Henley Men’s 4s travelled to Marlow 6s for their first match of the league season on Saturday. The start to the season came with a number of new faces, with some new experienced players being joined by some youngsters in Zac Viney and Charlie Tyler-Chamberlain, both promoted from the 5s, and Leo Lancashire, joining for the first time.

Marlow proved to be a well experienced and organised opposition, with a number of players having recently played a much higher level.
Playing well they took a well deserved lead from open play after 15 minutes, which was then doubled from a well-worked short corner. Henley got a better foothold in the match in the second quarter, playing some good hockey, largely through their youngsters, with Leo using his pace to outstrip the Marlow defence and then slip the ball past the Marlow keeper for 2-1. However, defensive errors led to Marlow scoring two further goals in a minute, going into the half time break 4-1 up.

At the start of the second half, Henley were better structured and worked hard to keep Marlow at bay. Eventually Marlow’s pressure told, with two further goals resulting in a final score of 6-1 to the hosts. However, Henley equipped themselves well at times against what will most likely be one of the teams pushing for the title at the end of the season, and there were enough green shoots to bring encouragement for the season ahead.