Havering’s men bank a vital victory at Bourne Deeping as Willett strikes late clincher

Havering’s men claimed three vital points in East Premier B with a 2-1 win at Bourne Deeping on Saturday.

They made an early start, in order to watch the Rugby World Cup final in a pub near Peterborough, and recalled Alex Lee and Luke Joslin as Connor Poulain also returned to the club.

But without the injured Paul Dover, Chris Dunn, Lewis Smith and Sunny Singh, Havering could not have wished for a worse start as they fell behind in the opening minutes.

Despite the early setback Havering were moving the ball well and unsettling the home defence thanks largely to the work rate of forwards Liam Keeling and Joslin.

A number of penalty corners were won, with Poulain going closest to an equaliser, but the home keeper made an impressive stick save to his right.

The second half started with the same pattern as the first had ended, with Havering having the majority of possession but unable to covert at the other end.

Lee Bennett made a crucial save to keep the score at 1-0 as he closed down a forward who had been set free in the D.

And Havering finally got their reward from another penalty corner as Harry Andrews stepped up and flicked the ball to the keeper's right to level.

With the momentum now firmly in their favour, Havering searched for a winner and a good move down the left involving Adam Lumbers and Verinder Channa found Poulain who dribbled into the D and found Adam Willett at the back post to deflect the ball past the keeper.

With about eight minutes left, Havering were able to see out the game thanks to Jack Barlow who made a crucial block from a penalty corner, and host Blueharts at Campion on Saturday.

The seconds were pipped 4-3 by table-topping Chelmsford thirds after a strong performance.

The visitors took an early lead from a short corner effort that Luke Ray will be disappointed not to have kept out.

But Havering soon hit back through Matthew Kennedy and Roger Hiett gave them the lead from the penalty spot after Mike Caruana-Smith's goalbound effort struck a foot on the line.

Mike Hinton finished clinically after a good run from Andy Meehan to make it 3-1, but Chelmsford hit back from a counter attack before half-time.

And they drew level from another swift break, before claiming the winner with a deflection from long range to maintain their four-point lead at the top of the table.