Saturday saw the opening day of the men’s season with some thrilling encounters on offer. The first team kick started their campaign with a potentially testing away fixture against division 2 stalwarts Blueharts. After a cagey first 15 ELHC broke the deadlock when a well worked move left the Blueharts keeper stranded at his near post, giving marauding right back James Cook space to finish into the bottom corner. The lead lasted all of 5 minutes before the home side took full advantage of some standoffish defending and suspect goalkeeping to equalize.  At this point the game could have gone either way, but the East Londoners held their nerve playing some good flowing hockey to score 3 unanswered goals before the half, two of these coming from the stick of captain Adam Larkin with a well placed penalty stroke and a looping drag flick from a penalty corner both succeeding in finding the net. With the score at 4-1 going into the second half the result looked all but settled and despite some early pressure from the home side that was well soaked up by the ELHC defence, the Sparrow Hawks ran out a 7-1 lead by the close of play thanks to some ruthless finishing from forwards Roeland Doust and Dan Hyden.

The Ladies 1s continued their strong start to the season with a week 2 win over Colchester.  Some slick hockey and a well timed substitution led to the first goal with Emily Conquest stepping off the bench to slot home with her first touch of the ball after 20 minutes. The lead was doubled before the half when East London’s attacking flare again proved too much for the Colchester defence and Robyn Shears was able to set up Eilis Quinlan for the second. Some early jitters in the 2nd period were punished when the East London keeper conceded a penalty stroke but the two goal advantage was restored when Jo Lee provided a strong finish for ELHC’s third.  A set piece goal from Colchester in the last five minutes served only as a consolation with the game ending 3-2 at the final whistle.

The mens 2s fought out a 3-3 draw at home against Romford. For captain Collis’s full match analysis, click here.

The 3rd team were 4-1 victors in their game at Upminster despite playing the first half without a goalkeeper. 2 goals a piece from Gabby Oduro and Ben Tanner wrapped this one up, for the full story see Ben’s report here.

The 4s took a point from their goalless game against Upminster 5s. Despite enjoying the majority of possession and the lion’s share of the chances a strong performance from Upminster’s defence and goalkeeper ensured Berni’s boys weren’t able to snatch the win.

The 5th team found themselves on the receiving end of a 5-0 defeat away at Saffron Walden. The score line was 0-0 at the 50 minute mark but the early season lack of stamina was seized upon by the home side in the final 20. For the full run down check out Oli’s notes on the mens 5s page.

The Ladies 2s went down 3-2 to Old Loughtonians 5s despite goals from Mieke Tonkin and Lana Moseby.