Cruel defeat for men's 1's

Havering traveled to Old Southendians knowing a win was a must if they were to keep their promotion hopes alive. Havering had won their last six games on the bounce but were facing the current league leaders who also had impressive current form taking 19 out of the last 21 available points, as well as being undefeated at home. The same squad traveled that had beaten local rivals Upminster the week before with the exception of Chris Dunn who was unavailable due to work.

In the opening stages of the match it was evident there was some nerves from Havering as they lost some cheap possession coming out of defense as Old Southendians had started the match pressing reasonably high with Joe Cole being called into action early on to cut out a Southendian cross. From that point on Havering took control of the game and began to exert increasing pressure on the home side, Harry Andrews hit the inside of the post from a good reverse stick effort and the ball fell to Connour Poulain with an empty goal to aim at but a moments hesitation allowed the home keeper to get back and block his effort. Ingram then had a good strike saved from a penalty corner and moments later Andrews wasted a golden opportunity firing high and wide from the penalty spot. Even this early in the game it appeared luck was not on Havering's side as a well worked move bypassed the Southendians keeper and fell to Poulain on the far post, with the keeper out of position and a helpless defender on the line it seemed there would be only one outcome but the ball crashed back off the outside of the post and out to safety.

Surviving this spell of pressure Southendians broke down the left and entered the D and cut a ball back to an unmarked forward, as the forward shot Paul Dover attempted to block the ball. Cole was already diving one way as the ball cruelly deflected the other rolling into the bottom corner of the goal to give the home side the lead. As the half time whistle was blown Havering were awarded a penalty corner, a poor injection missed the top of the D but came out to the right to Andrews whose shot across goal narrowly missed the waiting Havering players on the far post.

The start of the second half was a much more even affair with both teams having good possession of the ball. A missed interception in the middle of the pitch allowed a Southendians attacker in down the right, a clumbsy tackle from Josh Cipa resulted in Southendians only penalty corner of the match. A well worked routine made the scores 2-0 with a neat deflection at the far post. Havering went for broke and changed formation going to a back three and pushing three forwards high with Dover and Ingram playing in behind, for the remaining twenty minutes Havering laid siege on the home sides goal, six penalty corners came and went with for Havering as Ingram was thwarted on multiple occasions by the in form shot stopper as well as the post being hit a further two times. Notably Ingram's shot hitting the post coming back and hitting the goalkeeper on the back and somehow falling mm wide of the goal.

With a little over ten minutes remaining Havering finally got on the score sheet as Andrews fired a fierce shot from the right of the D across the goalkeeper into the bottom corner. At this point Havering were firing in balls from all around the pitch with Alex Jupp unlucky not to pick out a forward on several occasions, Marcus Hall broke free in the D but narrowly missed his pass to the waiting Andrews. In the final minutes Havering were on the wrong end of three crucial decisions most notably Stuart Garnell took a quick free hit into the D which hit a Southendians stick before falling to Hall on the back post for a tap in, the umpire closest to the action had seen the touch but the umpire at the opposite end blew his whistle thinking the ball had gone straight into the D.

It was quite simply one of those days, Havering had not been on the top of their game but had played well enough that on any other day could have easily walked away scoring a vast amount of goals with the chances they had. I'm not sure we have hit the post four time this season let alone in a single match. Credit to Southendians who worked incredibly hard and were clinical with their chances. Promotion is now a long shot but Havering will look to fight their way back starting at home to Ford on Saturday.

MOTM - Alex Jupp DOTD- Gaz Ingram