Havering travelled away to a recently relegated Southend side with little to go off of from previous encounters. The team lined up in a slightly different 433 system thanks to the help of Stan Moore and Paul Mitchley in the team who were able to cover midfield positions.

The game started rockily, with both teams sloppy in their passing play. A series of poor decisions from players on both teams led to quick turnovers of possession, making it difficult for either side to get a strong foot in the game, leading to a lack of solid opportunities. Around the 25th minute mark Havering were presented with their best opportunity of the half, as a neat one- two between Martin John and Luke Clarke led to MJ launching a ball back post, and Eli Cook narrowly missed the deflection to turn it in. Havering remained attacking for the last 10 of the half, and had a couple short corner opportunities go begging as we went into half time at 0-0.

A tactical call from On-Day Captain John Binks led to Havering switching into a 343 formation, with an aim to squeeze the ball out of them further up the field. After a few minutes of confusion as Havering couldn’t work out who would be playing where, they resumed the match and began the second half.

Almost instantaneously the impact of the new formation was found, as Toby John smashed a brilliant ball down the line to Luke Clarke who effortlessly flicked the ball over the defending stick to set it up to Adam Lumbers for a cool finish to make it 1-0. This morale boost meant that Havering kept their pressing high, and excellent defensive skills from John Binks, Michael Hosier and Gareth Cast meant that Havering kept the ball in the Southend half.

A few more chances came here and there, before Lumbers once again entered the D and hit a beautiful reverse hit which smashed against the post, before rolling behind the southend keeper to an unmarked Eli Cook, who tapped it in to make it 2-0, his second goal of the season. Hose decisively called for a return to our stable 433 to sure up the result, and this combined with a fitness domination allowed Havering all the comfort they needed in the game. Taylor Ahmad, Stan Moore and Paul Mitchley in the midfield 3 walked all over the Southend midfield, and led the team to a few more good chances, including short corners won by TJ and MJ. As Havering entered the last 10 minutes, John Binks unfortunately got injured and Havering had to reshuffle the team, but luckily the earlier domination combined with their impressive fitness allowed Havering to remain vigilant and see the result out.

A change in formation and an inch more decisiveness in attacking in the second half made all the difference today for Havering, as once again their second half performance overshadowed the first. An excellent performance puts Havering 3s 2nd in the league, and despite only being early doors, this season has a lot of promise building for the team.