Henley welcomed Oxford Hawks for an entertaining and fiercely contested first league game of the season. The hosts started brightly, with Alyx Clarke, Charlotte Jean-Jean and Emily Mir composed at the back and working hard to move the ball forward, while Rachel Herbert helped organise the defence and looked for opportunities to release the attack. Around 10 minutes in, Henley took the lead after a good attacking passage earned them a short corner. The initial strike hit a defender’s foot, giving Henley another chance, and this time injector Hayley Munt produced a superb reverse-stick sweep into the bottom-left corner to put the home side ahead.

Oxford however, responded with a quick break following a Henley turnover and managed to create a one-on-one with goalkeeper Georgie Grocock - which the visitors converted to level the score. Henley continued to create chances before half-time and won another short corner, only for the resulting strike to be ruled out after the umpires decided the ball had entered the goal above the height of the backboard. Half-time arrived with the scores level at 1–1, although Henley felt they had created enough opportunities to be ahead. After the break, Henley came out strongly and thought they had once again regained the lead when Herbert found Munt with a superb straight ball from around halfway. Hayley finished with a reverse-stick scoop, but the ball had taken a slight deflection off her shin pad first, and the goal was disallowed.

Oxford again showed their threat on the counter and eventually found a way through to make it 1-2. Henley responded with some excellent attacking play, with Chloe Lyons coming agonisingly close to restoring the lead. The Henley pressure continued, this time with Olivia Calloway producing a fantastic run down the left before finding Lyons, who peeled around her defender and fired a shot past the goalkeeper — only to see it ricochet off the post! Moments later, Chloe came even closer when she reacted brilliantly to a bobbling ball from Clarke and struck towards the top of the net. This time the Oxford goalkeeper somehow produced a fingertip save to tip it over the bar. Despite further strong defensive work from Georgia, Alyx, Charlotte and Emily, Oxford eventually broke forward again and found the net to make it 3–1.

Henley refused to give up and threw everything into the final stages. Rachel continued to look for opportunities from deep, Olivia drove forward, while Tilly and Kirsten worked tirelessly to regain possession and feed the attack. With less than five minutes remaining, Henley pulled a second goal back following some brilliant one-touch hockey down the left between Lyons and Munt. After a series of slick passes, Munt received the ball back in scoring range from Lyons. Her powerful strike eased past the Oxford keeper to make it 2-3. Henley pressed for an equaliser right until the final whistle, but Oxford held on. It was a frustrating result given the chances created and the two disallowed goals, but there were plenty of positives to take from a determined team performance in yet another new league - a proper team effort, just missing the result to go with it.