ROMFORD 0 (0) - (2) 2 Maldon & Tiptree Attendance 80 - Ship Lane‏

against a well organised Maldon & Tiptree.

Romford gave a debut to striker Michael Dixon who signed in midweek but the forward could not not mark his debut with a goal, and they also had another new boy, Reion McFarlane on the bench. A poor defensive header early on gave Maldon a chance to open the scoring,however the forward dragged his shot wide of the far post but the visitors did take the lead on ten minutes when a fortunate bounce favoured the team in orange and after a neat one-two Ben Wyatt fired a low left foot shot across Michael Gooch in the Boro goal and into the far corner of the net. Two minutes later and with Romford's first dangerous attack the ball was worked through to George Woodward on the edge of the box but his powerful drive that looked to be heading for the top corner was bravely blocked. Sam Newson who seems to always score against Romford nearly grabbed his customary goal, but after good footwork and skill in the box the striker's shot was well blocked before Michael Gooch got down low to save the follow up. Things turned from bad to worse for Romford when a swift counter attack by Maldon left the hosts exposed and that man Newson did get his goal with a close range volley in the twenty-fourth minute. Romford were really struggling to get a grip on the game and could not penetrate Maldon's well marshalled defence but right on half time Danny Cossington intercepted a pass and moved forward before unleashing a drive from thirty yards that flew just wide.

Romford showed a big improvement in the second half but still could not really threaten the Maldon goal with Chris Barry lofting a cross into the box that was headed down into a dangerous area by Nick Reynolds, but nobody reacted and the keeper was quick off his line to deny any opportunity. Both teams began to take it in turns to probe but neither looked very dangerous in front of goal. From midway through the second half Maldon seemed happy to get men behind the ball and concede possession to Romford giving the hosts a chance to get the ball in the box and create some uncertainty but everything seemed to be falling kindly for the visitor's defence. In the eightieth minute Jamie Dicks spotted the keeper off his line and shot from distance but his effort landed on the roof of the net with the relieved keeper struggling to get back. Before the end substitute Chris Taylor had a shot deflected just wide of the near post after good work down the right hand side while at the other end Gooch was on hand to beat out a long distance drive. Romford will now need to pick themselves up for a big game at Heybridge Swifts on Tuesday who are one place and three points behind them in the league table.

ROMFORD (0) 0

MALDON & TIPTREE (2) 2 WYATT 10, NEWSON 24

ROMFORD: MICHAEL GOOCH, RYAN BOSWELL, CHRIS BARRY (REION MCFARLANE 65), JAMES ISHMAIL, TOM POTTER, DANNY COSSINGTON, GEORGE WOODWARD, JAMIE DICKS, NICK REYNOLDS (AKWASI MARFO 65), MICHAEL DIXON (CHRIS TAYLOR 81), ADEYINKA COLE SUBS NOT USED RICHARD WRAY & BESFORT SADIKU

YELLOW CARDS: JAMIE DICKS 56, GEORGE WOODWARD 61