Men's 1's notch up another big derby win

After a solid away performance at St Ives the weekend before Havering were looking to keep the pressure up on the top two in division one with another win at Campion. This task was made tougher than usual as this week Havering were up against local rivals Upminster where league position and form are thrown out of the window, the first instalment earlier in the season was a classic with Havering running out 6-1 winners at Coopers. This game had possibly more of an edge than the first as Josh Cipa was in the Havering line up after his recent transfer from Upminster and Havering old boy Glen Noller who missed the first match with injury was in from the start.

Havering were unchanged from the thirteen players who travelled to St Ives but welcomed back Chris Dunn after several weeks absence after the birth of his first child Harrison. Boosted by a big crowd at Campion Havering entered the pitch determined to put on a good performance and paid their respects to club legend Bob Thwaites with a minutes silence who had passed away days before.

As expected the match started at a frantic tempo with both sides eager to make the first mark, Connor Poulain in particular was impressing on the right of midfield with several dangerous dribbles but the first chance of the match fell to Gaz Ingram, Ingram mishit his first attempt but as the ball fell back to him he unleashed a vicious strike that hit an Upminster defender on the way to goal. Unfortunately for Havering the umpires deemed this to be dangerous play rather than a penalty flick or short corner and the game continued but it did not take long for the break through to come. Ollie Cipa won the ball in midfield and set free Paul Dover who along with Ingram had a 2 v 1 against the last defender, Dover drew in the defender and slipped the ball left to Ingram who in turn slipped the ball back to Dover past the out coming keeper for an easy finish from the penalty spot.

With their tails up Havering continued to push and won their first penalty corner of the match, Ingram's shot was blocked by the number one runner but minutes later Havering won another corner. This time Ingram's shot found its way through but was well saved by the visiting keeper but rebounded out to Alastair Lewis whose shot was again saved but deflected to the right where Marcus Hall was waiting to tap home for his first goal of the season.

With the half drawing to a close Upminster had two golden opportunities to half the deficit, firstly Lyndon ford shot wide after a mistake from Joe Cole in the Havering goal and the second came after a good run from Noller who beat a handful of players only to hit his shot straight at Cole. Upminster then received a yellow card and Havering kept the ball for the remaining minutes to see out the first half with a 2-0 lead.

Upminster came out determined in the second half and kept the majority of possession for the opening twenty minutes of the half pinning Havering back. However they failed to create any clear cut chances from open play with Cole only having to come out and block a shot from the top of the D. The Havering defence of Josh Cipa, Jack barlow, Paul Johnson and Alex Jupp were holding firm but could not stop Upminster from winning a string of penalty corners. Again Havering defended well with Barlow making some crucial interceptions and Dover saving a Noller drag flick on the line.

As the game began to move into its final quarter Upminster seemed to tire and failing to capitalise on their spell of pressure cost them dearly as Dover intercepted the ball from the Upminster centre back and raced towards the D, as the keeper rushed out he slipped the ball right to Dunn who took a touch before pushing the ball into the empty net. Within minutes the game was gone for Upminster as Poulain attacked down the right and slipped the ball into Harry Andrews whose first time shot was well saved by the Upminster goalkeeper but as the ball fell to Lewis on the penalty spot he made no mistake undercutting the ball over the helpless goalkeeper.

A spirited Upminster side did not give up and came back fighting winning a Penalty corner, this time a Noller's pass was deflected in at the far post by George Chiverton to bring the score to 4-1. Their joy was short lived however as almost immediately Stuart Garnell won the ball on the left and exchanged passes with Andrews before entering the D, as he was closed down Garnell slipped the ball back to Andrews at the left of the D who sent up an audacious lob which glided home just under the cross bar.

A massive result for Havering in the circumstances but they will know they will need to play better when they travel to top of the league Old Southendians next weekend who smashed them 5-1 at home in the reverse fixture.

MOTM - Paul Dover DOTD - Joe Cole