Hens progress to the next round of the Senior Cup

Suffolk FA Senior Cup: Bacton Utd 89 1-2 Henley Athletic FC

A crowd of 37 saw a hard fought encounter between these two sides, which saw Henley progress to the next round. Injuries saw a first start of the season for Joe Francis, playing alongside his son Harrison, Ash Rankin leading the line and a debut off the bench for new signing Rafael Leal. Despite the lovely playing surface, a swirling, heavy cross wind made things tricky for both sides all afternoon.

Pre game saw an immaculately observed 2 minute silence in memory of the sad loss of young Noah Woods, a tragedy that has affected all of us locally this past few days.

Henley got off to a positive start, father and son combining in the opening minute, Joe feeding Harrison who shot narrowly over the bar. On 7 minutes H. Francis came close again, forcing a save with a low drive after being played in by Wardley. H Francis again the danger man 2 minutes later, his freekick from the edge of the area, inches too high. Only a minute later a phenomenal 20 yard strike from Tejano crashed off the crossbar to safety. As Henley piled on the pressure Rankin fired his shot straight at the keeper after 15 minutes.

The Henley defence was restricting Bacton to long range efforts, none of which troubled Lee in the Henley goal, although Bacton looked dangerous on the break, Henley dealt well with their attacks and cleared comfortably from a couple of corners. On 33 minutes a good Henley passing move saw J Francis’s shot saved at the near post. Henley pressure paid off on 36 minutes, H. Francis winning the ball off a Bacton defender as they attempted to play out from the back, picking his spot and rolling the ball home for 0-1. Just before the break, good work from Petrea, who found H. Francis, whose shot was stopped well at the near post, leaving it 0-1 at HT.

It was a blistering start to the 2^nd half for Henley, as they extended their lead within 40 seconds of the restart, H. Francis skipping past 2 defenders to pick out Rankin on the edge of the box, who simply stroked it home into the bottom corner for 0-2. Bacton kept pushing and came close on 52 minutes, a looping, wind assisted cross, bouncing to safety of the top of the Henley crossbar. Bacton pulled one back on 57 minutes, Henley caught on the attack with a quick break down the right, a low cross bundled home at the back post by Keeble after 57 minutes making it 1-2.

Bacton then had their best period of the game, piling forward to put Henley under pressure, several attempts going high or wide, But Henley were still looking to get forward, Golding pulling a smart save from the home keeper after 67 minutes with a low strike. Henley dug in though, defending bravely, throwing everything in front of the ball as they held on their lead. Bacton came perilously close on 86 minutes, drilling a shot just over Lee’s crossbar. They had to work even harder after 87 minutes when J. Francis saw a straight red for comments to the referee, but the whole team dug in and saw the game out for the win.

Not out best performance by far, but one full of grit and character, exemplified by MOTM Shore who was simply unbeatable on the day, with a string of tackles and blocks. Bacton deserve full credit for their part in the game, despite being 2 down, they never once dropped their heads and battled until the final whistle. A word too for Referee Oli Burle, whose game management and communication was excellent throughout.

#UppaHens

The Hat