Grays Athletic 1 - 2 Romford by Keith Preston

With Paul Martin serving a touch line ban and Mark Lord away on holiday it was left to injured Kurt Smith and kit man Keith Preston to take their places on the bench.
The game kicked off at 2pm and it was Romford who made the early running as they battled and chased everything not giving their opponents time on the ball.
Romford had the first real chance after just three minutes when a Paul Kavanagh free kick was put behind for a corner.
Grays slowly started to get their game together and started to create a few chances. On 14 minutes Kavanagh miscued a clearance that fell to David Cowley, fortunately for Romford he hit his shot high over the bar.
Two minutes later another scare for Romford when Paul Olima struck the post with his effort.
Romford were being put under a lot of pressure now but a combination of good defending and fine keeping from Lamar Johnson kept Grays from getting their noses in front.
On 22 minutes Joe Oates was put away and after a good run he saw his shot parried by Ali Aksoy in the home goal.
A minute later Johnson makes a fine save from Harry Agombar.
The last good chance of the half fell to Grays when on 31 minutes a cross into the Romford box was met by Junior Baker who headed wide of the far post with the goal at his mercy.
So Romford made the half time break with a defensive display to be proud of.
Boro were almost undone straight from the re start, Agombar had two great chances in the first two minutes but managed to hit both efforts wide.
On 51 minutes Oates does well to get behind the home defence on the left but sees his cross go through the area without anyone unable to get a touch.
A minute later Baker hits a long range shot that strikes the Boro crossbar.
It was in the 61st minute that Grays Athletic found a way through the Romford defence, from a free kick into the box by
Agombar Bradley Thomas rises to glance a header inside the far post.
Two minutes later though Romford are level when David Ottley gets the ball in from the right, the ball finds its way to Abs Seymour who hits a low shot past the keeper.
After 68 minutes Aksoy fails to hold onto a shot but somehow scrambles the ball away with Ellis Skidmore bearing down on him.
Boro make two substitutions when Clifton and Richardson are brought on for the tiring Tony Martin and Joe Oates.
Richardson receives the ball with his back to goal in the 73rd minute, he turns and shoots only to see his effort go narrowly wide.
In the 78th minute Seymour breaks up an attack and sends Ottley away down the left. Ottley puts over a cross that finds Seymour who had run the length of the pitch to fire home a shot that proved to be the winner.
That knocked the stuffing out of Grays who had had so much of the possession. Romford had Heywood dismissed for a second yellow card (the Ref who had had a good game seemed to be influenced by a partisan home crowd for that one) but they saw out the remaining ten minutes with out any scares.
A determined performance by Romford who battled for the entire 90 minutes, Lamar Johnson was man of the match, but any of the players who turned out for Romford could have been chosen.
Special mention though to skipper Paul Clayton, Matt Toms, David Ottley and Abs Seymour.
Next up is Redbridge away on New Years Eve.

Team: Johnson, Ottley, Kavanagh, J Barry, Toms, Seymour, Clayton, Heywood, Skidmore, Martin, Oates.
Substitutes: Richardson on for Martin (61) Clifton on for Oates (67) Anderson not used

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Full Ryman One North Boxing Day results.

26 Dec 11 | Division One North

Cheshunt 2 - 1 Potters Bar Town

Grays Athletic 1 - 2 Romford

Harlow Town 4 - 0 Ware

Ilford 0 - 1 Brentwood Town

Maldon & Tiptree 2 - 2 Heybridge Swifts

Needham Market 0 - 5 Leiston

Redbridge 4 - 1 Waltham Forest

Soham Town Rangers 3 - 1 AFC Sudbury

Tilbury 3 - 1 Great Wakering Rovers

Waltham Abbey 2 - 2 Enfield Town

27 Dec 11 | Division One North

Thamesmead Town 2 - 0 Chatham Town