Henley jump from 14th to 8th in only 6 days

SIL Premier Division: Henley Athletic FC 2-1 Whitton Utd FC

A bumper crowd of 107 saw, depending on your allegiance/viewpoint, a frustrating/comedic match at the Community Centre, which saw Henley reach the top half of the table with a victory over bottom side Whitton. A delay in some of the Whitton lads arriving meant the kick off was later than the planned 18.15, meaning that the last ten minutes were played in something close to darkness. Henley Manager Brown, made several changes, with an eye on the upcoming semi-final and the fixture congestion of the next few weeks.

Henley were on the attack immediately, after 2 minutes Cates crossed for Graham who shot straight at the keeper, Taylor putting the rebound wide. The pressure continued, Cates, Taylor and Knights all coming close in the opening minutes. For the second game running Henley were denied a clear penalty, when after 10 minutes, Cates brought down when he was clean through on goal. In the 16^th minute both Cates and Taylor contrived to hit the woodwork within 20 seconds of each other as Henley piled on the pressure.

Henley were finally rewarded after 25 minutes, Knights picking out Dende, who crossed for Keita to finish neatly from 10 yards to make it 1-0. On 29 minutes Taylor’s top corner bound freekick was tipped round the post by Willsmore in the Whitton goal. Bell also saw a header come back of the woodwork. On 43 minutes Knights crashed a shot in from range, which hit the underside of the bar, bounced down and appeared to have crossed the line, but sadly no goal was awarded. Whitton only created one effort of note in the 1^st half, Spurling quick off his line to block, leaving it, somewhat astonishingly only 1-0 at HT.

Henley continued to push after the break, Keita pulling a fine save out of Willsmore after 54 minutes, Dende also seeing Willsmore tip round his effort 3 minutes later. Willsmore again the hero on 66 minutes as he tipped Knights’ drive away, the young keeper having a wonderful game. As is so often the case in these type of games, Henley’s failure to increase their lead came back to bite them after 73 minutes. A clearance deflected back into the path of Wadey, who broke clear and finished well for 1-1.

On 76 minutes yet again Willsmore denied Knights, a minute later Whitton were down to ten men after a second yellow, a minute later Cates had the ball in the net, but was denied by an offside flag. On the 80^th minute Smythe struck a freekick from just outside the box, but again Willsmore was equal to it, tipping round his post. In the gathering gloom of the 89^th minute, Henley’s persistence was finally rewarded, Cates’ scuffed effort sneaking in at the post to give Henley a well-deserved 2-1 victory.

Phew! That was an exhausting and frustrating game to watch as a Henley fan, but credit to the lads, who just kept going and going, never giving up looking for the win, an attitude epitomised by MOTM White throughout. Praise for Whitton too, who never dropped their heads, even when down to 10 men, I’m hoping to have the YouTube highlights out later today, I’m sure young keeper Max Willsmore will want it as his own personal highlight reel, what a performance he had, well done.

#UppaHens

The Hat