A poor performance by Great Wakering Rovers condemned them to defeat as they were defeated by their tenants White Ensign on Tuesday night.

George Godfrey gave the visitors the lead just before the break, and the night was made even more difficult when Rovers were reduced to ten men when Kye Jude received a second booking late into the second half. White Ensign then sealed victory when George Briton-Watkins netted five minutes before the end.

With many faces missing from the last game, Rovers were going to be in for a difficult game.

Kickoff:

White Ensign were straight on control of the game and had more of the early chances.

Inside ten minutes, Ensign broke on a counter attack. George Godfrey found the run of Yemi Adelani inside the area but the forward struck his shot over the bar. Ten minutes later, they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box after Kye Jude mistimed his challenge and brought down his man before he was cautioned. The free kick however was dealt with and cleared.

Ensign were the ones who looked like scoring more and ensured the Rovers had minimal possession and capitalised on misplaced passes.

With 41 minutes on the clock, Ensign eventually punished the Rovers after all the warnings just before the break.

A cross into the box wasn’t cleared away and enough and the ball went straight to Adelani on the left hand side of the box. The forward ran down the edge and got to the byline before pulling the ball back across goal and George Godfrey timed his run well to lash in unmarked.

Halftime: Rovers 0-1 White Ensign

Marcus Bowere made a couple of change at halftime to freshen things up.

On 48 minutes, Ensign had another chance when great chance to double their lead when Adelani was put through down the right wing.

The forward played a perfect cross into the box to an unmarked Palvy Manuakila who saw his close range effort pushed away by George Marsh and the Rovers custodian did superbly well to get up quickly to push away a rebound shot by Shaquel Foyewa.

Rovers however started to finally show some fight after an 55 minutes. Shaun Gittleson had a golden chance to level the score when a long throw into the box wasn’t cleared before blasting the ball over the bar and went very close on 63 minutes when short throw on the right went to Dylan Lovely. The midfielder managed to compose himself before producing a stinging half volley directed at the top left corner and Jordan Williams did well to get across goal and tip the ball around the post.

The game was pretty much end to end for the majority of second half but Rovers passing was not up to standard and kept giving possession away.

With twenty minutes to go, Ensign had a great chance when Yemi Adelani cut in from the right 30 yards from goal sent a curling effort which rattled off the cross bar,

With 76 minutes played, the match was made harder when Rovers were harshly reduced to ten men.

Rovers earned a free kick in the left and a ball into the box dropped in between Kye Jude and an Ensign defender. Both challenged for the ball and clipped each other and unfortunately the referee produced a second yellow for the Rovers defender.

The visitors would soon capitalise on the extra man on 85 minutes as they doubled their lead.

Ensign broke on a counter, and a neat ball through the middle sent George Briton-Watkins to run in through on goal to slot in.

Fulltime: Rovers 0-2 White Ensign

Tonight wasn’t the night for Rovers. They’ll need to dust themselves down quickly as the games are coming quick and fast as they host Benfleet on Saturday.

Some photos curtesy of Nicky Hayes