Southend Mens 1s 2 - 1 East London
"Leggat Sniffs again, Styles nets debut goal"
Southend Men's first team started their East League campaign in fine style with a comfortable 2 - 1 win against newly promoted East London. Southend's first goal came from Rob Styles who scored his first goal in his return to the club with an neat flick. Ace sniffer and this years leading goalscorer Phil Leggat got the second with one of his trademark tap ins.
Captain Neil Utton commented "I am worried about my personal form as I am going through a goalscoring drought at the moment. However I am happy to get our first win and 3 points under our belts. I thought we were fairly rusty today and can only get better, especially with a few players coming back into the squad over the next couple of weeks." Man of the match was midfield linchpin John Reynolds. Southend continue their league campaign at home this week to Waltham Forest
Scorers - Leggat, Styles Snr
Team - Christie, Arnold, Harvey, Hayman, Danbrook, Crowhurst, Styles Snr, Reynolds, Crompton, Utton, Leggatt, Robeson
Southend Mens 2s 4 - 2 Ipswich 4s
The 2nd team continued their fine pre-season form also winning their opening league fixture aginst Ipswich. The goals came from Micky Walsh, newly promoted from the 3rd team with 2, Youngster Stuart Jones and ex Old Loughtonians star (now back at Southend) Christian Jenkins.
Southend Mens 3s 1 - 1 Brentwood 5s
Southends 3rd XI claimed their first point in their first game in division 8SE against Brentwood on Saturday. Goals were always going to be in short supply as from the off both defences looked comfortable picking off attacks almost before they began. The entertaining play was going on midfield where the age and size of Brentwood was tested against the youth and agility of Southends young midfield four.
Southend had the better of the first half but squandered chances from 3 short corners. A big push early in the second half saw Southends Peter Taylor bag a scrappy opener that was to give Southend the lead for only 10 minutes until Brentwood broke through and levelled up with 20 mins still to play. Both sides could have won it late on but the game finished 1-1. A well earned point, a good start to the league season and a big confidence boost for Southends youngsters.
Southend and Benfleet Ladies 1s 0 - 2 Old Loughtonians
The first game of the season and we were ready to take on Old Loughts who have just come down from the premier league. A tough game to start the season on. We started the game strong with some excellent ball work across mid-field and up the lines. We found our strength early on and had plenty of possession and shots on goal; unfortunately we struggled to get a score before half time.
In the second half we persisted to put pressure on loughts only causing them to become frustrated. They fought back hard and when they were disallowed a goal for deflection off of an Old Loughts foot, they seemed to attack even stronger. The defence for Southend showed great determination in keeping them out of the scoring zone but when Old Loughts were awarded a short corner and scored from it, it only lifted their game even further. Minutes later they came back again with some fancy stick work and managed to score again. The whistle blew and we were defeated 0 - 2.
An excellent performance by all of the Ladies and some of the best hockey to set the season standard by.
Also a big thank you to Lisa Ballard Goal Keeper for standing in for Nicola Standage who is out injured with a fractured wrist. Some fantastic saves Lisa - Well done.
Team: L Ballard, S Revell, R Goddard, A Johnson, G Swain, K Colman, L Sharples, N Bryant, C Rose, H Middleton, N Barker, C Powell.
Southend and Benfleet Ladies 2s 6 - 0 Southend Ladies
Goalscorers - Emma Philips 2, Sarah Brooks 2, Heidi Shephard and Anne Marie Byford. |
