with their first game of 2015 against League leaders Slough Ramgarhia at Jubilee Park, on the back of consecutive wins at the end of 2014, spirits were high but the team were certainly wary of a strong experienced Slough team.

Henley started the stronger and were quickly pushing Slough deep into their half, excellent play in mid-field from James Lane and Simon Taylor were proving the bedrock of multiple attacks but try as they might, Henley couldn’t get a serious shot on target. Following a good work thru the Henley mid-field Andy Green picked up the ball in the opposition D and his attempt was deflected wide of the goal by an opposition foot. From the short corner Alan Mortimer found he had ample time to calmly strike the ball into the opposition’s left hand corner of the goal to take a well-deserved lead.

Slough responded strongly and began to find their rhythm, with their game based extensively on counter attack but they were finishing the Henley defence equal to the task. Harry Wray particularly catching the eye with dogged defence and also being the lynch pin for attacks down the Henley left. The game was now becoming more and more equal with both sides having opportunities to attack but neither side able to find the net. With minutes of the first half remaining, Slough were awarded a hotly disputed Short Corner. Following a well-rehearsed move the ball was slipped back to the injector whose first time flick struck the bar and rebounded to safety.

The second half continued where the first finished with Slough coming more and more into the game as some of the Henley players began to show signs of weariness following the extended Christmas break. With quick movement down the centre of the pitch the ball was worked to the edge of the Henley D from where the striker’s shot took a big deflection off a Henley stick and deflected over the keeper’s head and in to the net for what was a deserved equaliser.

With 15 minutes to go it was now anyone’s game to win or lose. The Henley team took stock of what they had worked hard to achieve and the resolve not to throw away the hard work was clear to anyone to see. The defence became tighter and the midfield dropping a little deeper ensured there were little opportunities for Slough to break. In doing so Henley were now dependant on breakaways to get the winning goal. With 3 minutes left to play great work down the right from Rupert Wiseman created a chance for the winner but try as he might Jamie Furness couldn’t make contact with the fast moving ball as it came across an empty D.

With the final whistle sounding both sides were clearly disappointed not to have secured the 3 points but all in all a draw was the right result.