Back to Winning Ways

HHC came into the game determined to get back on track and welcomed back Dalveer Sehmbi in defence from injury, his first game since the season opener. Havering were able to name close to a full strength squad for a rare 10:00am pushback on a rainy Saturday morning.

Havering started well and played with a fluency that was missing in the previous fixture. Captain Paul Afteni had demanded ball retention and slick ball movement and this was duly delivered by the team, with the centre-midfield trio calmly passing the ball around each other and releasing the wing players, Alex Bilby and Harry Pengelly with regularity, the width achieved allowing frequent dangerous balls into the D, particularly from Bilby on the right.

Chelmsford’s defence were resolute and did a good job, limiting Havering to few shots on target in the opening stanza, despite HHC’s tidy play and possession. The opener eventually came in the 25th minute, from more good work by Bilby down the right. A dangerous ball in the D which eventually found its way to Will Le’Sage in a dangerous position wide of the far post.

The chance initially looked quite tricky, 10 yards or so away from goal, at a fairly acute angle with bodies in the way, but Havering Man of the Match Le’Sage took the chance in a way that betrayed the fact that this is his debut season, the finish a confident sweep shot across the keeper and one hit so sweetly that the crash from the backboard registered aptly like a firework in early November.

Having taken the lead, Havering continued to press and 10 minutes later Mitchell Cuttell scored the second, following tidy centre-forward play and a deft assist from Martin John.

After half time, Chelmsford came out and pressed hard to find a way back into the game and the game became more attritional. Chelmsfords right sided players, in particular their winger, who possessed significant pace, posed threat, but Harry Pengelly, who again had a case for a back to back Man of the match award did some excellent defensive work on the HHC left wing.

The tireless midfield trio of Cuttell, Paul Mitchley and Tom Mann showed grit and put in the hard yards in a defiant show of stamina and the back line of Sehmbi, Luke Phillips and Robert Chart were imperious in clearing danger.

Chelmsford were game however and successfully won a string of short corners in the last 20 minutes of the match. This was a test of HHC’s resolve, a goal at this stage of the match would have led to a single goal deficit and a nervy final stage of the game. Chelmsford came closest with a short corner that looped up after a scramble in the D and was destined to creep in under the bar, but Goalkeeper Alex Baccaro pawed the chance out of the air and it was cleared by the Havering defence.

Toby John’s fresh legs on the right helped Havering reestablish a grip on the game and HHC saw the game out for a 2 - 0 away win, which temporarily put them back on top of the table until Thurrock’s Mens 3’s 5-1 away win at Braintree supplanted them by virtue of goal difference in the afternoon’s later fixture.

Chelmsford’s Men’s 8’s 0 - HHC Men’s 4’s 2