Mens 1's return from Ipswich empty-handed

Havering and Ipswich were the main protagonists in last year’s Premier B division with both teams achieving promotion. Havering came out on top during the 2014/15 season but Ipswich got some revenge this time round as they beat Havering 4-1 - a scoreline that in the end was very harsh on a Havering side that played well for most of the game but unfortunately lost focus at key stages of the game.

Ipswich started strongly and controlled possession for the first 10 minutes as Havering, who were missing Connor Poulain in midfield, were finding it hard to keep control of the ball. This however did gradually change as the half progressed and the game became much more evenly balanced. It was indeed Havering who ended up taking the lead. Man of the match Paul Dover pick-pocketed an Ipswich player around the 25 yard line and squared the ball to Paul Johnson who fed the forwards. The first few attempts were blocked in some way or another by the Ipswich goalkeeper and defenders but Stuart Garnell was on hand to finally finish off the ensuing melee with what can only be described as a scrappy goal. The visiting team seemed in control at this stage and it looked like the half was proceeding towards a 0-1 ending but an uncharacteristic mistake in defence left Havering with 10 players - Ipswich made the most of this superiority in numbers and scored a deflected goal to draw level before the end of the first half.

Ipswich had a dream start to the second half as they won a short corner seconds after the restart. Joe Shearer-Rust in goal saved the first attempt but an Ipswich forward slapped the ball high into the net on the rebound. The game flow became untidy from this point onwards with both teams regularly breaking down play in midfield. Harry Andrews and Ollie Cipa were amongst the most active Havering players but their efforts went frustratingly unrewarded. The game could have gone either way at this point but Ipswich were awarded a contentious short corner with about 15 minutes to go. Havering protests resulted in them going a man down once again. The team held on and did not concede but an unfortunate twist of events resulted in Ipswich scoring very shortly once parity of numbers was restored with a reverse stick hit that found it’s way into the net. Ipswich compounded on Havering woes to score their fourth goal from another short corner that Havering failed to clear despite having half opportunities to do so. This effectively put the game beyond Havering’s reach for the game to end 4-1 in Ipswich’s favour.