Chelmsford Men's 1st XI 5
Wapping 1st XI 4
East Prem A
Scorers: Harry Rayner (2), Adam Hunter (2), Hugh Fillingham.
CHELMSFORD opened their league campaign with an excellent hard fought result at the new Lee Valley Hockey Centre.
The game started at a high intensity with Wapping applying early pressure from the opening minutes and Chelmsford found themselves on the back foot throughout the opening ten minutes. A broken down short corner gave Wapping the lead and shortly after the home side doubled their lead, as a Wapping striker mis-hit a shot which looped into the net giving the home team a 2-0 lead.
With Chelmsford gaining momentum, man of the match CJ Mayes made a strong run into the D and maintained composure to find an unmarked Harry Rayner on the back post to score Chelmsford's first goal. Shortly after, Hugh Fillingham converted a short corner to bring the score level at 2-2, which the score remained at until half-time.
The second half started brightly with Rumbold unlucky not to score with a fierce reverse stick strike against the upright. However, two unfortunate mistakes by the Chelmsford defence left Wapping easy conversions to bring the score to 4-2, as the hosts regained their two goal advantage.
Chelmsford responded well keeping the intensity high and were rewarded when the ball fell to Adam Hunter who converted clinically to bring the deficit back to one goal. Shortly afterwards, with the Chelmsford forwards working well, a short corner was awarded to the visiting team. Rayner stepped up to record his second and bring the score levels once again, this time at 4-4.
With eight minutes remaining, Chelmsford gained the lead for the first time after a slick short corner routine culminated in Hunter exquisitely scoring his second of the match. Chelmsford held strong to see out the remaining minutes to record a season-opening win against a strong Wapping side.
Chelmsford look to build momentum with next week's home fixture against newly promoted Felixstowe, 12 noon pushback at Chelmer Park.
