Henley (H)

Staines 4-2 Henley (H)

MOM: Matt Wells
DOD: Rich Green

Staines Mens 1st team went into their last home game this side of Christmas hoping to maintain their 100% record at the Faulkners fortress. Staines has not played Henley in a few years, but knew that league positions didn’t mean anything. Staines knew they had to be focussed throughout the full 70 minutes to secure victory over a strong Henley side.

The match got underway with Staines dominating possession one the opening plays and keeping hold of the ball nicely around the back waiting for an opportunity to push forward and press Henley’s defensive line. With some nice link up play all around the park Staines were able to work the ball down the left hand side and worked the ball across the face of goal for Ben Floyd to calmly put the ball into the open net; 1-0 Staines.

Unfortunately Staines switched off straight after scoring and Henley put continued pressure on the Staines defensive which eventually lead to Henley picking up the scraps in front of our goal mouth and making it 1-1. Shortly after conceded however, Staines worked the ball from left to right through the centre of the pitch and were able to work the ball around the keeper with Pavitar Hanspal scoring his long awaited debut goal for the club. You would’ve thought Staines would have learnt from conceding the first goal straight after scoring but this was not the case. Once again Henley attacked the Staines goal mouth and won a short corner which they converted making it 2-2 going onto the second half. Staines knew this was not acceptable to give the lead away so easily again and had to regroup during the half time break.

After some stern and wise words from the Staines coach, Staines knew they had to do better in the second half to secure the win. Henley had their fair share of chances early on in the second half but these were well kept out by Fin in the Staines goal. As the half went on Staines kept penetrating Henley’s goal and eventually broke through with a sublime finish from Matt Wells after dispossessing a Henley defender and striding his way past a few defenders into the D on his infamous “forehand”: 3-2 Staines. Staines kept creating chances but could only manage to score one more with some lovely link up play in the forward line which James Laszlo finished off in a composed manner! That was that, it finished 4-2 to Staines - maintaining their 100% record at home and more importantly put them top of the South Prem 2 - West league as Oxford OBU could not secure the win at Surbiton.

With only two games left before the Christmas break, Staines will be looking to build on their unbeaten run next week away at Chiswick.