Norwich City Men - 2 Havering Men -4

Norwich City Men - 2 Havering Men -4

The first half of this game was a balanced affair. It took Havering players a while to adjust to a bobbly pitch and this led to some hesitations affecting both the build up of play and the team’s ability to defend proactively. The defence started settling down following the entry of Jack Barlow who crowned his game with a solid man of the match performance. More chances were also being created up front but none of these were converted and this was punished with twenty seconds to go when Norwich took the lead through a penalty flick.

Havering started the second half with more urgency and they quickly drew level through Alex Simpson’s third goal of the season but Norwich were unfazed by this and retook the lead shortly after. The score did not change until twenty minutes from the end of the game when Havering took complete control of proceedings and managed to score three further goals to cruise into a convincing win away from home. Marcus Hall got the second goal by deflecting in a cross by Harry Andrews who had hunted down a lost cause. Ollie Cipa finished a well worked short corner routine for Havering’s third before Andrews himself tapped in a good open play move from close range to put the game beyond Norwich’s reach.

This hard fought but deserved win, on what has traditionally been a tough fixture for Havering, will inject confidence into the team and hopefully open the gate to a positive season on the front foot.