Upminster’s men 1st team opened their account in East Premier B with a 1-0 win over Waltham Forest at Coopers. Having taken just a point from their first three matches since promotion, they began well and enjoyed good spells of possession in the first half. Jack Coleman, Nathan Woods and man of the match Nick Harris linked up well to distribute the ball down the wings and to the forwards. And the only goal of the game came from a well-worked move down the right hand side of the pitch which then allowed Steve Wright to slot home on the back post. Forest came out strongly in the second half, looking to get back on terms, but Upminster remained resolute in defence with defender of the match Tom Langston keeping the opposition forwards at bay.
Both sides naturally tired and the game become scrappy and competitive towards the closing minutes, but Upminster held out to secure the win and their first three-point haul this season. They play host to Old Southendian on Sunday (1pm).
The seconds put up a good fight against a well drilled Redbridge & Ilford, but three early defensive mistakes were easily put away by the opposition to allow them to take control of the game.
Ryan Hodges managed to scramble home an Upminster reply before half time and they found themselves back in the game after the restart when Ralph Berner made sure Eric Wong’s shot was going to hit the back of the net to cut the gap to one.
But a late R&I strike from a short corner took the score to 4-2 and gave them the points.
