Ealing were able to field just seven players for the opening tournament, and for several players this was to be their first competitive handball event. However they did well to finish the day in second place in the group.

In a tense opening match Ealing were ahead for much of the game against Cambridge, but let slip a two goal lead, before scoring a late winner to secure their first points in the league. In the second game Ealing struggled to find their rhythm and found themselves chasing Stow Market for most of the game, in the end going down 7-8. Next Ealing faced Essex and again found themselves chasing the score, but a late rally saw Ealing snatch a last gasp 8-8 draw. The final game of the day was against a short-handed Olycats team, who were undefeated so far. The bigger opponents gave Ealing a lot of problems, but Ealing managed to edge in front and hang-on for 6-5 win.

Rodrigo da Silva had an outstanding day in goal, making some superb saves and even scoring a long range goal. His brother Tomas was key in attack, scoring many of Ealing’s goal, but it was encouraging that almost everyone scored. However ultimately it was a good all round team effort, especially in defence, which helped seal success.

Ealing U16 boys coach Coach Joe Vickers was understandably pleased with the outcome "The average age of the team is just 14 and many are new to handball, so to walk away with two wins and a draw in round 1 is a great result. The games were all very close and the players showed great character. We have a good platform to improve from and hopefully go on to further success”.

The next round in the National U16 League South-East play-offs is on Saturday 4 November.