Heaver and Laurie goals put side top of the table

HENLEY 1sts moved to the top of the South Central Premier League Division 2 table after beating OXFORD OBU 1sts 4-0 at Jubilee Park last Saturday.

The home side took the lead after six minutes when Sam Heaver latched on to a Robbie Mortimer through ball to power the ball past the helpless defender on the goal line.

Henley doubled their lead after
20 minutes as Phil Laurie’s reverse-stick strike beat the goalkeeper.

At the other end of the pitch Henley goalkeeper Lee Rowe-Elliott was in good form, saving anything that came his way as Henley took a 2-0 lead into the second half.

On 45 minutes the home side scored their third goal of the day, again through Heaver, who drilled the ball into the bottom corner of the goal after a good exchange of passes down the right-wing from Rhys Joyce and Andrew Seimann.

Ten minutes from time, Henley wrapped up the scoring through Laurie, grabbing his second goal of the day following smart play down the left wing between Robbie Mortimer and captain Ed Foster, leading to a pinpoint cross from Mortimer.

Division 2 North third placed HENLEY 2nds went down to a 2-1 defeat at second placed NEWBURY AND THATCHAM 2nds.

The first half was end-to-end with both sides creating chances and testing each other’s defence. There was also a flurry of cards issued by the umpires but neither side were able to break the deadlock going into half-time. Henley took the lead early in the second half when Harry Alderton calmly fired home.

Midway through the half Newbury capitalised on two short corners in quick succession, converting both to turn the game on its head.

Henley pushed hard in the closing stages in search of an equaliser but Newbury managed the game well and saw it out.

HENLEY 4ths eased their Division 1 Thames relegation fears as they trashed visiting SLOUGH SWIFTS 3rds 9-1.

Henley took the lead early with a tap in from Dom Proudfoot but the visitors levelled the scores soon after.

Ali Slay, back from injury, then went on a run through the middle of the pitch from his own half and fired home to make it 2-1. Henley then won a short corner which was flicked away by Slay to make it 3-1.

Henley were having all the possession and getting the ball into the Slough D repeatedly. Shortly after, Proudfoot received the ball behind him in the D where he deployed a reverse-stick sweep to make it 4-1.

Henley won another short corner towards the end of the half which was saved by the keeper but only as far as Proudfoot, who netted to complete his hat-trick and make it 5-1. In the second half Henley scored again from Rupert Wiseman, who received a pass from Proudfoot before firing past the goalkeeper when one-on-one.

Alex Woolfrey made it 7-1 before another cross from Proudfoot picked out Neil Emmett for 8-1. Henley wrapped up the scoring through Ian Rechner who was on the end of a fine pass in the D from Proudfoot. The result leave Henley fourth from bottom in the table, four points above the Swifts.

HENLEY 5ths put in a dominant display to defeat hosts SLOUGH DESPONDENTS 4ths 2-0.

From the outset Henley moved the ball well, frustrating Slough attempts to break through and were able to settle into the game.

A strong midfield anchored by Mark Newman with Piers Edgell and Jon Williams supporting Zac Viney were able to find space and link up with an attacking front three of JP Watts, Noel Williams and David Corke.

The Henley starting defence of Adam Warner, Dan Bradbury and Simon Ward were well marshalled and coached by keeper Ed Newbold.

The Henley pressure began to tell on the Slough defence and on the stroke of half-time paid off with a penalty corner injected by Viney and converted from the top of the D by Newman.

The second goal came when a diagonal pass found Gray on the left wing, whose cross found N Williams in space by the penalty spot: his deflection found defender Shuttleworth popping up on the right post to tap the winner home.