East London 3
Waltham Forest 4
(East Hockey Div 3SE)

WALTHAM Forest continued their recent fine form, recording a third straight league victory after a titanic struggle against local rivals East London.

The reverse fixture earlier this season ended 7-6 to Forest, but the 4-3 scoreline this time around was no less enthralling.

The visitors had the better of the early exchanges.

The pacey counter attacking of Luciano Da Silva and Matt Tanswell up front, ably assisted by Giles Sendall and Chris Brown out wide, caused East London all sorts of headaches and only poor finishing prevented Forest taking an early lead.

They did score on 20 mins through Tanswell but almost immediately an East London forward evaded three defenders before rounding Ben Clarke in goal to level.

Mark Terras put Forest back in front with a spectacular diving effort to convert Tanswell's cross for his first goal for the first team.

Tanswell made it 3-1 with his second soon after the break but the home side pressed hard and forced short corner after short corner.

It took a combination of excellent defending from the back four and some solid saves from Clarke to keep East London at bay as long as they did, until eventually the hosts pulled one back.

Tanswell made the game safe with seven minutes to go, with his trademark sweep into the roof of the net for a hat-trick and although East London did reduce the deficit in the final minutes, Forest hung on to maintain a chance for promotion.