ROVERS 2-3 ROMFORD

When Michael Turner’s thumping header put Romford 3-0 ahead after fifty minutes, it looked a comfortable evening, but Wakering reduced the deficit shortly afterwards and scored again a minute from the end of normal time to set up a breathless nine minutes of stoppage time.

There wasn’t much to choose between the teams for much of the game, with Jake Anderson having his busiest ninety minutes of the season so far. The fact that Boro ended the evening with nine points out of nine and Rovers have just one from their three games shows how slim the margins are.

Both sides had been on the front foot when Romford took the lead after nine minutes. Jordan Sarfo had already seen a shot deflected away for a corner when he ran onto Kris Newby’s well weighted pass and found Junior Luke on the overlap. Sarfo’s pass set up the Boro full-back for a low shot that beat Luis Shamshoum – one of four Wakering players who have previously featured for Romford – at his far post.

The home side pushed for an equaliser and after sixteen minutes Michael Turner cleared a dangerous cross by Jack Nolde before Jake Anderson made the first of a string of important saves, beating out a shot from Connor Hart two minutes later. Turner again cleared a cross from Nolde and Anderson punched away Oliver Jenkins’s shot, all inside the first twenty-five minutes.

A long throw by Junior Luke after 28 minutes was turned over by Shamshoum, although there appeared to have been no other player make contact, and then Luke deflected the ball into his own net after Rovers had hit a post when Romford conceded possession in their own half, but to Boro’s relief, the flag went up for offside.

Michael Turner headed on Junior Luke’s throw in the 33rd minute only to see the ball cleared off the line, and as the ball ran loose, Jayden Silcott-Brown appeared to be pushed in the back only fot Boro’s penalty claims to fall on deaf ears.

Jenkins volleyed over for Rovers and Silcott-Brown had an effort saved by Shamshoum before crossing for Harrison Georgiou to have a header well held as the sides exchanged chances. The game had entered stoppage time at the end of the half when Boro scored their second. Hassan Nalbant’s shot was blocked by Shamshoum but Jordan Sarfo was on hand to convert the loose ball.

Five minutes into the second period and Boro went three ahead. Sarfo’s shot was blocked and ran out for a corner from which Kris Newby found Michael Turner, whose powerful header gave Shamshoum no chance.

Great Wakering pulled one back after 50 minutes through Jake Gordon after the former Boro man was put through and chipped over the advancing Anderson.

Hassan Nalbant picked up a 56th minute yellow card for a retaliatory foul after a hefty challenge on Silcott-Brown went unpunished and then Rovers came close to getting another goal back when Billy Johnson’s 75th minute effort went wide. Immediately after that Jake Anderson had to save well with his feet as the home side continued to press, limiting Boro to brief breakaways, from one of which Nalbant’s strong run ended with him being foiled by Shamshoum as he tried to loft the ball over him.

Romford had to defend desperately when Rovers beat the offside trap after 73 minutes, and a minute from the end of normal time Jay Nash, who made two appearances for Boro in 2019, looped a back-header over Anderson to set up a frantic conclusion to the game.

Composed defending by Junior Luke took the sting out of a Wakering attack that resulted in a booking for the home side’s Max Gnandi.

The final whistle blew 54 minutes after the second half had started to mark Romford’s third league win out of three - the first at Burroughs Park since victory there by the same score in 2015 – which keeps Boro top of the table.