WITHAM Town’s run of three consecutive wins was ended when they were beaten 2-0 at home by a Romford side who scored a late goal in each half at the Simarco Stadium, writes JIM PURTILL.

Witham had started brightly with some good attacking moves involving A’maree Robinson-Jones and Adam Cheniti.

They looked set to take the lead when Robinson-Jones was brought down in the penalty area in the 18th minutes, but Ben Search’s penalty was saved by Brandon Bullman.

The home side went on to regret that event on a day when it was hard to find a breakthrough.

Romford had conceded 12 goals in their previous three league games but there was little sign of defensive frailty on show.

The man most likely to find a way through Romford’s muscular defence was Robinson-Jones.

He made a number of good runs but his passes were overhit and promising moves broke down.

After the penalty, neither goalkeeper was called into action for most of the first half but the visitors came into the game and began to threaten with midfield control.

They are an awkward physical side to play against and the robust strike force of L’hereaux Menga and Christian Adu-Gyamfi were putting increasing pressure on the home defence.

On more than one occasion Luke Ige showed outstanding quality to nullify a threat.

Romford took the lead in the 45th minutes when Gyamfi headed home from a cross by Jesse Olukolu.

The second half was not easy for Witham but they had a good chance to score soon after the break.

Chi Osadebe outmuscled Daniel Ortiz Aldana and took the ball almost from Bullman’s grasp.

He found space wide of Bullman but could only shoot beyond the far post.

Witham had a possible penalty claim after Bullman failed to gather a free-kick.

Ige pounced on the rebound and went down in the penalty area as he and the goalkeeper came into contact. The referee waved the home side’s protests away.

For the most part it was hard labour for Witham, who had spells of pressure but looked less potent than they had in the first half.

Remi Nelson and Germaine Dua were impressive in the visitors’ defence.

There was a double calamity for Witham in the 81st minute when the otherwise impressive Ige received a second yellow card for an untidy challenge on Menga.

Within seconds Romford scored again. Jacopo Gatti took the resulting free kick from the right and Gyamfi made it 2-0 with another header.

It was a disappointing afternoon for Town but Marc Benterman’s management team will hope to find learning points prior to the crucial encounter at Basildon United, tomorrow night.