Week two of the mens season saw the men in Orange attempt to build on their convincing opening day victory with a good performance in their first home fixture against Bishops Stortford. After a poor start the Sparrow Hawks were just beginning to find their feet when a Bishops Stortford penalty corner effort found the net to send them 1-0 down. The game continued at a frantic pace with missed opportunities at both ends meaning the score remained unchanged going into half time.

East London came out strong after the break looking to draw level but were again pegged back as a break by the visitors stretched the Londoner’s defence, leaving a man unmarked at the far post to touch home and double the deficit. At 2-0 down with 25 to go ELHC continued to play positively and were eventually reward when Dan Hyden latched onto the rebound from a Kevin Taylor shot.  With a second wind under their wings East London struck again, this time from the stick of Adam Willoughby, to draw level. Despite having much the better of the chances in the remaining 10 minutes the Sparrow Hawks were unable to make the pressure tell and were undone at the last when a penalty corner was deflected in off defender Steve Pecks foot in the dying seconds. A disappointing 3-2 final result drops ELHC off the top spot in Div 2 South.

The East London ladies continued their impressive start to the season in the Essex Premier Division with a 1-0 win over local rivals Wapping. In truth the result does not do justice to the dominance that ELHC enjoyed throughout much of the game. Constant pressure was only thwarted by last ditch defending and some excellent goalkeeping from Wapping’s lady between the sticks. The winning goal finally came late in the second half. 

Their second win in three games leaves the ladies poised to make an assault on the top spots in the Essex Premier Division in the coming weeks.

The Mens 2s came back from 1-0 down to beat Old Southendians 2s 2-1 after a rabble rousing team talk from Capt. Collis at half time, for his full match run down check out the report here

The Mens 3rd team suffered a disappointing 4-0 defeat to Old Southendians 3s. Despite some decent play and some heroics in goal from part time keeper Sam Phillips the boys weren’t able to live with the occasionally clinical finishing of the visitors.

Berni’s boys took a point from their game against the imaginatively named Old Loughtonian Woodsmen (not sure what that says about their tackling). The 4s were unlucky not to take all 3 points from this having gone 1-0 up in the first half, for Berni’s match notes click here

The Mens 5s game was unfortunately cancelled and has now, I am reliably informed, been awarded as a win to ELHC so well done to Oli and the 5s for their efficient performance. To see Oli’s musings on a cancelled fixture click here

 The Ladies 2s played out a scoreless draw away at Harlow.