Mens 1's and Ipswich share the spoils

Havering and Ipswich fight hard but end up not hurting each other
Ipswich Men -1 Havering Men -1

Both clubs arrived to this much anticipated clash still unbeaten and in the knowledge that the prospective winner would be in the enviable position of ending the first round at the top of the table.

Heavy traffic on the way to Ipswich risked putting a spanner in the works for Havering but the mood was buoyant nonetheless following a good team breakfast, uplifting tunes, and inspirational speech by Chris Dunn. This helped them to start on the front foot once again and take an early lead through a strong and well placed Ollie Cipa drag flick that deceived the goalkeeper. As expected Ipswich reacted to this and started gaining more and more possession which was pushing the Havering team deep into their own half. Despite this, the home team was limited to just a few deflected opportunities from the top of the team and it was Havering that continued to create the best chances. The best of these chances came to Glen Noller at the end of a fantastic team move that saw Alex Simpson, Alastair Lewis and Harry Andrews strongly involved in the build up. It was a real shame that the finish and the resiling rebound were well stopped by the Ipswich goalkeeper.

Ipswich took over more consistent control of proceedings in the second half but the Havering defence showed why it has conceded so few goals so far in the season through a display of resilient and organised defending. A long string of Ipswich short corners half way through the second half was well blocked by Alex Defroand, Paul Johnson and Jack Barlow. Nik Males in goal was always at hand whenever this first line of defence was broken. It was not all one way though and Havering did win short corners of their own. A well worked short corner saw Glen Noller’s effort well saved while an Ollie Cipa wonder strike in the roof of the net from a rebound was disallowed as it was ajudged to be the first strike on goal.

Ipswich’s pressure did pay off in the end. Havering were reduced to 10 men following a committed tackle at the top of the D and Ipswich managed to convert one of their short corners through a drag flick with only a couple of minutes to go.

In the end, a draw is probably the right result and both teams will consider this a positive outcome especially in view of Letchworth’s shock defeat to Harlston Magpies 2s which leaves a healthy gap between the top two teams and the rest of the chasers.