Romford 3 (1) v 2 (1) Royston Town - Attendance 191

After early probing by both sides Boro opened the scoring on 11 minutes when Wale Odedoyin, who had already put the visiting defence under pressure a few times with his strong runs at goal, won a tussle with the Crows’ defence on the edge of their area and was able to come away free with the ball and prod it into an empty net.

At this point it seemed that Romford were on their way to a comfortable win but their occasional defensive frailties came into play ten minutes before half time when a clearance misunderstanding gave Dalton O’Brien the opportunity to get his toe to the ball and it crept into the home net.

Following their half time (briefing) Boro flew at their opponents and took the lead immediately after the restart when, during a goal mouth melee, Jack Barry turned and hooked the ball into the Royston net.

After this the home side continued to control the game but were unable to add to their goal tally until 70 minutes when Abs Seymour, who had been his usual influential self in midfield, was fed the ball just outside the right hand of the Crows’ area. Moving forward he seemed to be going to shoot but instead checked inside to deceive the advancing goalkeeper and swept the ball skilfully left footed into the net just inside the near upright.

To their credit, although two goals down, Royston tried to reduce the deficit and were rewarded with their efforts by a goal from Ryan Lockett on 88 minutes when he was left unmarked to score.

For the rest of the game, including several minutes of added time the visitors tried their best to level the scores and take the game to a replay but were unable to take advantage a number of corners they won and beat a determined Romford defence.

Romford squad: Joseph-Johnson; Mackin; Kavanagh; Ishmail; Clayton; Seymour; J. Barry; ; Duru (Heywoord 83); W. Odedoyin; Reynolds; Oates (Dicks 70). Unused subsitutes: Moore; Bingham; Hepburn & Finn (GK)