Thurrock 1sts....................................3

East London 1sts...............................3

HOCKEY: IT WAS a case of first against second when Thurrock hosted East London at Palmers.

Jak Taylor – fresh from celebrating his graduation with a 1st class degree – was among the team which took on league leaders East London in this clash.

The game started strongly for the away team who came out of the blocks quickly. It wasn’t long before East London broke the deadlock with a simple chip over the keeper after Danny Hik had made the initial save.

They doubled their lead not long after and Thurrock needed a boost.

Borough captain Steve Abbott reshuffled his pack putting Declan Millane up front and Andre Rudder back into centre midfield and this led to a shift in dominance.

After a frustrating passage of play Steve Abbott flicked the ball into the top left leaving the away keeper stunned and bringing the score back to 2-1.

Some great passing led to a short corner for the home team. And the hours of practising short corner routines it finally paid off for Thurrock.

Kyle Taylor dragg out to his twin brother Jak Taylor to stop the ball dead. Tommy Ing coming through to disguise slap to the right post where Declan Millane was perfectly placed to deflect the ball into the bottom left of the backboard to make it 2-2.

Thurrock took the lead when Tommy Ing creamed the ball into the bottom left of the goal giving the away keeper no chance. But an odd decision by the umpires led to a chance for the away side who made it 3-3.

Man of the match went to Nick Stapleton for a solid performance in the middle of the park passing well and making strong tackles.