Chatham Town 0 (0) - (0) 2 ROMFORD Attendance 89 - Maidstone Road

An extremely poor refereeing poor performance stopped this game ever really getting started as he infuriated both teams with some absurd decisions, but it was the hosts who twice came close to scoring early on with Romford stopper Aaron Omand alert to deny the Chatham forward before moments later he was assisted by his defence who managed to clear the ball off the line. Paul Clayton sent a looping header over and Jack Barry sent another shot wide for the Boro before Chatham should have scored after a good move, but the forward fluffed his lines when through on goal.

Once again in the second half neither team got going but the referee gave a very soft penalty to the hosts for a hand ball that James Ishmail could do nothing about on fifty-four minutes. Justice was served as Aaron Omand dived to his right to beat away Matt Solly's spot kick and give Romford the boost they needed and six minutes later they were ahead. Chatham failed to clear the ball and Jack Barry stole it in midfield before unleashing a strike that was blocked but rolled kindly to David Ottley, who had advanced from full back and after setting himself slashed the ball into the bottom corner. Romford could have had a penalty of their own when a defender handled the ball in the box but the game was settled on seventy-two minutes when after good build up play that featured nearly all Boro's outfield players Jack Barry found Ryan Imbert in the box and his quick turn and powerful beat an unmoved Lee Kidman in the Chatham goal. Chatham rarely threatened after this and Nick Reynolds came close to a third near the end before the referee brought proceedings to an end but not before booking a fifth player when not a bad foul had been committed all game.

CHATHAM (0) 0

ROMFORD (0) 2 DAVID OTTLEY 60, RYAN IMBERT 72.

ROMFORD: AARON OMAND, DAVID OTTLEY, PAUL PRESTON, MATT TOMS, JAMIE DICKS, PAUL CLAYTON, JACK BARRY, JAMES ISHMAIL, RYAN IMBERT (SAMUEL KEMP 87), TOM RICHARDSON (REECE TRANTER 78), NICK REYNOLDS (NATHAN COOPER 89). SUBS NOT USED GEORGE COCKLIN, ROBBIE NORRIS.

YELLOW CARDS: JAMES ISHMAIL 54, JACK BARRY 55, DAVID OTTLEY 65.