The waiting was finally over and competitive football returned to Burroughs Park with the start of the 2013-14 Essex Senior League with the visit of Tower Hamlets FC (formerly Bethnal Green).

Manager Dan Trenkel said the latter were the best footballing side to visit Burroughs last season so he was under no illusions that this would be a tricky encounter to kick off Rovers campaign which indeed would turn out to be the case on this warm but overcast Saturday afternoon.

Rovers depleted by a string of injuries to many key players won the toss and were immediately on the front foot winning a corner in the first minute which was dealt with comfortably by the visitors defence.

During the next eventful twenty minutes it was the visitors who began to settle and looked in control getting several dangerous looking crosses into the box however these were dealt with well by the commanding centre back duo of skipper Nick Skelton, Stuart Hepburn and keeper Adam Seal making his league debut in goal. In fact Seal made a superb punch clear during which he cleared through all those that were standing in his way and indeed won a free kick for his efforts as the visitors attacker was judged to have impeded him.

Tower Hamlets then won a corner during which Player Manager Trenkel received a blow to the head which required lengthy treatment on a nasty gash both on the pitch and the sidelines.

With Rovers temporarily down to 10 men the visitors looked to press their advantage and a superb cross caught Hamlets Killinback by surprise and fortunately for the home side he couldn’t control it and it went wide.

Trenkel returned the fray sporting a heavily bandaged forehead much like Terry Butcher did for England however on twenty five minutes the wound did not deter him in nodding home Billy Radleys superbly placed cross after a well worked Rovers move to make it 1-0 to the home side.

This seemed to settle Rovers down and they began to take control of the game winning a corner and a decent shot from Max Kent were soon to follow. Billy Johnson returning to the side after a long spell out injured continued to make himself a pest up front and the visitors defence just didn’t know how to handle him.

At the other end Hepburn and Skelton continued deal with the balls that came their way superbly.

On thirty three minutes the lively Johnson capitalised on a horrendous mix up between Hamlets centre back Emeka Nkemdirim and keeper Jason Willis to nip in, round Willis, and calmly slot the ball home for 2-0. A well deserved goal for Johnson who was having a good game thus far.

On Tower Hamlets next attack there were calls for a penalty when a robust challenge left the visitors attacker sprawled out in the box however referee Steve Moore was having none of it.

Rovers again attacked and won a free kick when Hamlets defender Jay Taylor bought down Dan Trenkel about 25 yards out. The challenge earned the defender a yellow card which was to prove costly to him later in the game. Billy Johnson took the kick however it was dealt with comfortably by Willis in goal. Johnson was to get another go two minutes later thanks to another free kick as Ash Hawkins rolled it into his path but his shot was high and wide.

Johnson, Jay Smith, and Radley continued to assault the Hamlets back line with pace right up until the half time whistle blew at 2-0 to Rovers.

With no changes at half time by either side Tower Hamlets were out of the blocks quickest in search of the goal that would get them back into the game and on fifty minutes forced a corner which was deflected goal bound only for Adam Seal to produce a superb reaction save to deny the visitors.

The game became quite scrappy with lots of heavy tackles starting to fly in however referee Moore continued to control the game well to avoid things getting out of hand deciding to talk to the players rather than brandishing cards.

On fifty five minutes the energetic Billy Radley was replaced by Joe Skeels .

With the game getting disjointed it was the visitors who looked more like scoring producing a free kick which was sent just over the bar. They then made their first substitution with Ryan Stalley coming on for Nathan Wilson. During this time Rovers midfielder Ty Benjamin put in a robust challenge on one of his visiting counterparts which earned him a talking to by the referee which looked harsh from my position and was more down to the reaction of the Hamlets players.

On sixty eight minutes Billy Johnson had a shot only to be thwarted by Willis in the visitors goal with an excellent save tipping the ball onto the bar and over.

Rovers made another change with Ash Hawkins being replaced by Dan Williams.

On eighty two minutes a challenge by Skeels gave Hamlets a free kick 30 yards out which was wasted by Killinback. The foul also cost Skeels a booking which looked very harsh indeed.

As the game petered out both sides made more changes with the visitors replacing Killinback with King Ellis. Rovers replaced Man of the Match elect Billy Johnson with Aaron Baldwin with Johnson rightly applauded off for his efforts.

On ninety one minutes the visitors were reduced to ten men when Jay Taylor picked up his second yellow of the game and giving Rovers a free kick around twenty five yards out which our head banded Steve Foster lookalike (minus curly mullet obviously) Dan Trenkel took but was easily saved by Willis.

The final whistle went after four added minutes much to the relief of the Rovers faithful with the boys managing to get an opening day win under their belts against a very tough opponent whom will no doubt be challenging at the top of the table come the end of the season.

So in front of a crowd of 92 it ended Great Wakering Rovers 2-0 Tower Hamlets.

ROVERS
1. Adam Seal
2. James Pugsley
3. Max Kent
4. Ty Benjamin
5. Stuart Hepburn
6. Nick Skelton (c)
7. Billy Radley
8. Jay Smith
9. Dan Trenkel
10. Ashley Hawkins
11. Billy Johnson

12. Carl Reid
14. Aaron Baldwin (On for Johnson, 84)
15. Joe Skeels (On for Radley, 55)
16. Nathan Fletcher
17. Dan Williams (On for Hawkins 72)

TOWER HAMLETS:Jason Willis, Bradley Ling, Danny Gillard, Michael Oyelamie, Jay Taylor, Emeka Nkemdirim, Nathan Wilson, Steve Willis (c), Stephen Demetriou, Syrus Gordon, Joseph Killinback
Substitutes: Ryan Stalley, Daniel Rorke, King Ellis, Billy Hickford, Ajibola Olatonbosun

Bookings:
Rovers: Skeels (82, foul)
Tower Hamlets: Taylor (38, foul)

Sent Off:
Tower Hamlets: Taylor (89, foul - second yellow)

Referee: Steve Moore
Assistants: Martin Green & Stuart Bookey

Attendance: 92

Rovers Man of the Match: Billy Johnson