Men's 1's suffer home defeat

After a tough loss against Cambridge City the previous week. Havering were looking to bounce back strongly against a Bourne team that although were struggling for results, had only suffered narrow defeats up to this point.

Havering warmed up well and started the match full of intent. Good work by Harry Andrews on the right hand side led to a bouncing pass across the face of the goal which Alex Lee failed to convert at the back post.

The 1st XI continued to probe and press Bourne however and won numerous short corners. Unfortunately, none of these resulted in the desired outcome of a first goal.

Bourne were not without their chances and an aerial ball from the midfield behind Havering’s defensive line allowed the visitors a good chance to open the scoring. Some good defensive work by Jack Barlow and the returning captain Harry Jenkins saw the danger out of play.

After some more excellent build up play on the right hand side between Paul Dover and Paul Johnson, Liam Appleyard found some space within the D and squared an exquisite ball through to Lee at the back post again. Unfortunately, he took a touch instead of hitting first time which allowed a Bourne defender to clear off the line.

The first half ended all square, with the game delicately poised on a knife-edge as to which way it would all end.

The second half began in a similar vein to the first, with Havering creating opportunities via short corners but failing to convert. However, after Stuart Garnell and Verinder Channa were penalised for stick tackles and shown a green and yellow card respectively, Havering played a period with only 9 men on the field. Bourne used this opportunity to try and press an advantage and almost took the lead at a short corner, were it not for a good save by Lee Bennett.

With Havering restored to 11 men, they again began to turn the screw on the visitors and created another great chance when after a fast breakaway, Lee cut the ball back to Alex Defroand at the top of the D who could only find the Bourne keeper’s pads.

The deadlock was finally broken at around the 60th minute mark and unfortunately it was the visitors that succeeded. A breakaway from another poor Havering corner routine allowed a Bourne forward to charge into the D and square a pass to his team-mate who made no mistake with the finish. There was an argument for the game to have been stopped as Lewis Smith had suffered a head injury as the Bourne forward ran through, but Havering appeals fell on deaf ears.

The home team continued to press on and almost equalised from a couple more short corners, but ultimately they were not able to and Bourne held on to take all 3 points.

The first team now travel to Wisbech next week and will attempt to recover from the previous 2 losses.