East London’s men and women got the new season off to a superb start with wins in their respective East League Premier A matches at the weekend.

The men romped to an 8-0 home win over Ipswich East Suffolk in their opener, while the women were 3-1 winners at Upminster, who also gained promotion last season.

And the club are hoping those results stand them in good stead as they embark on another campaign.

Men's co-captains Craig Spencer and Harry Finster said: "These first wins give us great confidence that we belong in this league and can push up towards the top of the table.

"Since joining the club, the commitment of the players and coaches has been superb and the results have shown over the last couple of years with two promotions.

"However, this is just one win and there are plenty of tough challenges ahead, but ones we're looking forward to.

"We now have nine men and 10 womens' teams. We also have a growing youth section and this season we are developing youth players to play in the league."

Women's captain Renske Pesch added: "We've had a good pre-season over the last few weeks and this weekend's win confirms that we're ready to perform at the highest ever league for an East London women's team.

"We've seen a few players leave but we're really happy with both the internal and external reinforcements that have come in.

"We obviously have a long way to go still, but it's amazing to see the hard work we've put in so far pay off and we're really excited to see what the rest of the season brings."