VCD Athletic 0 (0) v Romford 1 (1) - Attendance 101

Twelve minutes into the match The Vickers almost scored from a serious attack when the ball ended up bouncing slowly towards an empty Romford net but James Gammons was equal to the task by clearing almost off the line.

However, it was Boro who took the lead when, on 15 minutes, from a Scott Truman/Chris Thomas move down the left Jack Barry received the ball unmarked in the home penalty area and coolly swept the ball past James Tedder and into his net.

Buoyed by this goal the visitors made a number of attacks on the VCD goal but were unable to increase their lead.

The home side for their part were unable to benefit from any of their attacks although they had a close shot over the bar and substitute Leroy Huggins headed just wide when well placed and so the first half came to a close with no alteration to the scoreline.

Vickers came out in a determined fashion at the restart and put the Boro defence under real pressure while the visitors looked dangerous when they broke away into the home half.

On the 63rd minute VCD came the closest to scoring during a strong attacking period of play when a shot hit a Romford upright but spun away from the goal and just after this Boro skipper Paul Clayton blocked what seemed to be a goal bound shot away for a home corner,

During this time Romford carved out occasional chances but most of the time found themselves having to defend strongly to hold their slender lead throughout most of the second period.

This they did in determined fashion with their centre back partnership of Matt Toms and Scott Truman as the corner stone of a whole first class team effort. Although special mention must also be made of striker Chris Thomas who ran himself into the ground for the whole ninety minutes while having to deal with a number of stoppages for personal injury caused by strong home tackling.

At last, and differently to last Saturday, Boro were able to hold on to their one goal lead against opponents’ strong efforts to get back into the game including a three minute period of added time.

Romford squad: Finn, Clayton, Neville, Truman, Toms, Gammons, Heed, Barry (Jones 79), Thomas, Senghore, Kavanagh. Subs not used: O’Connor, Green, Burnett and Mullrooney (GK).

Boro’s next Ryman One North League game is this coming Saturday 27th February when they entertain Great Wakering Rovers at Mill Field.