The Kings had to work hard against a determined Libs side, who played to their usual high standard.

The opening minutes saw the 'young guns' line make little headway, as Havering closed down their attack and capitalised on their excellent interception abilities to threaten Martin Spight in the Kings net.

A line-change at three minutes lead to a different approach by the Kings, with Rob Stewart firing in a rebound off a Tom Dodd shot.

A knee injury to Harry Hammon halted proceedings at the eight-minute mark, and the Liberators levelled the score on the resumption of play.

Just when the crowd thought they were in for a nail-biting tit-for-tat scoring game, Nick Avery fired in a wrist shot, followed by a Chris Dartnell 'tip-in' effort, assisted by Sam Roberts, after they had cut through the Essex defence with some well timed one-two passing.

The Kings opened the second period, and the Havering defence, with a Chris Dartnell slap shot, then a Craig Bishop 'blue line' snapshot.

Although the Kings were increasing their lead, the Liberators constantly intercepted the ball and made inroads into the Kings' goal area. This made for a tense game as possession became a crucial factor, and all errors had to be kept to a minimum.

The Kings had to fight for every inch of ground, as Havering denied them at every turn. After five minutes of fraught play a seemingly recovered Harry Hammon fired in from outside the area, breaking the deadlock.

In the last two minutes of the period Tom Dodd slotted the ball into the net, and Chris Dartnell made his hat-trick, with a top right wrist shot.

Sean Cross took over from Martin for the last period, and confidently faced a barrage of Havering shots in the opening minutes. On the counter attack, Harry Hammon scored with a slap shot goal, only for his knee to give way again.

Chris Dartnell found the back of the net for the fourth time with a thundering slap shot, to take the score to 10-1. Then a series of power plays to both sides gave the crowd plenty to shout about, as the two keepers made some excellent saves, while the offenders spent time in the 'bin'.

With both sides back to full strength Rob Stewart scored, aided by Tom Dodd, who himself took the final goal of the game as two minute bell rang, assisted by Nick Avery.

KINGS: Martin Spight, Sean Cross (net-minders), Rob Stewart (2). Tom Dodd (2), Craig Bishop (1), Chris Dartnell (4), Nick Avery (1), Harry Hammon (2), Sam Scrivener, Ed Barnes, Sam Roberts.

Kings 12

Havering Liberators 1

LESHA Junior League Division 1