Report

The Urchins exited the Velocity Trophy at the hands of Romford as the hosts ran out 2-1 winners at Ship Lane with Fairweather-Johnson on the scoresheet for Hornchurch.

Saturday 28-October-2017 – League Cup
ROMFORD 2 HORNCHURCH 1

RFC- Gooch, Ukoga, Atkinson (Hammond 72), Cossington, Finneran ©, Ishmail, Kelly, Nzengo, Djalo, Daly, Mvemba
Subs – George, Baffour, Tylor, Reynolds

HFC – Mott, Kamara (Hursit 72), Chouman, Lee, Cooper, Roberts, Joseph (Purcell 72), McKenzie, Tuohy (Fairweather-Johnson 62), Warner
Subs – Wall, Hussain

Officials – Rick Bloy with Brett Grant and Paul Humphries

Scorers – Djalo 61p (RFC) – Fairweather-Johnson 66 (H) – Ishmail 78 (RFC)

Bookings – Finneran 17 (RFC) – Roberts 28 (H) – Cooper 60 (H) – Gooch 85 (RFC)
Attendance 105
Duration 45.00 + 48.00

ROMFORD 2 HORNCHURCH 1

Hornchurch, with five regulars missing from the starting line up, failed to take their chances in the first half, fell behind to a penalty on the hour, drew level with a well-constructed goal six minutes later, only to concede a further goal twelve minutes from time.

With just a minute on the clock, Martin Tuohy ran on to a Leon McKenzie pass, after Sean Roberts had played the ball forward, but placed his shot wide.

Romford missed a chance a minute later, when Harry Daly sent in a hard shot that Sam Mott could not hold as the ball bounced awkwardly on the hard surface, but the rebound was sent wide of the goal.

Mott was back in action on 10 minutes when he saved well from Sam Mvemba, who last season played for Hornchurch in their Barking Abbey squad.

Hornchurch had the better of the play, forcing Romford to defend for long periods, but they were often off-target, although they went close when Tuohy fed the ball through to Leon McKenzie, and Michael Gooch turned the shot around for a corner. Brad Warner sent the corner over and Nathan Cooper headed narrowly over.

Tobi Joseph almost broke through in the inside left position, but was tripped by Michael Finneran, and Brad Warner’s free kick found Kenzer Lee, whose header was well saved by Gooch.

Elliot Styles sent a long cross over to McKenzie, but he was pulled back for offside, and Mohamed Kamara just failed to reach a long through pass from McKenzie, Gooch just beating him to the ball.

Romford rarely threatened, apart from two corners, neither of which came to anything, whilst Styles defended a Garret Kelly free kick, and Mott saved from Harry Daly.

Joseph played a long ball to Tuohy, whose cross when across the face of the goal with no one able to get the final touch, and a Warner cross met the same fate, with Tuohy and McKenzie unable to get a foot to the ball.

After a quiet start to the second half, Joseph sent a high ball over and Brad Warner fired over. Kamara then made a lengthy run along the right, only to send his cross too close to Gooch.

Romford took the lead when Nathan Cooper conceded a penalty, and picked up his fifth booking of the season in the process, which means he will miss the league match against Witham next week. Carlos Djalo took the kick to give Romford the lead.

Theo Fairweather-Johnson came on for Tuohy, and five minutes later McKenzie started a move deep inside his own half, playing a perfect pass out to Joseph, and his excellent centre found Theo ideally placed to crash the ball home to level the scores.

Jamie Hursit, replaced Kamara, and George Purcell came on for Joseph, as Hornchurch continued to come forward, and Gooch saved well from Fairweather-Johnson, but it was Romford who regained the lead when Connor Hammond started a move along the left, which ended when James Ishmail came in behind the defence to place the ball into the net from close range.

Hornchurch tried hard to get back on level terms, but the closest they came was a shot from Purcell that went wide and a McKenzie shot that went high over the bar from a Warner centre. Gooch was booked for time wasting, but in the three minutes added on for stoppages Hornchurch did not create any shooting chances.