Grays Athletic 0, Romford 0

On the face of it, a point away from home against eleventh placed Grays Athletic – and a clean sheet to boot – ought to be considered a good result, but in what was a rather drab affair, Romford may be considering this two points dropped as they had some decent chances that might, on another day, have seen them leave Parkside with maximum points.

The first chance of the game fell to Romford’s Adam Morgan, who was picked out by Mekhi McLeod’s cross, but the former Liverpool man saw his volley fly the wrong side of a post after just four minutes. Morgan was involved five minutes later when, while attempting to bring the ball under control in the Grays penalty area, he appeared to be bundled to the floor, however the referee waved away Morgan’s penalty claim.

McLeod – who was at the centre of most of Boro’s good play – broke into the penalty area just after the quarter hour mark, and perhaps ought to have had a shot at goal rather than attempt to set up Louie Theophanous, who was dispossessed. Grays broke immediately, and Cafer had to make a good save at his left-hand post.

Romford were dealt the first of three injury blows after 24 minutes when the impressive Ollie Sprague picked up a knock and had to be replaced by Jason Banton, who himself suffered a second half injury and was replaced by debut making Jesse Oulakolu. Add to that the enforced substitution of Archie Tamplin, who hobbled off at the end of the first half, to be replaced by Malaki Toussaint, and Boro had little luck with injuries.

Morgan was set up by McLeod again after 27 minutes, but his volley flashed across the face of goal with none of his team-mates able to capitalise. For the most part Romford’s attacks floundered on the rock at the heart of the home defence, Steve King who won virtually every header throughout the 90 minutes.

Grays had their best chance just before the break when Manny Ogunrinde headed over, although the Grays man was flagged offside in any case.

Home goalkeeper Danny Sambridge saved well from Toussaint’s low shot nine minutes after the restart, and Theophanous was adjudged offside as he attempted to convert the loose ball (pictured, courtesy of Alan Blackholly). It wasn’t until the 79th minute that either side fashioned anything like a further goalscoring opportunity: On that occasion the evergreen Steve King came close to converting Macauley Joynes’s free-kick as his header went just wide.

The teams exchanged shots at goal as the game entered its closing stages, with McLeod twice fashioning shooting opportunities for himself. One effort was narrowly wide, while Sambridge in the home goal spilled another: there was no Romford forward close enough to take advantage of the loose ball, however. For Grays, Nathan Fox shot across the face of goal and Tony Stokes headed well wide from another cross by Joynes.

The crowd of 381 at Parkside was Grays’ best of the season, and was supplemented by a group of Maidstone United supporters, whose game at Billericay Town had suffered a late postponement. One imagines they wished they hadn’t bothered.

Romford: Matthew Cafer, Tambeson Eyong, Ollie Sprague (Jason Banton, 24m - Jesse Oulakolu, 64m), Junior Joseph-Baker, Sean Bonnet-Johnson, Ejiro Okosieme, Mekhi McLeod, Archie Tamplin (Malaki Toussaint, 46m), Louie Theophanous, Adam Morgan, Jay Bacon. Unused subs: Joshua Exley-Banks, Gabriel Adelowo