ROCHFORD Hockey Club came from behind against bottom club Havering to keep their promotion push on track.

The home side played well, despite their lowly league position, but were unable to stop Rochford’s first team coming away with a hard-fought 2-1 victory.

Rochford started knocking the ball around and were playing some good hockey, with a number of chances falling to James Morgan although the home stopper made several key saves.

But, midway through the first-half, Havering broke and scored against the run of play.

This spurred Havering on with the majority of what remained of the first-half played in the Rochford half.

Frustrations were starting to show for Rochford, who saw both Danny Palmer and debutant Luke Danbrook both green carded (official warnings) in separate incidences.

But the away team did defend well, with joint player of the match Neil Sikka impressing all afternoon.

A goal down at half-time, and after some choice words from skipper Andy Knight, Rochford came out focused in the second-half and created some early opportunities.

The Havering goal was living a charmed life, and the away team would have been level if not for the Havering keeper.

But their resilience was broken when joint player of the match Sam Lowe lifted the ball over the stranded keeper to level the scores.

Knight drilled the ball in to the D to Morgan who fired a shot at the keeper. Morgan’s follow-up was also saved, with the rebound falling to Lowe who lofted the ball in over the keeper.

Rochford pushed on, with Danbrook unlucky not to score on his debut, but the winner did come with 10 minutes remaining.

Luke Smith played a neat one-two and crossed the ball to Rhys Durban who slotted the ball home.

With the lead, Rochford shut up shop and defended solidly for the remainder of the game to secure the three points.

With other results going Rochford’s way there is now a three point gap between them and third-placed Thurrock.