Witham Town1 (1) - (0) 0 ROMFORD Attendance 146

The visitors started brightly and from a Jamie Dicks free kick, Jack Barry rose highest at the far post and was unlucky to see his header rebound off the bar and away from danger. A Matt Toms shot from distance on fifteen minutes would have troubled an unsighted Jason Baker in the Witham goal but it flew just over the bar.
Completely against the run of play Witham took the lead in the twenty-third minute. Emeka Onwubiko picked the ball up on the left wing and ran towards goal before firing a shot low past keeper Chris Clark. Romford were still in control but might have gone down to ten men when a Paul Clayton challenge could have been interpreted as dangerous, but the midfielder escaped with a yellow card. Romford kept pushing forward but were unable to breach the Witham back line. Just before half time Sam Taylor played a neat one-two and shot towards goal but Chris Clark produced a fine save. Not to be outdone Baker produced a good save of his own when Jack Barry met a Lewis Francis corner but his header was cleared thanks to the keeper's legs.

The second half continued the same as the first with Romford applying the pressure and Witham holding them at bay. Ben Jones shot just wide on the hour mark and Billy Hunt had a header tipped wide before Romford's best chance came when Nick Reynolds powerfully headed towards goal from a Lewis Francis cross but Baker was on hand with a flying save to tip the ball over. Romford tried to push on to get the equaliser but a whistle happy referee who seemed to be making up laws as he went along frustrated them. He even managed to give Boro captain Jack Barry a second yellow card despite being nowhere near an incident in stoppage time. Witham held on and got their three points but Romford will have to ask what if as on another day this would have been a comfortable victory.

WITHAM TOWN 1 ONWUBIKO 23
ROMFORD 0

ROMFORD: CHRIS CLARK, JAMES ISHMAIL, JAMIE DICKS, JACK BARRY, MATT TOMS, PAUL CLAYTON, BEN JONES (TOM RICHARDSON 70), LEWIS FRANICS, NICK REYNOLDS, BILLY HUNT, ALFIE HILTON (GEORGE WOODWARD 70). SUBS NOT USED MICHAEL SAMMUT, LEWIS PAYNE.

YELLOW CARDS: JACK BARRY, PAUL CLAYTON, TOM RICHARDSON, LEWIS FRANCIS.

RED CARDS: JACK BARRY