Chelmsford Men’s 1st 5
Wapping 1st 4

CHELMSFORD opened their league campaign with an excellent hard fought result at the new Lee Valley Hockey Centre with Harry Rayner (2), Adam Hunter (2), Hugh Fillingham on target.

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.

With Chelmsford gaining momentum, man of the match CJ Mayes made a strong run into the D and passed to an unmarked  Rayner on the back post to score Chelmsford’s first goal.

Shortly after, Fillingham converted a short corner to bring the score level at 2-2.
The second half started brightly with Rumbold unlucky not to score with a fierce reverse stick strike against the upright.

But two mistakes by the Chelmsford defence left Wapping easy conversions to bring the score to 4-2.

Chelmsford responded well  and were rewarded when the ball fell to Hunter before a short corner was awarded to the visiting team. Rayner stepped up to record his second and  level 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 host  against newly-promoted Felixstowe on Saturday at noon.