Narrow away defeat at Leiston

SIL Premier Division: Leiston FC U23’s 2-1 Henley Athletic FC

A crowd of 87 saw a very tight, competitive and high quality game between two evenly matched sides, the home side running out eventual 2-1 victors.

On arrival the Henley support were stunned by the quality of the Leiston playing surface, leading one committee member to comment “are you sure that’s not AI?” I think with the recent drought we’ve all forgotten what grass actually looks like, but massive credit is due to the Leiston grounds team for producing the best pitch I’ve seen in a long while.

The 1^st half was very even, with both sides effectively cancelling each other out, the home side probably started the stronger, but it was Henley that finished the half better, Francis seeing a shot from range deflected just wide after 32 minutes. Followed by a mishit clearance from Ford giving Petrea a chance on 44 minutes, but he recovered in time to make the save. Ford was on his toes again to make a good stop to deny Fike on 46 minutes, leaving it 0-0 at the break.

On 48 minutes a good attack down the left from Henley, saw Wadey shoot just over the bar. But within a minute it was Leiston who took the lead, Forrester’s cross finished from close range by Shaw to make it 1-0. This imbued the home side with a sense of confidence and they went on to dominate the next 20 minutes with some fine passing play and it was no surprise to see them increase their lead after 74 minutes, Forrester racing on to a through ball and slotting home past Bloom for 2-0.

However, this invigorated Henley, and they pulled one back after 77 minutes, Tejano’s cross headed on by Walker and neatly tucked away at the back post by Francis for 2-1. Henley dominated the final stages as they pressed for the equaliser, a couple of very promising breaks curtailed by, what must have been millimetric offside calls. But it was not to be and Leiston held firm to claim all 3 points.

#UppaHens

The Hat