Romford 1's vs Havering 2's

Havering looked to bounce back after a bitter local derby defeat to Upminster last week with a rescheduled local derby match vs Romford. With Havering just a point above bottom of the table Romford, this fixture would prove to be a massive 6 pointer in the fight for relegation.

With thanks to the 1's coach Jack Barlow, Havering started off with a brilliantly executed game plan, pressuring Romford from the beginning. It didn't take long for Havering to capitalize on the pressure with Bill Birbeck finishing off a lovely team goal 4 minutes into the match. This would continue with Havering winning a short corner opportunity 2 minutes later. Havering 2's skipper Ryan Lee drilled a ball in from the top of the D into Sam Green's stick for a deflection which rendered the Romford keeper helpless. Havering continued the relentless pressure where another short corner was awarded and the same routine was used again. Unfortunately, Sam's stick seemed to have developed a hole in it from his last converted goal and he missed a pin perfect ball from Ryan which would've seen him score a brace.

On the 26 minute mark, Havering broke forward once again and produced a 3 on 1 opportunity with Matt Kennedy slotting the ball away under the Romford keeper's legs (after somewhat selfishly not passing to his two open teammates ...).

Havering looked to kick on, but Romford scored a goal very much against the run of play. The ball was bobbled into the D which preceded a shot being bobbled past the Havering keeper, Paul Afteni, who couldn't do anything.

Half time came and went and Havering had plentiful opportunities to score throughout. One good chance fell to Sam Green, where he decided to reverse shot it over the cage which was impressive enough. Amar Mangat had a wonderful game in the midfield as did Billy Wilson with Havering playing some lovely one-touch hockey, letting the ball do the work and getting into wide spaces - much to coach Barlow's delight.

The best chance of the 2nd half came when Ryan received the ball at the top of the D in acres of space after some lovely build up play. Ryan dribbled it in, drew the keeper out and passed to James Downey who was on the goal line. Unfortunately, James decided to do his best Greg Carolan impression (who was unavailable this week) and managed to hit both the ball and his stick against the post, much to Havering's shock. This really would prove to be the worst miss of the season so far and even Romford were impressively amused.

The 2nd half ended with Havering on top and easily could've put 8 in. However, it was a very good performance which saw Havering shoot to 9th in the table. If Havering play like this on a consistent basis, there's no reason why they can't be challenging top teams. They'll be hoping to replicate this performance against top of the table Brentwood 2's who haven't dropped a point the whole season.

Romford 1's 1 - 3 Havering 2's