after a gratifying 5-3 win away at St Albans for the first game of the season it was time for the new look Havering Men’s 1st XI to show the crowd at Campion School some Champagne hockey. For the first 15 minutes it was all going to plan; Conor finding space and time whenever he received the ball and turning their defence inside out on multiple occasions. Energy was high and Havering were controlling the game and gaining multiple circle penetrations. Fresh from head-butting the goalkeeper last week, Aaron fired some tasty balls across goal but no-one was able to connect. After threatening a few times from the right, Captain Liam Applewood opened his account for the season with a delightfully drilled midair finish which left the keeper with no chance.

Time for Havering to kick on and put the recently relegated Southendians to the sword. Unfortunately the opposite was true and the visiting side started to grow in confidence and saw their route one hockey style gain some traction. After an exceptional low tackle in the circle O’keeffe was knocked off balance and was deemed to have handled the ball by the umpire ?.Fortunately Andy Gauty was equal to the P flick and Havering retained the advantage. Some poor decision making in the following 15 minutes allowed the Southendians back into the game and Havering went into the break 2-1 down.
Things started to get spicy in the second half as OS started to play to the umpires and rather uncharacteristically Dover became a lighting rod for controversy. Havering managed to keep their heads and controlled possession for the majority of the second half; creating plenty of chances and putting the short corner count into double digits. Unfortunately it wasn’t their day and they weren’t able to convert. Despite green cards for O’Keeffe and Barlow, Havering continued to have the upper hand and an equaliser seemed inevitable. Then disaster struck, having done the hard yards to work back, Dover did his best David Seaman impression and was lobbed on the 25 putting OS’s best player through on goal who finished nicely to make it 1-3. Havering continued to pressure but were unable to rally in time. The visitors were relieved when the final whistle went; well aware that it was a smash and grab 3 points.
Havering will be disappointed but know that if this is the team that came down last season then they can compete in East Prem and on another day would have won this game comfortably. It will be a very different result for the reverse fixture once the team have had a chance to gel.