SIL Premier: Henley Athletic 3-0 Grundisburgh

22nd August 2026

Henley Athletic vs Grundisburgh @ Henley Community Centre, nr. Ipswich

Suffolk & Ipswich League Premier Division (Step 7)

14:30 KO

Free entry

Attendance - approx. 30

Half-time score: Henley Athletic 2-0 Grundisburgh

Goals:

Henley Athletic: Wadey - 6'

Henley Athletic: H. Francis - 20'

Henley Athletic: Petrea - 72'

Final Score: Henley Athletic 3-0 Grundisburgh

With no Thetford Town games, and the Anglian Combination delayed to start until next week, I looked to the SIL for my Saturday football fix. The local derby between high flying Henley Athletic, 2nd in the division before kick-off, and Grundisburgh near the bottom in 15th looked like a great match-up, and I had errands to run in the area so this allowed me to kill two birds with one stone.

Henley Athletic had a perfect set-up for this level of football, a well-kept and flat pitch with advertising boards, impressive dugouts, a decent car park, a bar and a children's play area as well as printed full-colour matchday programmes, and the team line-ups on a whiteboard. All the main boxes ticked for sure.

It was a cooler summer's afternoon with a calming breeze in the air, as well as sweeping clouds providing intermittent sun throughout. Before long the teams were onto the pitch, with Grundisburgh out first in their two tone dark blue kits, with Henley Athletic out shortly after in their light red kits.

KEY MOMENTS

HA = Henley Athleitc

GR = Grundisburgh

2' - HA - A corner ball swung in by Harrison Francis, Nile Francis is in at the far-post but his powerfully headed effort flies just over the target.

6' - HA - GOAL (1-0) - Henley win the ball in the middle and an immediate through ball comes in from either Harrison Francis or Petrea, it is perfectly weighted and Wadey is on the end of it and through-on-goal, calmly slotting the ball past the out-rushing Grundisburgh keeper Read, and the hosts take an early lead.

16' - GR - Steward with a low drilled corner ball in at the near-post, Fullwood stabs in an effort through the crowd, it is narrowly wide hitting the wrong side of the side-netting.

17' - GR - A mis-hit cross from the right from Fitzgerald loops high into the sky, but it drops down at the far-post, keeper Robbie Lee and Beaumont compete for it, the ball coming off the back of Beaumont and just wide of the goal.

20' - HA - GOAL (2-0) - A brilliantly struck corner from the left-side by Harrison Francis loops into the top right corner, superb from the young man, and putting Henley in a strong position being 2-0 up with only 20 minute played.

45'+1' - GR - Just before the break , Grundisburgh go close, a strong attack down the left, the ball is squared in but the clearance is weak and the ball drops to Swann who drills in a close-range effort, but it is blocked by the leg of a defender.

61' - GR - First decent effort of the 2nd half falls to the visitors, a pinpoint cross from the right by Swann is directly straight into the middle of the box and right onto the head of Beaumont, but he seems to head the ball onto his shoulder and wide, should have done better with that chance.

65' - GR - The Grundisburgh players are unhappy about a free-kick call, which sees Fitzgerald shown a yellow card for dissent, sent to sit on the bench for 10-mins, meaning the two-goal chasing visitors drop to 10-men. Very bad timing as they were beginning to apply pressure onto Henley's box.

72' - HA - GOAL (3-0) - Henley effectively seal the win, in somewhat controversial fashion. Substitute Walker with a venomous strike from 25yrds out, keeper Read makes a diving save to parry the ball away, he scrambles on the floor to collect the loose ball, he looks to have just got there first, but despite this Petrea pokes the ball into the next, which remains standing after a discussion with the closest linesman. I was the opposite side of the pitch cannot really say what happened, either way the goal was given and the hosts had a healthy 3-goal lead.

79' - HA - Petrea with a snap strike, the ball is hit with some verve, but Read is able to palm the effort away from his goal.

91' - GR - The visitors searching for a consolation goal, Fullwood is played through along the right flank, seeing Robbie Lee steaming out he tries to hit the ball on the bounce, but directs his looping effort wide.

94' - HA - A swift counter attack through Harrison Francis down the left, he cuts inside and powers in an effort at the near-post, by Read turns it around the upright and out for a corner.

96' - GR - In the dying moments, a free-kick in a great position for Grundisburgh. The now returned Fitzgerald with a well struck strike, the ball is curling towards the top right corner, but Lee is across well to make a diving save, and in doing so defends his clean sheet.

With that victory, Henley Athletic have climbed to the top of the SIL Premier table, with an impressive goal difference of 11 after only 5 games. Henley Athletic were the better team on the day, particularly in the first half where they looked sharper and half-a-yard quicker, picking up all the second balls, bossing the midfield and turning defence into attack in a flash. However, the game was not as one-sided as the score suggests, Grundisburgh had their moments and deserved to have scored at least one goal, but their finishing or final balls were letting them down, as well as some ill-discipline which proved costly. Whilst they currently sit 2nd from bottom, there is a decent team in there so hopefully they can climb away from the dropzone as the season progresses. I also wish Henley Athletic all the best with the rest of the their season, I was very impressed with the facilities and set-up, looks to be a brilliant little club and one of the best I've seen in the SIL for sure, definitely worth a re-visit one day!

Line-Ups:

HENLEY ATHLETIC: Robbie Lee, Rhys Mctiernan, Nile Francis, Damari Wright, Ross White (C), Michael Velzian, Adam Wadey, Byron Tejano, Maurice Fike, Darius Petrea, Harrison Francis. SUBS: Finley Walker, Alfie Parnell, Sam Behnamnia, Marc Wake.

GRUNDISBURGH: Isaac Read, Bradley Howard, George Steward, Paris Merrick (C), Myles Foster, Ryan Fullwood, Thomas Fitzgerald, Bradley Beaumont, Harry Page, Noah Swann, Euan Childs. SUBS: Owen Richardson, Jack Garnham, Brandon Archer, Joshua Button, Joseph Murphy.