Braintree 5
Waltham Forest 5
(East Hockey Div 3SE)

WALTHAM Forest men came back from three goals down to to take a point as Luciano Da Silva scored five at league-leaders Braintree.

The early signs were not good as Forest made basic errors and were looking disjointed when, ten minutes into the game, the home side won a penalty corner, scoring from the rebound.

The hosts looked dangerous at every short corner and it was no surprise to see them 3-0 up at half-time.

However whatever captain Chris Brown said at the interval had the right effect and within 30 seconds of the restart Forest had scored.

Da Silva (pictured) picked up a through ball and left the keeper on his back as he walked it into an empty net.

But when the visitors seeemd to be getting the upper hand, a Braintree cross was deflected into the Forest goal by despairing keeper Ben Clarke.

The away side kept fighting and Da Silva got his second from a penalty corner, before making his hat-trick on the end of a Brown cross and tucking away the equaliser.

With five minutes left and the visitors pushing for the winner, Braintree scored a fourth penalty corner and it appeared that all the good work had been undone.

However, it was to be Da Silva's day as he once again equalised to save the point. Forest travel to Ramgharia on Saturday.

Meanwhile Waltham Forest ladies were frustrated in a goal-less home encounter against fellow bottom-half side Bromley and Belvedere (B&B) at the weekend.

After last week's nail biting 3-2 loss to the league-leaders, the hosts had expected to duplicate their fine performance but looked like a different team.

They continually gave away possession and only managed to produce a couple of chances before the break.

After a re-focus, the second half produced some brighter hockey, with the final quarter spent almost entirely encamped in Forest's attacking half, but stout defending from the visitors denied them a goal.

B&B had several good chances at the other end, but while one point was better than none, the ladies were left rueing their chances and will need to improve as the second half of the season gets underway at home to Broxbourne in Division 2SE on Saturday.