Both sides came out attacking from the first whistle, and the first real chance arrived within just two minutes. A White Ensign corner swung dangerously into the box, took a nasty bounce, and landed at the feet of a White Ensign player whose shot was well held by Harvey Simson in goal.

The game quickly turned physical, with both teams putting in hard tackles and managing to find pockets of space. However, neither side was able to seriously test the goalkeepers early on. Athletic Newham’s first opportunity came 10 minutes in when Johnny Ashman picked up a loose ball, but his shot lacked power and was easily collected by Charlie Brown in the White Ensign goal.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 13th minute. White Ensign capitalized on a short pass by Athletic Newham, working the ball smartly into the box. Emmanuel Sergio finished the move with composure, placing the ball past Harvey Simson and into the back of the net.

Moments after the deadlock was broken, Athletic Newham pushed forward in search of an equalizer. Chris John, fresh off scoring his first goal of the season, picked up the ball just inside his own half and drove at the White Ensign defence. He unleashed a powerful strike from distance, but unfortunately for him, the ball kept rising and sailed harmlessly over the bar, never troubling the White Ensign goal.

Conceding the goal seemed to spark Athletic Newham into life. They quickly regained possession from a White Ensign goal kick, and Tom Cottle-Wood made a driving run down the wing before cutting inside. He delivered a teasing cross into the box that was begging for someone to get a foot on it. Fortunately for White Ensign, no one could connect, and the ball rolled safely through to their goalkeeper.

16 minutes into the game, Athletic Newham continued to press—this time from a free-kick out on the left-hand side. Tom Cottle-Wood swung in a dangerous delivery toward the back post, where several Newham players were ready to pounce. White Ensign goalkeeper Charlie Brown reacted well, coming off his line to punch the ball clear and keep the 1-0.

Athletic Newham were really pushing forward in search of a way back into the game. Just past the 20-minute mark, they launched another promising attack. Anderson Silva Baro carried the ball across the halfway line and threaded a perfectly timed through ball to Chuks Uzor. Uzor struck it well, but Charlie Brown in the White Ensign goal produced another strong save to preserve his side’s 1–0 lead.

At the 30-minute mark, White Ensign hadn’t applied much attacking pressure since taking the lead, but they began to push forward again. They found some space down the flank, allowing Rio Campbell to make a run in behind. However, he couldn’t quite beat his marker, and the ball was knocked out for a corner. The resulting set piece came to nothing, and the score remained 1–0.

Moments after their previous attack, White Ensign came forward once more. This time, Rio Campbell managed to cut inside from the flank and fire a powerful shot towards goal. However, Harvey Simson was equal to it, producing a strong save to keep the ball out

Just before half-time, Athletic Newham had another great opportunity to level the score. A free-kick from the right-hand side, delivered by Johnny Ashman, was lofted high into the box and found the head of Chuks Uzor. However, Uzor couldn’t direct his header into the corner, sending it straight into the hands of the White Ensign goalkeeper.

HALF TIME
ATHLETIC NEWHAM 0-1 WHITE ENSIGN

Athletic Newham made two changes at the break, with Abubaker Sadiq Mohammed and Arthur Massingham coming on to replace Remarle Lawrence and Tom Cottle-Wood. It was substitute Arthur Massingham who registered the first shot of the second half just two minutes after the restart. Cutting in from the left, he tried his luck from distance, but the effort was too far out to trouble the goalkeeper.

Just six minutes into the second half, Athletic Newham’s pressure finally paid off. A long, searching pass from Abubaker Sadiq Mohammed found Omar Eisa making a run in behind. A mix-up between a White Ensign defender and the goalkeeper allowed the ball to slip through, and Eisa was the beneficiary as it rolled into the back of the net to level the score.

Athletic Newham weren’t content to sit back after drawing level. With 55 minutes on the clock, Anderson Silva Baro played a lovely cross-field pass to find Arthur Massingham in space. Massingham drove into the box, but a well-timed recovery from the White Ensign defence prevented what could have been a clear scoring chance. The ball was cleared, and the score remained 1–1.

60 minutes on the clock and we find our self-down to 10 men for the next 10 minutes due to something that Chris John has done or said to the Referee and Chris being sent to the sin bin unsure what was said as wasn’t close enough to hear what had happened.

Despite sustained pressure from Athletic Newham, White Ensign stood firm defensively and began to make their extra man count. They capitalized with 69 minutes on the clock when a free-kick was played into the box and somehow made its way through the crowd to Reece Latimer, who reacted quickly to slot the ball home and restore White Ensign’s lead.

Just minutes later, White Ensign made it 3–1 under unusual circumstances. The referee accidentally got too close to the action, resulting in a drop ball awarded to White Ensign. Athletic Newham appeared to switch off momentarily, and White Ensign took full advantage—quickly playing the ball into the box toward the far post. Emmanuel Sergio was waiting and made no mistake, calmly slotting home from close range to grab his second of the match and extend White Ensign’s lead.

With 81 minutes on the clock, the match saw its first red card of the season. Anderson Silva Baro was shown a straight red by the referee for a challenge that many in the ground felt was harsh. Nonetheless, the referee’s decision stood, and Athletic Newham were reduced to ten men for the final ten minutes.

With five minutes left on the clock, White Ensign came close to adding a fourth. A dangerous ball was played across the box, somehow evading everyone and finding an unmarked player at the back post, ready to smash it home. But Harvey Simson produced a brilliant save at point-blank range to keep the score at 3–1 and give Athletic Newham a glimmer of hope.

White Ensign eventually got the fourth goal they had been pushing for. A free-kick from the halfway line was launched forward, and Emmanuel Sergio was once again in the right place at the right time. He calmly finished to complete his hat-trick—having opened the scoring and now closing it—securing the match ball and a convincing 4–1 win for White Ensign.

FULL TIME
ATHLETIC NEWHAM 1-4 WHITE ENSIGN