Watson completes stunning fightback to hand incumbent champions their first defeat of the season
Shaun Watson broke Medics hearts as his brace helped Henderson come back from three goals down to clinch an unlikely victory on a cold, late autumn afternoon at Longbenton. The Medics had been in fine form prior to the break, with Johnny Emms, Ben Emmerson and Ramin Leylabi all finding the back of the net, and had looked like enjoying a comfortable victory before letting it slip away in the second half. Several of the Medics team can consider themselves unfortunate to have found themselves on the losing team, but whoever gave Henderson’s team talk at half time deserves no small amount of credit for inspiring their second half performance.
The game started at high tempo with both teams obviously raring to go in the 3.45pm kick-off. Henderson’s Armani Zafar embodied the nature of the game with a rapid, purposeful run in the opening minutes before his team-mate Matthew Tollefson spurned the first opportunity of the match; Tollefson made space for himself nicely in the penalty box, sending Medics defenders to the floor with some fancy footwork before blazing over the bar.
The next 10 minutes must have seemed like a blur to the Henderson midfield who were completely bypassed as the game turned in Medics’ favour. After an untidy goal-mouth scramble resulted in a Medics corner, Johnny Emms was on hand to head past Rory Davies in the Henderson goal, scoring the first of a double salvo. Only minutes later, the impressive Matt Anderson collected Theo Adjetey’s knock-on down the left wing before squaring to Emmerson who doubled the lead with a tidy finish into the far corner. At this point, Joel English was giving Henderson right back Shaun Decesare a torrid time and English thought he’d reaped the reward for his endeavour, only for the referee’s whistle to deny him a deserved goal.
Undeterred by this setback English set up another opportunity, this time for Adjetey who forced a fine save from Davies as the Medics piled on the pressure and peppered Davies’ goal. Their third goal finally came courtesy of some poor set-piece defending; allowing Leylabi the opportunity to smash home; midway through the first half and the Medics were cruising.
Henderson were handed a lifeline when striker Liam McAlister was brought down in the box and midfielder Lewis Jones made no mistake with the spot kick, leaving the score at 3-1 at the halfway point. This seemed like a consolation goal at the time but it kick-started the men in orange who forced themselves back into the game and as the wind began to drop, their searching balls started to find their targets (although their luminous orange strip may have helped in the dimming light).
Decesare crowned a much-improved second half display with an inch-perfect cross from deep which found Watson’s forehead and the back of the net in quick succession. Mike Scott then hit a venomous shot through a crowded penalty box which the Medics ‘keeper, known only as Dale, was unable to stop and to the disbelief of the opposition, Henderson had drawn level. With the momentum on Henderson’s side, Watson produced the winner when he again headed in, this time from a corner.
The Medics had struggled to deal with Henderson’s front two throughout the second period and although they piled on the pressure in the closing minutes, Henderson held on to record a remarkable comeback and show their title credentials; the Medics, incumbent champions, were sent crashing back down to earth after their impressive victory over Barca-Law-Na last week.
