MANAGER Jon Laugharne is to leave Finchampstead FC for Henley Town – with a number of players likely to follow him, writes Dave Wright.

The club can no longer play in the Hellenic League Division One East as the Memorial Ground does not meet the FA standards for Level 6 football.

It could mean the Finch first team disbanding, though the club will continue to play in the Thames Valley Premier League, where the reserves currently lie second in Division Two.

Laugharne went for the job at Henley which was left vacant following Rob Creech’s resignation last month.

Henley are likely to be playing in Hellenic Division One East next season, having finished rock bottom of the Premier Division following 9-0 defeats in their last two league games of the campaign.

Laugharne, who guided Finch to an impressive fourth-place finish, said: “There has been a huge turnover of players at Henley Town and hopefully we can help stabilise the club a bit.”

Finch coach Darren Purbrick is also expected to follow Laugharne to Henley.

  • LANGLEY defeated East Berks League rivals Chalvey (WMC) Reserves 4-2 in the 97th final of the Fielden Cup at Bracknell Town’s ground last week.

Man of the match was Ben White with two goals. Gary Ashton and Raj Gil also netted for Langley before Alfie Clark and Matt Carroll pulled two goals back late in the game.

The evening was slightly marred when Chalvey captain Matt Blakely and assistant manager Bradley O’Brien were both ‘sent off’ by referee Ben Duffill after the game for making comments to the match officials.