Mulvaney scores brace as 10-man Town triumph

HENLEY TOWN put in a hard-working display to run out 3-1 winners in their Premier Division clash with AFC WINKFIELD at Virginia Water last Saturday.

The home side started strongly and after five minutes a ball drifted into the area and came off the post with goalkeeper Isaac Aitchison managing to palm the rebound away to safety.

The Henley midfield started to dictate play, creating opportunities for Tom Barker, Charlie Douglas and Alex Walmsley but it was captain Luke Mulvaney that opened the scoring when the Winkfield goalkeeper failed to kick clear leaving him to roll the ball home from outside the penalty area.

Winkfield came close when a wide free kick played to the edge of the box resulted in a shot that was quickly closed down by the Town defence.

The second half started evenly but Winkfield equalised on 55 minutes when centre back Dan Tilley failed to deal with a bouncing ball allowing substitute Herman Ni Addo Quaynor to nip in and sidefoot past Aitchison.

Henley began to control the game after making substitutions, taking off wide players Barker and Savio Patel and bringing on Rhys York and Kyle Moorcroft, moving left back Ashley Field further forward.

Field and Bertie Gingell both had long range efforts easily saved before Mulvaney broke down the right flank in the 70th minute and neatly lofted the ball over the keeper from a wide angle to regain the lead.

Aitchison picked up a yellow card soon after when colliding with a Winkfield forward before Charlie Douglas added a third with 10 minutes remaining, converting a rebound after his first shot was saved.

With the points all but safe Henley had a scare in stoppage time when Aitchison handled outside the
18-yard box and received a second yellow card and was subsequently sent off. Moorcroft took over between the posts but was untroubled for the last few minutes.

Elsewhere in the division, WARGRAVE recorded their first league win of the season as they beat SB PHOENIX 3-0.

After a goalless first half, Craig Haylett put the villagers ahead just one minute into the second half.

Fred Kirby made it 2-0 on 70 minutes and seven minutes later and Matthew Laverty completed the scoring.

In Division 1, GORING UNITED continued their good home form as they ran out 4-2 winners against HAMBLEDEN.

Goring had the majority of the early possession but fell behind when an over-hit corner was recycled to the far post where an unmarked Sam Oxford powerfully headed home.

Goring looked certain to equalise when Chris Pocock found himself in front of an open goal but he failed to make solid contact skewing the effort wide.

The equaliser soon came when a low Josh Monk shot was deflected into the path of Tom Heslop who fired home from 12 yards. Hesitation by the home defence allowed Hambleden’s Alfie Wallis to retake the lead before, on the stroke of half-time, Heslop scored his fourth goal in two appearances this season. Early in the second half Tommy Edwards burst through into the Hambleden area and was bundled over from behind. However, from the resultant penalty Matt Hayden put his effort too close to the Hambleden keeper who saved well.

Good work from substitute Alex Fletcher allowed him to get to the bye-line to send in a low cross that was turned home by Monk.

The game could have swung when in a tight decision goalkeeper Matt Trimmings was adjudged to have handled the ball outside of his area and received a red card. Centre back Tom Canning went in goal and pushed the resultant free kick on to the crossbar.

Hambleden pushed for an equaliser but the 10 men stood firm, with a couple of minutes remaining victory was assured when Heslop flicked on a header allowing Pocock to outpace his defender and finish with aplomb. The linesman flagged for offside but was overruled by the referee. In Division 2, HENLEY TOWN DEVELOPMENT ran out 3-0 winners at home to READING CITY DEVELOPMENT.

Henley started on the front foot creating chances in the early stages. After good pressure from the town, it was Hugh Barklem that opened the scoring when his strike came off the keeper and he made no mistake with his second attempt.

Henley made it 2-0 with a fine goal from Mark Kakembo firing into the top right-hand corner.

An injury to Barklem forced an early change with Jackson replacing him, and then substitutes Tom Taylor and Jimmy Maudlin also came on for Henley.

Taylor influenced the game well and broke up play while Maudlin made it 3-0 to Henley in the second half following a corner that was cleared onto the edge of the box where he volleyed home into the top left-hand corner.