Hackney 3–5 Barking & Dagenham

BARKING & DAGENHAM U11 BOYS got their season off to an impressive start with a 5–3 away victory over Hackney. Despite falling behind early on, the boys showed great character to turn the game around, with Raheem scoring twice and further goals from Khyree, Natan and Sage securing an excellent opening-day win.

Hackney started the brighter of the two teams and took an early lead with a deflected effort. Barking almost responded immediately when Roman’s long ball found Raheem, but the home side managed to clear his effort off the line. Roman was then called into action at the other end, coming quickly off his line to prevent Hackney from extending their lead.

Barking & Dagenham started the second quarter much better and drew level through Khyree. Raheem raced away from the Hackney defence before cutting the ball back for Khyree to fire home.

Things got even better moments later when Raheem raced onto another long ball from Roman and neatly tucked the ball away to put the visitors ahead. The game was turned on its head soon after as Raheem doubled his tally. Khyree was the architect once again, beating his defender before delivering a cross that Raheem finished well from close range.

Hackney were stunned by the turnaround but almost found a way back into the game. Their striker fired over after Barking were caught out by a long ball over the top. Roman was then called into action to deal with a long-range effort before producing a brilliant fingertip save to deny the Hackney striker.

Liam then raced forward with the ball but saw his well-struck effort crash against the post as Barking continued to threaten.

Barking started the final quarter on the front foot and stretched their lead when Natan poked home from the edge of the area after Hackney failed to clear a corner. Andi then fired over from another set piece as the visitors continued to dominate.

Sage came agonisingly close to adding another when he struck the crossbar from close range, following a smart save from the Hackney goalkeeper to deny Raheem his hat-trick.

Hudson and Ensar both saw efforts narrowly fly wide as Barking remained in control. A fifth goal eventually arrived, with Liam heavily involved once again. He exchanged passes with Gabriel before cutting the ball back for Sage, who calmly picked his spot in the bottom corner.

Hackney managed to reduce the deficit with two late goals, but it was not enough to take the gloss off an impressive performance and an excellent start to the season for Barking & Dagenham.

Barking & Dagenham team: Brown, Imbert-Brisset, Sulemana, McBean, Firszt, Prenci, Musaj, Tahiri, Baker, Oniorisan, Kwakye, Ogunbule