Havering Hockey Club men fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat against local rivals Upminster at Campion School.
The first half began slowly for both sides, each defending well, with the best chance for Upminster when the ball was deflected in front of Havering keeper Andy Gaut, forcing him to turn the ball over the crossbar.
The hosts' best chance came via a short corner routine. The ball was slipped to debutant Chris Bennett, but with almost too much time on the ball, he was only able to flick it straight at the Upminster keeper.
The second half carried on in much the same vein, with both teams probing carefully but unable to find the correct final ball.
In a game expected to be tight, it was always going to be decided in moments and unfortunately for the home side, those moments fell the way of Upminster.
From an attacking short corner for Havering, injector Adam Lumbers inadvertently blocked Harry Andrew's goal-bound shot with his foot.
From there, Upminster managed to break and score with a back post deflection.
Five minutes later, they worked up the left channel and again managed to find the back post pass for another deflection, making it 2-0.
Havering never gave up and almost scored a goal of their own when Andy Meehan found some space on the right hand side and sent a ball across the D to captain Alex Lee.
The ladies were without a fixture this week following Chelmsford 2's withdrawal from East League Div 1 South.
Havering Ladies 3s played out a 1-1 draw away to Maldon Ladies Academy in their latest fixture.
Maldon Academy put up a good fight and made the team work hard, but Havering’s training showed through and saw the team play some beautiful hockey.
The start of the second half brought about the first goal against Havering this season when Maldon Academy were awarded a short corner.
Havering, however, were not to be kept down for long, and soon evened the score with a short corner of their own.
Newcomer Jessie Watson snatched up the ball after the initial save and made sure to send it to the backboard.
The Ladies 4s had a tough game away to Bishop Stortford losing 4-0.
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