Wakering returned to winning form in this home Ryman League Division Two game.

However, the encounter against lowly strugglers Pennant will be best remembered for two unsavoury brawls - the second of which ended with the visitors having two players sent off after only 32 minutes.

The match, played for much of the time in driving rain, saw skipper John Heffer take advantage of a mix-up in the Pennant defence to shoot Wakering ahead after only nine minutes.

Sadly the rest of the first-half degenerated into an ugly spectacle which appeared to be sparked after 14 minutes when opposing man Ian Barnes launched an outrageously high tackle on Wakering's Ollie Evans.

Barnes was booked, but the rot had set in now and visiting striker Tommy Lee appeared to be somewhat fortunate not to be shown a red card when he swung a punch at an opponent soon after.

After 22 minutes the first brawl occurred when Wakering's Adam French and Pennant's Neil Tilley became entangled in the centre circle while going for a 50-50 ball.

Tilley was booked, but the game continued to simmer with an undercurrent of violence which was briefly broken when Lee equalised with a well-drilled shot into the bottom corner after 29 minutes.

However, tempers flared again three minutes later with the ugliest incident of the afternoon when the home side's Jimmy Ablitt and Jamie Reilly, once with Canvey, clashed and a full-scale mass punch-up broke out.

Play was held up for six or seven minutes while referee Keith Yeo sorted the situation out by booking the two players originally involved and showing red cards to Pennant's Barnes and Lee.

Thankfully, the game quietened from this point, but Pennant were always going to struggle with nine men in trying to contain the home side.

Eventually, the village outfit won with two goals in three minutes from Graham Dorrell. He fired home from 18 yards after 67 minutes and then settled the issue by latching onto a superb Neville Hickton cross.

Dorrell became the first Wakering player this season to score two goals in a game and the win lifted his side to fifth in the table, but Rovers face another tough task today (Tuesday) when they travel to third placed Tooting in the League.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.