ROMFORD 2 (0) - (0) 1 Barkingside Attendance 44 - Ship Lane‏

A wet afternoon at Ship Lane was the venue for this relegation battle and in the eighth minute the visitor's keeper came out of his goal and cleared the ball straight to Liam Burgess positioned on the half way line but the midfielder could not direct his shot into the empty net. Three minutes later Michael Gooch was forced into a low save after the Barkingside forward got in behind the Boro defence and then in the seventeenth minute Chris Barry took a quick free kick that put McKenzie through on goal but the keeper made a good save to deny the Romford forward. In the twenty-first minute Romford won a free kick on the edge of the box that Barry took but his effort hit the wall before the ball fell into the path of Jamie Dicks and his right foot shot from twenty-five yards was heading for the top corner before the Barkingside keeper dived across his goal and tipped the ball wide. Akwasi Marfo crossed it back over to the far post where it looked to have been sneaking in but a defender was on hand to head away. Lee Weemes produced a fantastic bit of skill to turn his marker and get in on goal in the thirty-seventh minute but his shot was straight at the keeper while three minutes later Liam Burgess beat the offside trap down the left wing and put in a low cross which found Mosho Olafunisle but his low shot was saved again by the Barkingside keeper. At the other end Side caught Romford on the counter attack and a long drive was dipping underneath the crossbar but Gooch was on hand to tip the ball over.

Barkingside created a lot more chances in the second half but their strikers failed to put on their shooting boots as they missed two glorious opportunities, first in the fifty-third minute when a cross found the forward unmarked and then a minute later another cross again reached one of his colleagues unmarked but on both occasions they shot way over the bar. With nineteen minutes left on the clock the deadlock was finally broken when a cross from the right wing gave Luke With a free header which the tall striker directed past Gooch to give the visitors the lead.
Romford immediately made two substitutes, bringing on strikers Nick Reynolds and Joe Scott and the changes worked straight away as Reynolds raced down the right wing and was brought crashing to the ground, but he had managed to get his cross in a fraction of a second earlier and Scott charging in at the near post fired home his first of the season from an acute angle for the seventy-eighth minute equaliser. Both teams were now looking for the winner but Romford seemed more likely and it came two minutes from time when Scott chipped a ball into the side of the box where McKenzie edged past a defender and brilliantly lifted the ball over the advancing keeper and into the net. Somehow the referee found nine minutes of injury time but Romford passed the ball around sensibly to keep possession and easily hung on to record their first league win since October.

ROMFORD: MICHAEL GOOCH, RYAN BOSWELL, JAMIE DICKS, MATT FREW, MOSHO OLAFUNISLE, CHRIS BARRY (JOE SCOTT 75), LIAM BURGESS, JAKE GIDDINGS, CHINEDU MCKENZIE, LEE WEEMES (NICK REYNOLDS 73), AKWASI MARFO SUBS NOT USED TOM POTTER, ROBBIE NORRIS, RICHARD WRAY

YELLOW CARD: JAMIE DICKS 25