"There's Only One Team In Romford!"

Grays Athletic 3-2 Romford                                                                   Wednesday 2^nd January 2013

Attendance: 262
Referee: Mr E. Kaye.

The derby in Romford did not disappoint which included a penalty, a sending off and a stoppage time winner, the latter of which came from defender Junior Baker to move Grays Athletic up to second.

The home side flew out the blocks from the start and by the 9^th minute had took the lead after the lively Jared Small whipped in a tempting cross which evaded Chris Clark in goal to find the oncoming Joao Carlos to score his 10^th of the season.

Grays Athletic didn’t rest on the laurels and a minute later were awarded a free-kick 30 yards out which didn’t put Harry Agombar off from shooting, and shoot he did and a wicked deflection off the wall which may go down as an own goal took it past the helpless goalkeeper to make it 2-0.

The home side took their foot off the gas a little bit after the two quick fire goals but 10 minutes later left-back Danny Bunce produced a magical run weaving in and out of four Romford players like they weren’t even there only to hit a tame shot straight at Chris Clark.

Romford didn’t get going until the 27^th minute when midfielder Michael Sammut struck a hopeful shot from 20 yards only to see it bounce off the post.

Minutes later the woodwork came to the rescue for Grays Athletic again after right winger Lewis Francis hit a wonder strike with the outside of his right foot only for it to smash against the crossbar and Nick Reynolds failed to keep his header down from the follow up with the goal at his mercy.

The first half finished scrappy from both sides with Grays Athletic looking settled at 2-0 and Romford unable to find a way through a resolute defence led by the commanding Junior Baker.

The Romford manager clearly gave his players a clear telling off at half-time as they came out controlling the midfield and challenging the home sides defence straight away with a lot of free-kicks being awarded to Romford.

Lewis Francis was the man responsible for taking free-kicks for Romford and after three in just eight minutes he managed to cross in a peach that found Romford captain Paul Clayton with plenty of space to place his header into the back of the net to bring the away side straight back into the game with an hour played.

Eight minutes later and Romford had completed the comeback after a dubious penalty decision was given after substitute Kurt Smith was allegedly brought down by Kamurasi. Francis took the resulting penalty but the Grays goalkeeper saved it but was unable to prevent the follow up from Ben Jones levelling the score.

Grays Athletic were shell-shocked Romford deserved to be back in the game as the home side sat back too much but on the 75^th minute Joao Carlos ran past two players to then drill a shot/cross towards the back post and Jeff Hammond was inches away from putting Grays back infront.

Jeff Hammond was involved minutes later but for all the wrong reasons. A reckless challenge led to him getting his second yellow and he went off for an early bath.

Romford started to push higher up the pitch now with the extra man but meant they left gaps at the back and inevitably a winner was going to come and it was Junior Baker that grabbed the headlines after he gambled on a Joe Sweeney low cross to stab home from two yards out to send the home fans into raptures.

Grays Athletic managed to move up to second with that win, extending their unbeaten run to nine games now and keep up the hunt on league leaders Maldon & Tiptree.

Teams
Grays Athletic: Kamurasi, Pope, Bunce, Baker*, Kirby, Hall (Sweeney 76), Beaney, Small (J. West 61), Carlos (Marshall 85), Agombar, Hammond (Sent off 82).
Subs not used: Lalite, D. West

Romford: Clark, Salmon, Dicks, Clayton, Payne, Sammut, Richardson, Francis, Woodward (Smith 68), Reynolds, Jones (Hunt 80).
Subs not used: Hilton, Ngos, Oates

A Happy New Year for Maidstone United

Maidstone United 2-1 Sittingbourne                                                            Tuesday 1^st January 2013

Attendance: 2,291
Referee: Mr P. Kelly.

Maidstone United kick-off the New Year with a comfortable 2-1 win over and with that go back to the top of the Ryman League South.

Ian Draycott opened the scoring after 10 minutes after Shaun Welford did well to salvage a low cross along the six yard line where the oncoming Draycott couldn’t miss and slotted home to set the home side on their way.

Draycott grabbed the second after Sittingbourne were caught light at the back. Shaun Welford flicked onto Gillingham loanee Alex Brown who whipped in an inch perfect cross to find the number 10 at the back post.

Sittingbourne were being out played all over the park and were not able to string five passes together without a Maidstone player breathing down their necks to get the ball back.

But with all of Maidstone’s dominance they were unable to add to their lead before the break although a couple of shots from the impressive Alex Brown, playing out of position on the right wing, forced some great saves from Adam Molloy. The closest to a third came from Shaun Welford who saw the ‘keeper of his line and attempted a lofted shot only to see it crash against the top of the crossbar.

Maidstone started the second half as they did the first by keeping the ball in the away sides half and forcing Sittingbourne into mistakes and four minutes into the half Alex Brown almost provided a goal to saver after hitting a sweet left foot shot 20 yards out only for Adam Molloy to prevent him once more.

It wasn’t until the 56^th minute that Sittingbourne really tested the Maidstone defence, and should have scored with it. Joe Taylor found the ball at his feet eight yards out and, although he beat the keeper, Gavin Greenfield was back on the line to make an incredible clearance to keep his sides two goal deficit.

Sittingbourne were finally looking dangerous and could have made Maidstone to pay for not building on their two goals scored in the first half. A low cross into the box by Tom Loynes fooled Maidstone’s back-line and suddenly three attackers were free in the box but Tommy Osborne managed to rush back to make sure he got there ahead of a Sittingbourne player.

As the game petered out it was proving to be a frustrating day for Alex Brown as he just couldn’t get on the score-sheet. Just before the 90 minute mark he weaved in and out of several Sittingbourne defenders like they weren’t there, looked to have done it all, but a determined Adam Molley did not want to concede against the Gillingham loanee.

Sittingbourne did manage to get a consolation goal with the last kick of the game after the ball pin-balled around Maidstone United’s box it fell to the feet of Nick Treadwell six yards out and made no mistake of the finish.

Speaking after the game Maidstone manager Jay Saunders was keen to single out Alex Brown’s performance. “I thought he was superb today,” he said, “I asked him to play a little out of position and he deserved a goal today.”

Alex Brown’s loan from Gillingham is soon at an end but Jay Saunders added some positive news for Maidstone fans, “I’d like to [lengthen his loan],” he said, “Browny’s keen to extend it so it’s just a case of speaking with Gillingham

With the win today and results elsewhere going their way Maidstone returned to the top of the table and with an attendance over 2,000 the home crowd will be happy with their sides start to 2013.

Teams:
Maidstone United: Ibrahim, Osborne, Mills, Greenfield, Andrews, T.Olorunda, Brown, Phillips, Welford (A. Olorunda 83), Draycott (King 88), Whitely (Woolery 79)
Subs not used: Booth, Lye

Sittingbourne: Molley, Cooper, Ulph (John 62), Davis, Gray, Girt, Taylor, Bedford (Pettit 80), Coyne (Gonnella 60), Treadwell, Loynes
Subs not used: Hogg, Winnett