Hawks open campaign with a win

A dominant first period saw the Hawks race into the lead when captain Oliver Gnandi opened the scoring with just 11 minutes on the clock.

Serge Erkarslan doubled the lead with almost half an hour played, before De’juane Taylor-Crossdale hit the first of his two goals for the afternoon five minutes before the break.

The Hawks were cruising, and playing fast attractive football to boot, and when Taylor-Crossdale scored again in the 49th minute it seemed that the victory was assured.

The visitors hit back almost straight away however, with Felix Lupu converting a set-piece in the 50th minute, before scoring again in the 61st minute to reduce the deficit to two.

The second half became a scrappy affair with the visitors doing their best to break up play, but Harlow Town were still in control of the game.

Into the final minute FC Romania scored again to set up a nervy last few moments for the Hawks, however when Cristi Iacob saw received a second yellow card and his marching orders in injury time, Harlow Town saw out the game to claim all three points.

The overall performance will be pleasing to the Harlow Town management, however with all three FC Romania goals coming from set-pieces, there is still more work to be done as the Hawks’ new-look squad gels together.

FULL-TIME: Harlow Town 4 - 3 FC Romania