Men's Trophy win sets up 3rd round clash with Tulse Hill and Dulwich

Havering travelled to Long Sutton for the second time in 8 days for their 3rd Round match in the EHB Men's Trophy, with the intention of proving that they are even better than their 3-1 win there the previous week. They managed this by winning 8-1, a margin that could actually have been larger were it not for three clear open goal misses in the first half.

It was a determined and highly convincing first half for Havering as they scored 4 brilliant team goals. Alex Simpson was the absolute star at the start of this game, scoring the first 2 goals and generally causing havoc across Long Sutton’s defence. Marcus Hall, who had previously forced the Long Sutton defence in a desperate goal line clearance and the home team’s keeper in an outstanding point blank save, managed to score Havering’s third. Havering players were managing to get behind the Long Sutton defence with relative ease. On one of these runs Alex Defroand setup Harry Andrews unmarked on the back post but Havering’s top scorer this season took his eye of the ball and did not manage to trap the ball when his team mates were already celebrating. It was only a matter of time before Havering got more goals though and Ollie Cipa opened his scoresheet by craftily finishing off a Paul Johnson pass following a quick Havering counter attack. It has to be said that Long Sutton did create some chances of their own, mainly hits from the top of the dee, but all were confidently saved by Nik Males in goal.

As expected, the intensity and drive in the second half reduced slightly but this did not stop the goals flowing. Harry Andrews made up for his previous error by scoring the fifth goal while Adam Lumbers flicked in from a tight angle to get his first goal of the season. Ollie Cipa rounded things off with 2 short corner strikes - a drag flick and a hit to mix things up - crowning an excellent performance with a hat-trick.