Essex Senior League: Tower Hamlets 1 Sporting Bengal 3

In an eagerly awaited derby Sporting Bengal United won the bragging rights as Anwar Uddin’s men cruised to a convincing win over their local rivals at Mile End stadium.

With only three minutes on the clock Prince William opened the scoring to give Sporting a confidence-boosting lead.

And although the home side upped the ante, Jordan Meikle and the Sporting back four marshalled the threats with relative ease.

Tower Hamlets had a golden opportunity to level the scores in the 38th minute but a poorly taken penalty was easily saved by visiting keeper Lewis Lockyer.

And Sporting came quickly out of the traps at the start of the second half, repeating their first-half trick yet again as Mustafa Kahie cruised in to double the lead within three minutes of the restart.

The heavens literally opened after that but a torrential downpour could not stop Tunde Adewunmi hammering Sporting into a 3-0 lead with his 19th goal of the season.

The rain ceased after the third goal and just as a rainbow appeared on the horizon Tower Hamlets were rewarded with a consolation goal courtesy of Anthony Ikenwe on 70 minutes.

The derby double is the first in this competitive fixture in Sporting Bengal’s history and they are now on 40 points and, with seven games still to play, looking set to surpass their best ever Essex Senior League total of 44 points.

Sporting manager Uddin said: “I’m delighted with the away win in the East London derby today. Some of our boys are growing in stature at an encouraging rate.”

Captain Toch Singh added: “Another derby won by Sporting Bengal beating Tower Hamlets! An absolute pleasure to play with and for such hungry and talented individuals.”

Ade Abayomi’s young Tower Hamlets side will look to bounce back when they visit high-flying Barking on Tuesday.

Tower Hamlets: Stinca, Earle, Cedras, Lazoio, Abalo, Sumithran, Ndao, Ikenwe, Sadibou, Baffour. Unused subs: Kalad, Tshimala, Amieye, McLean, Traore.