The game started frantically as the ball quickly moved up and down both ends of the pitch. The team quickly picked up on Upminster’s style of play, as balls came through the middle of the pitch to the Upminster forwards. After adjusting, Havering continued to push into the Upminster D, with a couple of plays from a mix of Will, Zorro, Joe, Ralph and Seb.

Following a turnover of the ball in the 12th minute, Zorro led a play through the Upminster midfield, turning their defence, before hitting a cracking shot in the Upminster D that echoed around the pitch, putting Havering in the lead. It was at this point the team knew, we were in it to win it!

We continued a hard and relentless press on the Upminster side. A defensive combination of Chart, Gabe, Bob and Pinky saw all Upminster attacks put comfortably to rest in a game that keeper, Lonnie Yang, referred to as boring for him.

Toby, Burgers, Will, Leo and Jake played confidently in the centre midfield, controlling the possession and moving it through the cracks in Upminsters team. It became apparent that the boys knew exactly where to run and when, with Zorro, Seb and Fletcher as our wingers, or Joe, Ralph and Anay playing as strikers knowing exactly where to move.

In the 21st minute, the ball was played to Seb on the right, who cut into the pitch and entered the top of the D. He took a shot that was saved by the Upminster keeper initially, deflecting it to the left, where Anay was waiting for a clean strike that slipped past the Upminster keeper bringing the score up to 2-0 to Havering, and the first goal of many in the youngsters Havering career!

Upminster stepped up the counter and managed to secure a couple of short corners towards the end of the first half, which were cleanly put to rest by Lonnie before clearing out the D for a Havering counter. The half finished Upminster 0 - 2 Havering!

The second half started with a bang with Havering capitalising on an Upminster mistake. We continued to take advantage of having possession, with the ball being played around the back from Gabe, Bob, Jake and Pinky, before transitioning to an attacking midfield of Burgers, Fletcher and Anay. The ball eventually hitting Ralph in the D who shot cleanly into the bottom left of the goal, making the score 3-0.

It was clear that their tempers had started to flare when a couple of fouls were committed, seeing Bailey hit the deck as his legs were taken out from under him in the Upminster D. The short that resulted was played, and mid swing the whistle blown, whilst Zorro struck through and hit the ball. Play was temporarily paused following words with the Upminster side around their conduct, before continuing. Zorro maintained his composure on the short, and slotted the ball cleanly into the back of the goal, much to the oppositions frustration, resulting in a roar of cheers from the Havering players and spectators.

The boys continued with ferocity, with both Fletcher, Burgers and Joe having several cracking shots on target that the young Upminster keeper manage to save and deflect, or in one case a defender stopped on the line! In the end a play from Jake on the right, saw the ball clean through to Seb. He cut into the D, turning the Upminster right back to score a strong hit into the bottom left of the goal - 3 goals in just as many weeks!

A final play from the Havering side saw a worldie of a pass from Burgers from the left of the D, surpassing two Upminster defenders to a primed Zorro, seeing off his hat trick performance in his men’s hockey debut.

This result was only possible due to the composure and commitment of our defensive unit including Gabe, Pinky and Jake, the drive and passion of our midfielders including Fletch, Seb, Zorro and Burgers, and the ferocity and movement of our forwards - Anay, Ralph and Joe. An outstanding, all round performance for all in an intense derby game finishing Upminster 0 - 6 Havering. We look forward to our game next weekend, playing London Royals at home!