The Ladies 2s travelled to play a strong Witney team who have been picking up good results, and who beat Henley in the reverse fixture in November - so Henley were cautious.

The slight pre match nerves were settled by an absolutely relentless start by Henley, who pressed high and wouldn’t let Witney out of their half. A couple of half chances went narrowly wide but the goal was coming. Fantastic play down the right by Lily Baker, tenaciously winning the ball back and driving forward, saw the ball fired across the D for Hayley Munt to open the scoring at the back post around 10 minutes in.

Henley continued with the pressure, forcing mistakes, and the midfield of Kirsten Botha, Ellie Roseff, Sophy Rogers and Lily were intercepting everything and restarting Henley attacks again and again. The recently assembled and impenetrable back line of Sophie Miller, Giorgia Fiorentino and Izzy Woolfrey stepped in front of the Witney forwards, tidied up any balls that came through and distributed well, so the yellow wave could go again.

Fresh legs from the bench made the situation even tougher for Witney and paid off fast for Henley. Hassling and harrying from Olivia Callaway and Harri Hayes led to further pressure. One such turnover saw the ball fall to Chloe Lyons, who dribbled past the final defender and slotted the ball across to Amelie Bayfield to finish for Henley’s second.

A couple of minutes later, Kirsten fantastically robbed the Witney midfield high up the pitch, drew the last defender and found a perfect pass to Chloe, who controlled just inside the D and hit it high into the net for the third.

Henley continued and Amelie was on the ball again, using her pace and skill to great effect. Sophie Miller intercepted a ball down the line, drove forward with purpose, beating a couple of defenders and found Amelie for her second and Henley’s fourth.

Witney had a short period of joy which required some fantastic last ditch defending and some unbelievable saves both high and low from goalkeeper Georgie Grocock.

To round off the half, Amelie completed her hatrick with a driving, winding run and confident finish, a very impressive solo effort. Half time, 5-0 Henley.

Witney rallied at the break and definitely came out playing better. Henley naturally tired a bit and became slightly less relentless, all be it still very accomplished all over the pitch, however they still found the 6th goal - from a short corner that Lily Baker didn’t give up on and forced home near the goal line.

Henley had a further opportunity to use their many subs to bring some freshness, and Hayley Robertson and Dora Gibbons were vital in breaking down Witney play and driving forward to relieve pressure. Captain, Emma Buckham-Hedges and Hayley Munt were rallying the young team and making great leads up front, hassling the Witney defence.

Eventually, Witney got a couple of scrappy goals against the run of play, a period of sustained play in the Henley D finally paying off despite some more heroic Henley defending and fabulous Georgie saves however, Henley regained their composure and played out the rest of the half, comfortably moving the ball around and penning Witney back.

Another fantastic all round team performance with some beautiful patterns of play. The win felt like a significant step towards the goal of promotion and hopefully a league win - the ladies have a 6 point lead from 2nd and 9 points to 3rd, with 3 games left to play.