FOOTBALL

Waltham Abbey 5
Witham 1
(Ryman One North)

WALTHAM ABBEY got their league campaign at home off to a cracking start on Tuesday night with a five-star performance against Witham.

The Abbotts got off to a flyer when Harry Elmes outpaced the visitors defence and beat Rhys Madden with a low drive inside two minutes.

Chris West and Billy Holland both went close to doubling the lead moments later, but it was Elmes who scored his second of the night on 37 minutes.

The striker - who has returned to Capershotts after a season with AFC Hornchurch - controlled Luke Power's cross, dragged the ball back, swivelled and fired into the net.

Abbey’s dominance continued but it took until the hour mark for substitute Marc Sontag to put the game beyond Witham’s reach with a third. He had only been on the field a matter of minutes.

Daniel Cornwell notched a consolation for the visitors with seven minutes to play, but any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Sontag grabbed his second and his side's fourth with two minutes to go.

Elmes rounded off an excellent team and individual performance with his hat-trick strike in injury time.

Captain Lee White was naturally delighted. He said: “It was an excellent result and there is a lot of confidence in the players.

“We created so many chances and when you’ve got someone like Harry, who has played at a higher level, it really makes a difference.”

However, the win came just four days after an anti-climatic start to the season, with the Abbots surrendering a two goal lead deep in time added-on away to East Thurrock.

Abbey dominated for large periods of the game and had by far the better chances against the Rocks, who were relegated from the premier division last term.

Harry Elmes was again the catalyst, getting the ball rolling with the opener five minutes into the second half.

Strike partner Billy Holland got off the mark on the hour, firing into the far corner.

Yet an impressive victory was snatched from their grasp well after the 90 minutes had elapsed. Kurt Smith struck a superb volley for what appeared to be a consolation before Martin Touhy made it 2-2 at the death.

“It should never have been a score like that. We switched off,” admitted White.

“It was disappointing but one of those things and I think we’ve got it out of our system.

“It’s still a point and now we’ve got our first win under our belts we’ll be looking to keep this run going.”

He added: “The first two seasons we’ve had in this division have been about consolidation Now we have to look to push on.

“It is very early days but I believe, whereas before we’ve had a decent first eleven or so players, this year we’ve got a really decent squad. Hopefully that should make all the difference.”

Abbey are back in Ryman League action when they entertain Brentwood on Saturday.