Wapping 4 v 0 Havering

Havering travelled to the Olympic park to face high flying Wapping missing 4 key players in Paul Dover, Jack Barlow, Ollie Cipa, and Gaz Ingram. This did not seem to have much of an impact on the Havering line up as the team started strongly. Wapping tried to hold onto possession but failed to break down a very organised Havering defence. Man of the match Paul Johnson and Connor Poulain were coming out on top of the resulting midfield battle. The same Connor Poulain had by far the best opportunity of the first quarter but he failed to convert from an advantageous position with Harry Andrews also ready to tap in had Connor Poulain slipped the ball to him on the far post.

Events started looking favourably for Wapping half way through the first half. A direct ball ended up in the Havering goal with no Wapping player touching it in the Dee. Wapping players celebrated anyway and the umpire gave them the benefit of the doubt by letting the goal stand. Havering ploughed on and Wapping were left with no option but to regularly break down play in midfield. At the other end Havering were punished with 2 harsh yellow cards in quick succession, one of which upgraded to a red card. This left Havering to play the rest of the game in 10.

As expected Wapping found more spaces in the second half but surprisingly created very little clear opportunities. To Havering’s disappointment, they managed to score a short corner drag flick and this effectively put the game beyond Havering’s reach. It was mostly through chance that they managed to score 2 further goals through quick turn overs as Havering players started to tire.

Despite the scoreline smiling favourably to Wapping, this was an encouraging performance for Ha-vering. Events could have easily gone their way rather than Wapping’s and on another day they probably would have.