Foster at the double as Henley beat county rivals

HENLEY 1sts eased to a comfortable 4-1 South Central Open Premier Division 2 win at BICESTER 1sts last Saturday

Chris Green opened the scoring for the amber and blues after eight minutes, tapping in captain Ed Foster’s cross from close-range, following good work from Benji Hetherington and Tim Herbert.

Henley doubled their lead five minutes later through Foster, who finished off a neat three-man move involving Geoff Joseph and Harry Rechner down the right-hand side of the Bicester D. Despite further chances for goals, the score stood at 2-0 going into the half time break.

In the second half, Henley added their third after 45 minutes — Green deflecting Rhys Joyce’s cross into the roof of the net.

Bicester showed good resilience to keep the score at 3-0 and were rewarded with a consolation break-away goal with eight minutes left on the clock.

The home side’s celebrations were short-lived as Foster scored his second goal of the game just moments later, after Herbert unselfishly squared the ball to the skipper when one-on-one with the Bicester goalkeeper.

HENLEY 2nds got back to winning ways in Division 2 North as they defeated visitors BERKHAMSTED AND HEMEL HEMPSTEAD 1sts 3-1 at Jubilee Park.

Goals from Richard Woolfrey, Brandon Smith and Robert Farina ensured Henley were always in the driving seat. Smith’s strike was the standout moment of the match. A good executed short-corner routine saw Henley play one touch hockey between three players, carving open the circle before calmly finishing.

Berkhamsted and Hemel Hempstead pulled a goal back with a well-worked move of their own to stay in the contest, but Henley saw out the game well to claim the three points.

HENLEY 4ths eased their Division 1 Thames relegation fears with a 5-3 home win against promotion chasing READING 6ths.

With an experienced squad, Henley started brightly and put Reading under pressure. Having been saved a few times by young goalkeeper, Tomas Chamberlain, Henley took the lead through a four-pass move down the right hand which was swept home at the back post by Noel Williams. A second goal soon followed when, shortly before half time, James Edgell lifted a part-cleared ball past the stranded Reading keeper.

Henley started the second half just as strongly, although Reading had a substitute who joined at half time and he promptly began to run through the home defence. Having narrowly failed to score on two occasions, the Reading midfielder again ran at the Henley defence, weaving his way past Proudfoot, Herbert and Grocock before smashing the ball through a small gap between the Henley keeper’s pads.

Jon Gilligan restored Henley’s two goal lead finishing off a short corner move. Soon after the Reading substitute again ran through the home defence to reduce the deficit to 3-2.

Back came Henley with another well worked short corner finished calmly by Alex Woolfrey for 4-2. The visitors were then awarded a short corner following a rash challenge by skipper Jon Grocock. The resulting corner, put in by the Reading substitute, was scored to make it 4-3.

Henley went back at the visitors once again. After missing numerous chances, laid on largely by Dom Proudfoot, Neill Emmett scored the last goal of the match with a deflection from open play.

HENLEY 5ths took all three points as they defeated visitors EASTCOTE 6ths 2-0 in their Division 3 Thames encounter.

Henley began the match well, moving the ball around a midfield diamond of Zac Viney, Charlie Tyler-Chamberlain, James Edgell and Nicolas Segrue. This platform was soon dominating play, creating space and finding the space created by good runs from forwards Sam Austin, JP Watts and Bryn Balcombe.

This early control allowed the whole team to come into play, with defenders Piers Edgell, Dan Bradbury and Jon Williams pushing up to support.

On 11 minutes a movement from the backs allowed Piers Edgell to come into possession on the left halfway line who picked a perfect pass piercing the play into the penalty circle, and a sprint by Austin slotting sideways scoring the opener.

Eastcote pushed hard to break into Henley’s 23 yard line, but strong defensive play by the home side, marshalled by goalkeeper Ed Newbold, allowed the hosts to go into half time with a narrow lead.

The introduction of Simon Taylor and Adam Warner in the second half for Henley created fresh energy and renewed speed. The contributions of Viney and Tyler-Herbert in particular opened Eastcote up, making smart runs, tracking back and making telling tackles to keep Henley’s attacking spirits high.

The constant pressure finally told as good crosses, passing into the D and creative runs opened up the opposition, but it was not until the final minute that Viney’s run to the byline and pullback to the top of the circle was converted into a second goal by James Edgell with a deft flick into the corner of the net.