Romford Reap Revenge on Manor

Essex Cup 1/4 Final

Romford 26 - 14 Eton Manor

Romford hosted Manor in this eagerly anticipated Cup game - with Manor having won the the League game earlier in the season but with Romford at home at the Fortress it was going to be a ding-dong of a battle
From the start Romford where camped in Manor's half but were held out by some good tackling and after 10 minutes the defence was broken after the forwards make inroads in the Manor 22 and Rian Horsman sent the ball through the backs before Centre Tyler Ford scampered under the posts to take a deserved lead ( conv. Horsman ), Manor came straight back at Romford but were hit against a brick Purple wall . with the play mainly in the middle of the filed Manor kicked into Romfords 22 and after a couple of uneven bounces their winger touched down in the corner to open the account ( conv scored ), undeterred Romford flew straight back at Manor and after several phases Full Back Seyi Ajeigbe glided past 3 defenders to score in the corner and regain the lead ( conv missed ) with Romford still camped in the Manor half a lose ball was picked up by the Manor defence and kicked down field where the centre off loaded to the winger to run in unopposed to score under the posts ( conv scored ) and take the lead against the run of play.

With Romford still trying to run the ball from all parts of the ground in difficult conditions the ball was again secured by the rampant forwards to set off their lightening backs for this time Lamar Douglas to storm through half a dozen would be tacklers to score under the posts ( conv Horsman ) just before half time - HT 19-14

The second half was a similar affair as both sides wanted to gain the upper hand and therefore most of the action was centred around the middle of the park, with very few scoring chances available the next score would be vital for either side and luckily for Romford it fell their way , the ball was again fed through the back for Full back Ajeigbe to collect the ball inside his own half and outstrip the entire covering Manor defence to score under the posts again ( conv Horsman ) - with a slender cushion in the Home teams favour Romford then slowed the game down to a pace they wanted to play and the remainder of the game petered out with neither side crossing the line again and for Romford to claim a deserved win and progress into the Semi Finals for the second year running

This was a complete team performance from the whole squad of 30 boys - a big thank you for those boys not in the 22 sqaud but still helped with the warm up / preperation before the game and the invaluable support during the game

Scorers
Seyi Ajeigbe 2
Tyler Ford
Lamar Douglas

Conv - Rian Horsman 3

Team - A Stevens, C Rawlings, L Duufy, L, Broomfield, C Madden, G Milne, D Chaplin, C Petrie, B Davison, D Fox, R Horsman, O Dew, T Ford, L Douglas, S Ajeigbe, R Avbundge, H Attridge, C Fahy, J Piercy, C James, P Tighe, J Roberts