Written By : Tony Stone on 24/02/2025

Categories: Match Report

Henley tumbled out of the Morrison Freight Cup, losing 2-0 to determined and committed Kirton Athletic in front of a crowd of 68.

 

With Ben Prime injured and Cowan and Cole rested with minor knocks, it was a different looking Henley that turned out on the day. Dende, Ballard and Grabowski starting, with White dropping back to fullback and Graham in the middle.

 

It nearly paid off in the 2nd minute, Dende bursting clear, his shot looked initially as though it had crossed the line, before it was cleared via the post. Despite Henley having the lion’s share of possession, it was Kirton who opened the scoring, McCarthy hitting a low drive into the bottom corner from a good 25 yards out, to make it 1-0. Six minutes later, Kirton thought they had another, as they slotted home with Hen’s keeper Punter down injured, but they were denied by an offside flag.

 

Henley applied the pressure, Graham forcing a good save after 22 minutes, as Kirton continued to defend bravely, with clearance after clearance as Henley rained in a total of 12 first half corners. But Kirton always posed a threat on the break, again having the ball in the net after 39 minutes, but once again denied by a flag, this time for kicking it out of the keeper’s control. The half finishing 1-0.

 

The second half saw Henley lay siege to the home goal, with Kirton getting 10 men back at all times and defending bravely. Henley came very close, Graham hitting the bar after 50 minutes, Wharton-Richardson blazed over after 65 minutes, Hooley, Dende, Grabowski and White seeing efforts saved or flash wide. As in the opening half, Henley had a multitude of corners, Storey, Bell and Cooper all seeing headers go wide or high as the visitors pushed for the equaliser.

 

As is so often the case with so many committed forward, deep into time added on, Kirton broke, the shot beating Punter, but stopped on the line by Shore who threw himself in the way to block. Despite his arm being by his side, the ball did strike it, which saw Kirton receive a penalty and Shore a red card. Bance slammed home the spot kick for 2-0 and Kirton progressed to the semis.

 

As was commented on the sideline, “we could play until midnight and not score today”, sometimes it’s just not your day, we did play some good stuff at times, epitomised by MOTM Grabowski. But, today was, and quite rightly so, all about respecting a fantastic team performance by Kirton, character, commitment, grit, determination and no little talent, all in abundance from their entire squad. They were fully deserving of their win and all at Henley wish them good luck in their semi-final.