Coggeshall made the trip to Romford, looking for their third league win of the season against a side who sat fifth in the league table, without losing a league home game. Graeme Smith was able to introduce Sam Bantick & Syrus Gordon for their league debuts whilst Goalkeeper Ash Jones also made his league debut as James Bransgrove was unavailable. Michael Gyasi, Josh Pollard and Nnamdi Nwachuku were still unavailable for selection due to injury.

It was the SeedGrowers who dominated the opening exchanges of possession, however it was the home side who had the first clear cut chance of the afternoon. As a cross was delivered from the left hand side, the ball dropped to Nick Reynolds who looked to have opened the scoring, until Captain, Dexter Peter was able to stand tall on the goal line and clear the ball away from danger.

Two minutes later, Coggeshall opened their account for the afternoon and took the lead. Bantick used his initiative to take a short corner to George Cocklin, as Cocklin delivered a delicious ball in the box, Ross Wall climbed the highest at the front post and headed the ball in to the far corner past Hughes in the Romford goal! In the immediate aftermath, Romford responded well with two half chances, however their two headed efforts sailed over the cross bar.

As Romford continued to play a high defensive line, the SeedGrowers were continually being caught off side with frustrations beginning to build. After thirty minutes, Coggeshall managed to score their second goal of the afternoon. Cocklin and Wall were involved again, a quick throw-in from Cocklin allowed Wall to flick the ball in to the path of the dangerous Bantick. With the use of his right foot, Bantick was able to loop the ball over the onrushing Hughes to score his first goal for the club. Two-nil to Coggeshall, who were beginning to look very comfortable. Moments after their second goal, the away side almost had a third. A sweeping move from right to left resulted in Cocklin delivering another superb cross in to the box, however wing-back Tyler Brampton was unable to keep his shot below the cross bar.

In the forty third minute, Romford conceded their third goal. As Goalkeeper Hughes miss-hit his clearance, it landed at the feet of Ross Wall on the edge of the box. Wall was able to control the ball and bend a curling effort past a despairing Hughes who despite his dive was unable to keep the ball out of his net – Wall’s second goal of the afternoon. As half-time approached, the clinical SeedGrowers were not prepared to take their foot of the gas. After many attempts at beating the obvious offside trap, they finally achieved it in additional time. A lovely pass from Aaron Condon released Bantick, who only required two touches before blasting his effort in to the top corner for his second goal of the afternoon and his second goal for Coggeshall.

A superb half from the SeedGrowers who had appeared to find their finishing touch which had been missing in previous weeks!

HALF TIME: Romford 0-4 Coggeshall Town

Both sides made changes at the interval, with Daniel Cunningham being withdrawn due to injury and Connor Hubble being introduced as his replacement. Romford introduced the dangerous Ernest Okoh as they tried to find a way back in to the match. After only five minutes of the second-half, Coggeshall had the ball in the net again. However, Condon had his goal chalked off as the assistant referee adjudged him to be offside prior to slotting the ball home.

Condon then had another chance to create or score the SeedGrowers fifth goal. As he found himself one-on-one with Hughes, he had Bantick available to his right however his drilled effort went just past the post as Bantick was left waiting for his hat-trick opportunity. With fifteen minutes gone in the first half, Jones was forced in to his first save of the afternoon. Substitute Okoh broke in to the box from the right hand side however his powerful effort was smartly saved by Jones.

After seventy one minutes, a spirited second half performance from Romford was rewarded with their first goal. As the ball dropped to Ayo Olukoga in the box, he made no mistake in placing the ball past Jones. Any thoughts of an incredible Romford comeback were halted by Coggeshall as they scored their fifth goal straight from the restart. A defence spiting pass from play-maker Condon found Bantick in on goal without a defender in sight. Bantick was able to use his composure to place the ball under Hughes for his third goal of the afternoon – the SeedGrowers had restored their four goal advantage.

Khris Oti who has recently returned from injury was introduced to action after seventy two minutes for Ross Wall who was denied his own hat-trick of the afternoon. Four minutes later and the match had it’s seventh goal. Some poor defending from the away side goal gifted Reynolds with an opportunity to score his side’s second goal of the afternoon. With all the time in the world, Reynolds took one touch before placing his effort in to the top corner past a helpless Jones. With only fourteen minutes left to play, surely there was no way back for Romford?

With the game almost won, Coggeshall made their final change of the afternoon as Darren Mills replaced Aaron Condon with ten minutes left on the clock. Shortly after the change, the SeedGrowers almost had their sixth goal of the afternoon. Oti did well to chase down a loose ball, to then cut the ball back to Hubble on the edge of the box however Hughes was able to make a smart save to deny Coggeshall. In additional time, Mills looked destined to provide Bantick with his fourth goal of the afternoon, however a last ditch tackle of from Romford’s Captain, Cossington prevented the pass from reaching Bantick.

Still in additional time, Romford were rewarded for sticking to their task in the second half with their third goal of the afternoon to reduce the deficit. After being awarded a free-kick on the left hand side, Ayo Olukoga smashed the ball through a crowd of players in to the far corner past Jones who conceded his third goal of the afternoon after only having one save to make! With seconds to go until the full-time whistle, Oti & Mills collected the only yellow cards of the game for preventing Romford from taking quick free-kicks.

FULL TIME: Romford 3-5 Coggeshall Town

Attendance: 136

Romford:
Rhys Hughes, George Forrest, Nathaniel Joseph, Nathan Okoye, Ayo Olukoga, Daniel Cossington, Chris Taylor, Max Bradford, Nick Reynolds, Max Bolton, Khadean Campbell.

Substitutes:
Danny Jones, Jamie Marsh, Ernest Okoh, Greg Akpele, Peter Oyetunji.

Coggeshall Town:
Ash Jones, Tyler Brampton, Curtis Haynes-Brown, Daniel Cunningham, Dexter Peter, Jamie Shaw, Aaron Condon, Syrus Gordon, Sam Bantick, Ross Wall, George Cocklin.

Substitutes:
Lewis Soraf, Khris Oti, Luke Wilson, Connor Hubble, Darren Mills.