ROMFORD 1 (1) - (1) 2 Grays Athletic Attendance 277

With Grays playing in Romford and Romford playing in Thurrock it wasn't surprising to see more away fans than home ones in this fixture and it brought our biggest attendance of the season by some margin. The game was a lot closer than the twelve league positions should suggest with Romford opening the scoring with the game's first chance on seventeen minutes. Kurt Smith found Abs Seymour charging down the left wing and the midfield picked out Nick Reynolds at the far post who was unmarked, and the powerful striker headed the ball into the net. Romford kept Grays to long distance efforts that Atu Ngoy easily dealt with but on twenty-seven minutes Jamie Dicks inadvertently deflected the ball past the Romford Keeper after ex-Boro man Lee Flynn had whipped in a free kick into the box. With defences on top neither team could muster anything of worthy note for the rest of the half.

Grays started brighter in the second half and got their second goal. Romford failed to clear the ball and Joao Carlos broke down the right wing and his cross found Danny Bunce who poked the ball home. Grays sat back and soaked up the Romford attacks and tried to launch counter attacks but neither team could create anything clear cut until good play by Nick Reynolds found Kurt Smith but the striker slightly over ran the ball and Grays keeper Lamar Johnson-Joseph saved well low down. Near the end of the game an Abs Seymour free kick curled agonisingly out of reach of three Romford attackers who all beat the offside trap. Substitute Brian Moses should have put a gloss on the Grays victory but shot straight at Atu Ngoy. The scrappy game came to an end and Grays and their supporters went home happy with the valuable three points and Romford were left wondering what might have been.

ROMFORD 1 NICK REYNOLDS 17
GRAYS ATHLETIC 2 DICKS O.G 27, BUNCE 48

ROMFORD: ATU NGOY, DAVID OTTLEY, JOE OATES (MATT TOMS 84), JACK BARRY, JAMIE DICKS, PAUL CLAYTON, MICHAEL SAMMUT, ABS SEYMOUR, NICK REYNOLDS, BEN JONES, KURT SMITH (CHUCK DURU 72). SUBS NOT USED AIME BLESSING, TYLER CHRISTIAN-LAW.

YELLOW CARDS: JAMIE DICKS