Romford  3-4  Brentwood Town

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FULL TIME:  My goodness me, it was worth the hassle of getting to Ship Lane by public transport, and then the frostbite, for a finish like that!  It looked for all the world as if Brentwood Town would leave with an undeserved defeat.  Somehow, though, they return to the Arena with very possibly an undeserved win.

Starting to look really good for Steve Witherspoon’s side.  The gap to the play-off zone is now just eight points, with a minimum of five games in hand on everyone above them.  And, of course, as tonight shows they are winning those games in hand at the moment.

I’d better go and thaw out now.  No featured live game on Saturday, but the wonderful James Moloney will keep you fully up to date on Between The Lines from 4pm.  And there will also be a special little feature by the end of the weekend on Dagenham & Redbridge’s anti-racism initiative. Look out for that.

Until the next time, enjoy yourselves, and your football.  And breathe …..

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94th minute ….. GOAL!  Romford 3,  BRENTWOOD TOWN 4  Even by our standards, this is something special!  From the Romford kick-off, Brentwood quickly get the ball back and the shell shocked hosts concede a free kick on the left about 25 yards out.  Cometh the 94 minutes, cometh the man.  ALEX READ bangs it home and his team-mates run around deliriously!

Wow.  Just wow!

92nd minute ….. GOAL!  Romford 3,  BRENTWOOD TOWN 3  And the Phoenix FM habit of dramatic late equalisers continues!  Another terrible defensive lapse, tripping over the ball, presents STEVE BUTTERWORTH with a free run at goal.  He hares into the area, and though his first efiort is blocked, he makes no mistake with the rebound.

A thoroughly deserved point

 Injury time:  And a shot from a corner on the right sails harmlessly wide of the far post.  Hmmmm.

88th min – Time ticking away, and nothing been created in the past five minutes.  Harumph.

83rd min – GOAL! ….. ROMFORD 3,  Brentwood Town 2  And disaster for RYAN DOYLE.  A speculative shot by Ben Jones is headed past his own net.

Undeserved.  But that’s football.

81st min – A Romford free kick from 30 yards clears the bar and heads off towards Hornchurch.  Chortle,

79th min – Blimey O’Reilly.  Another Ryan Doyle  free kick, wide on the left, misses everyone, but goes a foot wide of the far post, then Alex Read shoots wide from 10 yards when it seemed easier to score.  Meanwhile, Robbie Rees comes on for the very aptly named Lewis Frost.

75th min – And Abs Seymour follows him into the book, this time for a more obvious and clumsy tackle, near the centre circle.

70th min – Ryan Doyle unluckily gets a yellow card for a challenge near his own box, where he clearly got the ball and not the player.  I guess the ref is reacting the the crowd.  The free kick comes to nothing though.

66th min – Again, Brentwood Town have responded well to the goal.  Plenty of pressure and corners.  Alex Read has had a shot blocked and a header from Ryan Doyle a foot wide of the left hand post.   Cracking stuff.

60th min – GOAL! ….. ROMFORD 2,  Brentwood Town 2  Against the run of play.  Again.  A high cross from the right on  a rare host break.  It falls to JACK BOWERY at the left hand post, and from 8 yards he bangs it into the roof of the net.

Anyone’s game now.

58th min – Oh my, that should have been 3-1.  A defensive error means a kick out from the host keeper ends up at Steve Butterworth’s feet inside the area.  The shot comes in, but doesn’t have power, and is easily saved.

54th min – Nice work from Abs Thompson on the right earns a corner.  It gets played short to him, but his shot is badly mishit and misses the goal by about the width of my waist.  So a good 40 yards.

51st min – A surging Steve Butterworth run down the left gets him to the byeline inside the Romford box.  He pulls it back for Abs Seymour, his shot from about 8 yards is on target, but well saved.

49th min – A dangerous home free kick on the left, right by the Brentwood penalty area, is hoisted in.  Reece Ottley fumbles the catch, and there’s a desperate scramble, until the ref signifies a free kick for Brentwood.  Phew.  The locals are even unhappier now.

8.49pm – KICK OFF!  And a frozen one at that.

