AFC Hornchurch 0 (0) - (1) 1 ROMFORD Attendance 226 - Hornchurch Stadium‏

After shipping ten goals in their last two games manager Paul Martin brought back captain Matt Frew at centre back and changed the midfield formation to help protect his defence as they faced prolific goalscorers David Knight and George Purcell, and for the second time this season he got the tactics spot on as they recorded their second clean sheet against the noisy neighbours. The game was mainly played in Romford's half but despite lots of possession Hornchurch rarely threatened with their first chance a long range effort that flew narrowly over not coming until the sixteenth minute, before a left foot drive from the left side of the box was easily saved by Michael Gooch in the Boro goal five minutes later. On thirty-one minutes a deep corner found former Romford centre back Nathan Cooper and his looping header flicked the top of the bar before going over but as Romford defended deeper and deeper towards the approach of half time they counter attacked well. Ryan Boswell released Akwasi Marfo down the right wing but as the forward cut in he could only send his left foot drive wide of the near post. On the stroke of half time a misplaced pass was intercepted by Marfo and as he run towards goal was cynically brought down by the host's captain Elliott Styles who rightly received a yellow card. George Woodward stepped up to take the free kick thirty-five yards from goal but he over hit the cross that looked like it was going straight into the arms of Hornchurch keeper Sam Mott. However, he must have momentarily taken his eye of the ball and completely misjudged the flight to let it squeeze through his fingers and into the net sending the away fans barmy.

Romford were expecting a second half onslaught but Hornchurch turned to the long ball game that was easily dealt with by the Boro defence and in fact the visitors had the best chances in the second half starting with a cross field ball on forty-nine minutes that was just inches away from Chinedu McKenzie who would have been clean through. On the hour another through ball found McKenzie who beat the onrushing Mott to it but Hornchurch had too many defenders back and blocked his effort, before it fell to Marfo who also had his shot cleared. With twenty minutes to go Hornchurch forward Knight raced through but midfielder Danny Cossington who was filling in at centre back made a fantastic challenge to deny the striker. With seven minutes to go Woodward took a short free kick to Marfo in the right hand corner and the Boro man cut inside before sending in a left foot drive that was beaten out by Mott. In stoppage time Hornchurch threw everything at Romford but it was all easily dealt with before the referee brought the game to a close and gave Romford three valuable points on a night when the Ryman Division One North supplied a number of results which turned the form book upside down.

AFC HORNCHURCH (0) 0

ROMFORD (1) 1 GEORGE WOODWARD

ROMFORD: MICHAEL GOOCH, RYAN BOSWELL, GEORGE WOODWARD, DANNY COSSINGTON, MATT FREW, CONNOR GOLDSTONE, JAKE GIDDINGS, ROBBIE NORRIS, AKWASI MARFO, CHINEDU MCKENZIE, LIAM BURGESS (JOE SCOTT 83) SUBS NOT USED NICK REYNOLDS, LEE WEEMES, TOM POTTER, CHRIS BARRY

YELLOW CARDS: AKWASI MARFO 84