There may have been a lack of goal action at Witham Town as they drew 0-0 with Romford in Ryman League division one north, but there was no shortage of incident and Town manager Garry Kimble was satisfied with a point at the end.

Witham had to battle for 80 minutes with ten men after Luke Olley was shown an early red card for a lunging two-footed challenge on Romford’s George Woodward.

Woodward was stretchered off with his leg strapped up amid fears of a serious injury, but he later limped out to take his place on the away team’s bench alongside his colleagues.

The sending off left the odds stacked against the hosts, though, and Romford looked the most likely to open the scoring.

Witham skipper Paul King had to make an important block on the line and former Town striker Ryan Imbert couldn’t find the target against his old club when sent clear in the 33rd minute.

It meant thing stayed goalless, but Romford taking the lead appeared more certain in the 42nd minute when the referee decided a challenge by Witham full-back Conor Mead in the area was a foul.

Paul Clayton stepped forward to take the spot-kick, but home keeper Martyn Guest made the save with his foot to keep it level at the break.

The second half saw Witham show no less resilience and while clear-cut chances remained rare, they posed more of a goal threat as the game wore on.

A Brad Stopher effort from a corner was cleared off the Romford line in the 79th minute and a late thunderbolt from James Stevens looked as if it would send the visitors’ net bulging, but it was blocked by a defender as the game ended goalless.

It wasn’t the three points Kimble was hoping for at the start, but he was satisfied to take a point after playing 80 minutes with ten men and to keep their unbeaten home league record intact.

He said: “People may look at this on paper and think Witham should have beaten Romford.

“They’ll look at the result and see that it was 0-0, but they need to know we had a man sent off after ten minutes.”

Witham now face promotion rivals Dereham Town at home on Tuesday (kick-off 7.45pm).