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HALF TIME:  Apologies for the loss of connection here at Ship Lane.  Between that goal and half time, Romford managed to hit the bar with a venomous shot wide on the left from about 22 yards.   Been a decent game bearing in mind the frost on the pitch.

Anyway, I’m off for a Bovril and somewhere private to re-do my dongle.  Laters.

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40th min – GOAL! ….. Romford 1,  BRENTWOOD TOWN 2  A real moment of controversy.  A free kick is given just inside the Romford half for the visitors for a seemingly innocuous challenge.  From that RYAN DOYLE’s free kick evades everyone and goes in.

The locals ain’t happy with that one!

36th min – The ball is in the back of the Romford net again, thanks to a sharp Alex Read strike from around six yards.  He wasn’t offside, but Abs Seymour, who supplied the centre on the left, was, so it’s chalked off.

34th min – Great pressure from Brentwood.  Alex Read has a run down the middle after intercepting a pass, lets in Abs Seymour, whose shot on the left, inside the area is parried.  It falls to Steve Butterworth on the right, and his power drive is superbly turned away at the near post.  A fine response from the visitors.

30th min – GOAL! ….. ROMFORD 1, Brentwood Town 1  One of those odd goals.  A cross from the left evades everyone, hits the far post, bounces off KURT SMITH, who knew little about it, and trundles in.

A goal worthy of a chortle.

28th min – A host shot from a similar distance goes onto the M25.

26th min – Apologies for lack of updates so far.  So cold, and so unconnected!  At the moment, Brentwood are in control, and have a free kick from 25 yards out after a foul on Alex Read.  Which is saved.

18th min – GOAL! ….. Romford 0,  BRENTWOOD TOWN 1  Oh yes!  A Romford goal kick is easily taken control of, a through ball to ALEX READ who beats the offside trap, and all alone inside the area, he coolly slots home with a low shot.

Liquid, albeit freezing, football!

17th min – Team News (belatedly).  Here’s the Brentwood Town team for tonight.  Oh, and by the way, the Titanic sunk, too.

1.  Reece Ottley

2.  Ryan Doyle

3.  Ted Llewellyn

4.  Connor Witherspoon

5.  Darren Blewitt

6.  Sam West

7.  Abs Thompson

8.  Lewis Frost

9.  Alex Read

10.  Steve Butterworth

11.  Abs Seymour

14th min – Still trying to set everything up and get a connection, but when I do look up, there’s a stinging shot just inside the Romford area on the right that the keeper parries, which Abs Seymour can’t quite get to.  Encouraging though.

8th min – You haven’t missed much.  Except for Romford fans berating the ref, claiming he’s missed two fouls on their forward.  As ever, it was six of one, half a dozen of the other, and the ref was right both times.

7.47pm – Kick Off!

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7.46pm – Just got here!

7.40pm – For the uninitiated, Ship Lane is the home of Ryman Premier club Thurrock.  One big main stand, a covered enclosure opposite, with more seats, and a covered and open terrace at either end.  With a hotel and M25 overlooking it.

Romford, sadly, have been without a home in their own town for some time.  Aveley, Rush Green (where Grays Athletic currently ply their trade) and tonight’s venue is symptomatic of a good club, well worth keeping on the go, leading a sadly nomadic existence.

They’ve always been among the more vocal of supporters, too, and the people keeping the club going are stout fellows and fellowesses.  I hope they find somewhere back ‘home’ sooner rather than later.  But not as much as I hope Brentwood head back off to their home tonight with three points in their pockets.

7.35pm – A very good evening from a chilly Ship Lane for tonight’s intriguing bout of football intriguement.

On the face of it, this Ryman One North encounter doesn’t look particularly appealing.  14th v 13th, more than halfway through the season, on a cold Wednesday in January, isn’t quite the stuff of dreams.

Looks, however, are deceiving.  Both sides have games in hand on everyone above them, easily enough to force themselves into the play-off picture.  It has a real ‘cracker’ factor about it.

As per usual, keep refreshing the page every few minutes, and all the fun and drama of a potential play-off battle will be yours.

GAME ON!