Jean-Jean is hat-trick hero in derby day win

HENLEY 1sts ran out convincing 5-1 winners at South Central Open Premier Division 2 basement side MILTON KEYNES 1sts last Saturday in a match played out in wet and windy conditions.

Despite going a goal down from a counter-attack early on, Henley were dominant throughout the first half with Ed Hughes-Burne being the first on to the scoresheet. His strike from the top of the D skipped past the keeper to draw Henley level.

Harry Rechner then showed composure in the circle, when during open play the ball fell to him and he slotted it home to put Henley into the lead.

Captain Ed Foster made it 3-1 when a pinpoint penalty corner injection from Phil Laurie was stopped by Adam Herbert for the skipper to drag flick into the bottom right-hand corner.

The second half was played out in similar fashion to the first, with Henley dominating possession and continuing to create good chances to extend their lead.

Henley added a fourth through Jonny Taylor who received the ball at right slip and flicked it goalwards, the power meaning the defenders’ attempts to make a stop merely caused the ball to loop up and over the keeper.

In a neat finish to the game Ed Hughes-Burne scored his second of the day to round things off when he deflected a strike from Matt Riches, past the Milton Keynes keeper.

In Division 2 North, HENLEY 2nds ran out 6-3 winners in their clash with visitors SONNING 2nds.

Henley dominated early possession and territory and clinical finishing and well-worked build-up play saw the hosts surge into a 4-0 lead by the break.

Sonning responded quickly after the restart, pulling one back to spark some brief nerves among the home side. Henley soon re-asserted control, adding two more goals to put the game out of reach. Nico Jean-Jean scored a fine hat-trick consisting of two penalty corners and a tidy field goal. The other goals were scored by Richard Woolfrey, Rory Copas and Jamie Taylor. A late lapse in concentration allowed Sonning to net twice more.

In Division 4 North, HENLEY 3rds went down to a 3-2 defeat at home to WOOTTON WANDERERS 1sts.

The visitors took the lead when they caught Henley cold to win a short corner which they converted.

The home side prevented Wootton gaining any real momentum to extend their lead, with Botha, Nicholson, Conway-Hughes and keeper Dave Bowyer defending resolutely.

Henley were dealt another blow with the loss of Sam Brown to injury after
10 minutes, leaving them a bare 11 to see out the rest of the game.

As the half wore on, the midfield trio of Alex Price, Ian Bell and Ed Cary steadily built more of a foothold in the game and the home side strung together some good attacking hockey with Gordon Merritt in particular coming close to equalising before the break. Ten minutes into the second half the home side were on level terms with Ed Cary finding Ian Roberts in the D to sweep home.

The joy was short-lived as Wootton regained the lead with a well-taken individual goal. Henley once again battled back to equalise, with Roberts returning the favour to feed Cary, who stepped past his defender and struck into the bottom right corner for 2-2.

Further chances came and went at both ends in the closing stages of the game, but it was the visitors that claimed the winner with only moments remaining. A chaotic spell in the Henley D saw several players ending up on the floor and culminated in Richard Nicholson taking a ball to the face on the goal line. Wootton were awarded a penalty flick which they converted.

Henley resumed with
10 players, and almost immediately lost another player as Ted Day took a heavy blow to the foot and could not continue.

HENLEY 4ths lost out 2-1 in their Division 1 Thames clash at league leaders YATELEY 3rds.

Henley started brightly and applied pressure from the first whistle. New recruit Charlie Phipps slotted in at right half and controlled the right side.

Centre midfielder Al Slay picked out Phipps down the right, who connected with right-wing Dominic Proudfoot to slip behind an unsettled Yateley defence.

Henley’s early dominance paid off as striker Ewan Watkins connected with a well-placed cross from Sam Austin who steered the ball neatly through the keeper’s legs to give Henley the lead.

Yateley upped the intensity, pushing hard against Henley’s midfield and defensive units and pulled a goal back.

Following an injury to Emmett, Yateley seized the moment and broke through to take the lead with three minutes remaining.

The previous week, HENLEY 5ths drew 3-3 at MARLOW 8ths in their Division 3 Thames encounter.

After 20 minutes Henley midfielder Nicholas Segrue found Sam Austin in the centre, and following a fine run to the byline and dragging back a pinpoint pass, Duncan Gray tapped in to level the score.

Marlow responded at pace and on the stroke of half- time managed to nudge ahead once more after a short corner.

In the second half the rate of substitutions from Marlow began to tell and Henley’s back line of Dan Bradbury, Rowan Austin and Piers Edgell needed to respond rapidly to counter their attacking style, with stand-in goalkeeper Ed Newbold making an outstanding aerial save to keep Henley in the game.

That save led to a long corner from which Henley turned over the ball, and a long pass found Sam Austin in space whose run and movement beat two defenders. He was rewarded with a deftly flicked shot past the keeper to level the scores.

The last 10 minutes saw both sides launching attacks created from their defensive base and after Marlow managed to go ahead once more Henley finally equalised with five minutes to go after build-up play found Rowan Austin at the top of the circle and a powerful strike hitting home.