Valiant Boro Succumb To Late Goals

West Essex (1) 6, Romford (0) 3 – Tuesday 10th October 2023 – Essex Senior League

Despite being reduced to ten men just four minutes into the second half, Romford put up a strong showing before eventually succumbing to late West Essex goals, including two in added time.

In terms of entertainment, this was very much a case of two contrasting halves. The first forty-five minutes were enlivened only by a peach of a goal from West Essex’s Zak Oliver, while in the second half just about anything that could happen, did happen.

There was also a marked contrast in Boro’s style of play before and after the break. While West Essex played much of their football on the ground, Romford tried a much more direct approach in the first half, frequently leaving Hassan Nalbant isolated up front. After the interval, the introduction of Bruno Gomes provided another outlet and Boro played a much more considered, passing game as a result.

An early chance fell to West Essex as David Bell skipped through only to have his shot blocked by Scott Doe with Jack Dixson saving a low shot from close range in the follow up, but after 14 minutes Zak Oliver’s well struck shot from the right arrowed past Dixson, who had no chance.

Boro’s best chances saw Hassan Nalbant hit a post with George Cox putting a difficult chance over from the rebound, while Kris Newby was a whisker away from an equaliser with a shot that followed a lay-off from Nalbant from Ash Siddik’s pass. At the other end, Dixson saved well from a shot by Oliver, but the most significant other event was a booking for Junior Luke for a shoulder charge on a West Essex forward with the ball nowhere near. George Cox was also booked in the same passage of play.

Romford levelled the scores two minutes after the interval. George Cox split the home defence with an excellent pass and Ash Siddik rounded Michael Corderoy and passed the ball into the net. Two minutes later Boro were reduced to ten men when Junior Luke – in his first game after suspension – fouled a breaking West Essex forward, leaving referee Alistair Potter with little choice but to proffer a second yellow, and so a red, card.

Dixson saved from the ever dangerous Oliver and Ike Olaiya shot wide for the home side, but Boro were now enjoying their best spell of the game as Nalbant shot wide and Bruno Gomes had a shot pushed away for a corner by Corderoy, before George Cox gave Boro a deserved lead. Kris Newby’s cross was headed partially clear and Cox’s shot from the edge of the penalty area found the bottom corner after 68 minutes.

The lead lasted until the 74th minute, when Boro failed to clear and Greg Frederick scored. It then got worse, when in the 78th minute, a long ball from left to right found the Boro defence stretched and Olaiya cut in to score.

Boro levelled through Kris Newby after 84 minutes with a goal that ought not to have stood. From a drop-ball thirty yards from the West Essex goal after play had been stopped for a head injury to a home defender, Newby touched the ball forward and hit an unerring shot past Corderoy. The laws require a minimum of two players to touch the ball after a drop ball before a goal can be scored, but referee Potter seemed to overlook this, unless there was the slightest of deflections to Newby’s shot that no one in the ground saw apart from the referee.

Newby then picked up a yellow card for a foul, and from the resulting free-kick Oliver headed his side in front once more after Dixson had been unable to hold the initial shot. Three minutes into added time Ruben Bartlett-Antwi made the game safe for West Essex with a fifth, and Oliver completed his hat-trick to rub salt into the wound with another in what was by now the 95th minute.

A chastening defeat for Boro against a side that are quick and nimble and who would be a handful for eleven men, let alone ten, but to coin a phrase, the league campaign is a marathon, not a sprint; the league is won in April, not October.

Romford: Jack Dixson, Henry Hart (Charlie Morris, 72m), Junior Luke, Jamie Hursit (Jayden Silcott-Brown, 90+2m), Michael Turner, Scott Doe, Lee Hursit (Bruno Gomes, 46m), Hassan Nalbant, Ash Siddik, Kris Newby. Unused subs: Jacob Wiggins, Toheeb Elegushi.