Written By : Connor Banks on 26/04/2023

Categories: Match Report

A great save by legendary keeper Dixon, of Stowupland’s 5th penalty, saw Henley win the Morrison Freight Cup final 4-5 on penalties after a hard-fought 0-0 draw.

Despite Henley mostly dominating the 1st half, albeit that they were pretty much restricted to long range efforts, Bruce, Ablitt, Watling, Field, White and Van Oene, all seeing shots, go high or wide. Falcons also had a couple of efforts, but neither keeper was unduly troubled, leaving the score 0-0 at the break.

Falcons came out looking much stronger in the 2nd half, motivated and on the front foot, putting the Henley defence under early pressure, but as in the 1st half, Dixon was largely untroubled. On 50 minutes came the best effort of the game, Storey’s header from a Van Oene corner, cleared off the line after finally getting past Falcons keeper Watling. On 65 minutes Bruce was released by a Hammond pass, but under close attention from the impressive Carver, his shot went just wide. On 70 minutes, 2 yellow cards, inside 5 minutes saw White dismissed and Henley down to 10 men. But, if anything, this just made the game even more gritty as both defences snuffed out any chance for a goal, the final whistle sounding and sending the game to penalties.

Henley went 1st, Van Oene, George Ablitt, Bradlaugh, Field and Bruce all scoring their penalties, Falcons first four spot kicks also found the net, but Henley’s hero was keeper Dixon, who dived low to his left to save their fifth and to see Henley triumph 4-5 on penalties.

Whilst not our best performance of the season, most of the credit for that, has to go to a superb defensive display from Mark Dye’s Falcons, well drilled, fully committed and solid as a rock, they resisted every Henley attempt to get through them, whilst still posing a threat themselves. The fact that both players chosen by the Ultras for MOTM were centre halves, Bell for Henley, whose elegance and class belie his young years and the colossus that is Carver, for Falcons, whose power and reading of the game shone.

A great win for Henley, one that showed both our character and team spirit, especially playing with ten men for over 20 minutes. But Falcons impressed throughout, on and off the pitch, all at Henley wish them good fortune in their quest for promotion, they’d be a terrific addition to the Senior Division.