Romford 2-0 Waltham Forest

Forest failed to put a poor February behind them with a lacklustre attacking performance away to Romford at the weekend.

The match started in the hail with news that Peggy Lokando had departed for Brentwood Town. Ever-present Elton Sackey also missed the start of the match, as he was lost somewhere in Upminster.

It was the away side who started the match the brighter of the two sides, and spent much of the opening encounters camped in the Romford half.

Adrian Retkoceri found room in the box, but unfortunately for him, the ball became tangled in his feet before he could unleash a shot.

Forest thought they had taken the lead shortly after. A low shot into the box from Inaki Ordono was tipped onto the bar by the home ‘keeper, but the follow-up was ruled out by the referee. The linesman had signalled previously that Richard Shittu was in an offside position when he jumped out of the way of Ordono’s initial shot.

Romford took the lead just before half time. A low cross fell between two Forest defenders and the goalkeeper, but somehow, with all three of them attempting to collect the ball, it wriggled free and into the path of the Romford forward who rolled the ball into an empty net.

It did not take long in the second half for Romford to double their advantage. Kurt Smith was given too much room outside the area, and his low shot found the bottom corner of the goal.

Forest then had the ball in the back of the net again, but this time Manu Dagher was given offside – somewhat harshly it was thought.

With around 20 minutes to go, Romford were reduced to ten men. Luke Stanley was tugged back when clean through on goal, and the referee had no choice to show the red card to the last defender. The resulting free kick was wasted and easily cleared.

In the end, a lack of penetration and urgency saw Forest lose 2-0.