Henley put 5 past Coplestonians

Another three-figure crowd of 104 saw Henley’s best performance of the season to date, romping to a 5-0 victory over visitors Coplestonians.

Henley dominated from the start, piling on the pressure, which was quickly rewarded after only 5 minutes. A ball from the left by Shore picked out Hammond at the back post, his centre was neatly finished by Watling, who celebrated his 50^th Henley appearance with his 18^th goal for 1-0. A flurry of activity nearly saw Henley immediately increase their lead, with visiting keeper Allison saving first from Bruce, then getting a strong hand to an effort from Bull. Only two minutes later Allison was again Cops saviour, pulling off an absolutely astonishing save to deny a Tejano header, with Watling heading over seconds later. After 15 minutes, yet again Allison was the hero, diving low to his right to tip a fierce drive from Bull to safety.

Other than safely collecting a well-struck Godbold freekick, Dixon had little to do, Storey and Bell snuffing out any threat from Cops before the home goal was threatened. Cowan and Tejano were dominant now in midfield and remained so throughout the 90 minutes as Henley continued to press.

It wasn’t until the stroke of halftime that their dominance was further rewarded when in the 45^th minute Hammond hit a raking 70-yard pass to pick out Bull, he beat his man, before picking his spot to pass the ball into the corner of the net for 2-0 at HT.

Henley continued the 2^nd half in the same vein as the 1^st, maintaining possession and streaming forward at every opportunity. After 57 minutes Clark cleverly drew a silly foul just outside the box, he took the kick quickly, catching the Cops defence unawares, exchanging an intelligent one-two with Tejano, before continuing his run and slamming the ball into the opposite corner for 3-0.

Cops forward Godbold was released by a clever ball and went through one on one, with the advancing keeper Dixon, who pulled off a fine block to keep a clean sheet, with his only real save of the match. For all Allison’s heroics, he won’t look forward to seeing Henley’s fourth goal, Bruce swung in a freekick from wide left, which the visiting keeper could only palm to the feet of Storey, who had the easiest of close-range finishes to make it 4-0.

As the game drew to a close, there was still time for Henley to add another, a tenacious Tejano battling on the edge of the box to maintain possession against two Cops defenders, laying the ball off to Ablitt, who cut inside and hit his shot into the top corner for a final score of 5-0.

A fine showing from Henley, in the first game this season that they have played well for 90 minutes. A dynamic performance from Bull, saw him garner to majority of the Ultra’s vote to secure the MOTM award. But in truth, the whole side played well, from front to back, with Bell and Hammond also drawing plenty of praise, alongside Tejano and Cowan in midfield who both had outstanding games.

Cops were sadly under par, but worked hard and stayed committed throughout, when back to strength they’ll be the threat that they usually are, I’m sure.