Leiston St Margarets 1-4 Henley Athletic FC

Fears of rustiness, after a frustratingly dormant 3 weeks since our last game, proved unfounded, as Henley dominated to record a 1-4 away victory at the Saints, in front of a crowd of 47.

The visitors started brightly, Hooley forcing a save from the home keeper in only the 2^nd minute. Henley opened the scoring after 21 minutes, Ben Prime and Tejano combining to win the ball back as Saints attempted to play their way out, Tejano threaded the ball through to Wharton-Richardson, whose shot was too hot to handle, the home keeper getting hands to it, but unable to prevent it just crossing the line for 0-1, the assistant official, instantly raising their flag to signal a goal. As Saints fumed at the decision, things only got worse for them, as a sin bin saw them reduced to 10 men, indeed it could have been worse, the sinbinned player sarcastically applauding the decision was very fortunate only to receive a talking to, and not a red card.

However, Henley did take advantage of the extra man, increasing their lead only 3 minutes later, Hooley’s deep cross picked out Ben Prime, he instantly fed Wharton-Richardson, who finished neatly from 6 yards for 0-2.  Henley continued to have the lion’s share of possession, whilst Saints played some neat football, they failed to really trouble Read in the Hen’s goal in the 1^st half, the score remaining 0-2 at the break.

Saints pulled a goal back a couple of minutes after the restart, a good passing move saw a low cross into the Henley box, White blocked well, but the ball looped up and over him, Baker the quickest to react, firing home from close range to bring the score to 1-2. This gave Saints an injection of confidence, enabling their best period of play in the match, but Henley defended stoutly and soon asserted their control again. Cole came close, but blazed over from Asker’s low cross, before Bell saw a header from a Hooley corner cleared off the line.

But on 60 minutes Henley made it 1-3, Cooper’s cross field ball picked out Ben Prime, He whipped in a fine cross, which the home keeper fumbled, Wharton-Richardson was on the spot to force the ball home and complete his hat-trick. To their credit, Saints kept coming and although Henley were in control, they always had to be aware of the threat of a break. But in the 89^th minute the result  was put beyond any doubt, Tejano pressing hard, deep in the Saints half, won the ball and slipped it through to Dende, he skipped past the defender and rifled home to make the final score 1-4.

A good team performance with the whole squad contributing well, the pace, commitment and relentless pressure evident all across the pitch. Wharton-Richardson’s hat-trick saw him collect the MOTM, his movement, both with and off the ball, creating space to cause damage, which he certainly did. Ben Prime ran him close, as well as having a part to play in 3 goals, his work rate and willingness to accept the ball saw him stand out.

Saints played some good football throughout and look in good shape, Baker, not only their scorer, but their MOTM.