ROMFORD 4 (2) - (0) 3 Harlow Town Attendance 115 - Ship Lane‏

Despite the agony of their last minute defeat at the weekend which left them looking worryingly over their shoulder, manager Paul Martin managed to pick his players up and get them to put in a fantastic performance against play-off chasing Harlow.

The Boro were much the better team throughout the first half playing some great attacking football and getting in behind the Harlow defence on numerous occasions. In the opening ten minutes Adeyinka Cole had a chance easily saved while a free kick from Jamie Dicks deep into the box was misjudged by the visitor's keeper allowing Matt Frew to head the ball goalwards but a defender was back just in time to clear off the line. At the other end Harlow's first chance fell to prolific former Romford striker Alex Read but he dragged his shot well wide. In the twenty-seventh minute Akwasi Marfo was fouled and Jamie Dicks' free kick was cleared to Tom Potter who put the ball back into a dangerous area. Both the keeper and centre back looked hesitant, leaving Danny Cossington the opportunity to nick the ball round them but just as it looked like the chance was running away from him and would be cleared, he slid in and scooped the ball home. A minute later and after a neat build up by Marfo and Reion McFarlane, MIchael Dixon had a good chance but after turning his defender inside out, the forward dragged his shot just wide of the far post.

Harlow had a great chance to equalise in the thirty-first minute when Junior Dadson got in behind the Boro defence down the right but as he advanced towards goals he decided to chip the ball over Michael Gooch and it flew harmlessly over the crossbar. Three minutes later and Marfo who was terrorising his marker, beat him once again and put in a dangerous ball to the far post where McFarlane had arrived but his shot was blocked and the rebound fell kindly for the visitors to clear. Romford began to sit really deep to try and soak up the route one balls being pumped into the box and they were easily dealt with by Frew and Tom Potter. The vital second goal for Boro came in first half stoppage time when Marfo was fouled again giving Jamie Dicks the opportunity to cross his free kick into the area where Frew headed down and Michael Dixon was on hand to smash the ball home and open his account for the club.

Harlow made a change at half time and attacked from the off earning themselves a lot of corners that Romford defended well until the fifty-fifth minute when one was headed off the line by Tom Potter but Read was on hand to volley home and reduce the deficit. The visitors were on the up and pushing forward and when Adeyinka Cole lost the ball in midfield in the sixty-sixth minute it was played to Lewis Perkins who controlled the ball, turned his man and slotted it past Gooch in the Boro goal to make it all square. Harlow smelled blood but Romford battled on and defended well and a quick counterattack in the seventy-second minute was led by Dixon down the right wing and his pull back was laid off by Cole for Dicks to curl a sublime effort from twenty-five yards into the top corner. Gooch made a flying save, tipping the ball over when a shot from Layne Eadie was heading for the top corner and Romford were desperately trying to preserve their lead as five minutes of injury time was signalled. In the first minute of that they managed to clear their lines and good pressure from Nick Reynolds forced the ball back to the keeper where Marfo gave chase, almost closing him down before he got the ball out to Ibrahima Sonko near the corner flag. But the Romford winger never gave up, chasing down the defender and dispossessing him before racing back towards goal, keeping his head and coolly passing the ball into the net to spark wild celebrations.

There was still time for another twist as Harlow were awarded a soft penalty that Read dispatched, but the referee blew for time soon after giving Romford a massive lift and a nice early Easter gift of three points

ROMFORD (2) 4 DANNY COSSINGTON 27, MICHAEL DIXON 45+2, JAMIE DICKS 72, AKWASI MARFO 90+1

HARLOW TOWN (0) 3 ALEX READ 55, 90+5 (PEN), PERKINS 66

ROMFORD: MICHAEL GOOCH, RYAN BOSWELL, CHRIS BARRY, MATT FREW, TOM POTTER, DANNY COSSINGTON (GEORGE TUBEY 87), JAMIE DICKS, REION MCFARLANE, MICHAEL DIXON (NICK REYNOLDS 84), AKWASI MARFO, ADEYINKA COLE (CHRIS TAYLOR 75) SUBS NOT USED TOM ANDERSON