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Harrow
Boro' haven't enjoyed a great record in the Isthmian Full Members'
Cup - and so it continued in Tuesday night's encounter with Romford.
Meeting for only the second time ever, and yet for the second time
in three years in this competition, Boro' were defeated by a penalty
that defied belief, one good piece of finishing and the rapid diminution
of what should have been copious additional time in response to
premeditated timewasting.
No
one in the ground, excepting the arbiter, could understand the award
of a penalty to Romford, when Ole-Christian Braathen, on his first
team debut in the Boro' goal, clearly grabbed the ball and had a
Romford forward fall over him. If, and I use the word advisedly,
the penalty was the correct award ( and it wasn't ), then Braathen
should clearly have been sent off. He wasn't. Romford went ahead
from a spot kick awarded when no offence occurred!
A
good piece of finishing then doubled their lead, whilst Harrow's
team wasted a series of clear openings. Belatedly, sub Pat Gavin
headed what proved to be Boro's only reply, and thus ended their
highly successful unbeaten run of recent weeks. That only 165 seconds
were then 'added on' by the timekeeper, after Romford's custodian
had spent most of the second half taking goal kicks from the opposite
side of his goal from that which the ball went off, served not only
to deny Harrow further opportunities to force extra time but also
denied the paying public the chance to see a 90 minute match, or
at least a match where there was 90 minutes play.
Where
is the justice in that? The match started in bizarre fashion, with
Romford taking the field several minutes after the home team, having
made two late changes to their line up. Play had been fairly evenly
contested when, in the 15th minute, the ball was played through
for Abraham to run on to. Out came Boro's 'keeper, who cleanly grabbed
the ball inside his penalty area and then had Abraham fall over
him. The referee's whistle blew - for what, one wondered - only
for Mr Head to stroll into the box and point to the spot.
He
then cautioned Braathen - the wrong decision, given that if he was
penalising a foul, there were no supporting defenders to clear.
So, a penalty for no foul, a caution instead of a dismissal, which
would also have been for nothing more than playing the ball!! ABRAHAM
netted the penalty. Harrow created a series of clear goal opportunities
- missed by Gusavac, McCormack and Nwaokolo - before NEWMAN ran
clear on the left and netted an angled shot. The Boro' deficit could
have been larger, only for Abraham, who cynically blocked Cooper's
free kick from a couple of yards, to pathetically shoot wide of
an open goal after being allowed to run on with the ball.
Unsurprisingly,
the visitors now slowed play down to pedestrian level, taking an
inordinate amount of time over attempts to get the ball back into
play. Romford 'keeper White, once the Navy javelin champion, was
obviously saving his energy for a forthcoming competition, for he
was allowed to take as long as he wanted to take goal kicks. No
response was evident from the one person who could have fairly intervened
in the interests of fair play. But then, on the evidence of what
had gone before, this was hardly surprising.
Kenyan
international Obbrey did at least pose an honest threat to Boro's
goal, but after Gusavac had given up any hope of finding the net,
sub Pat GAVIN did at least halve the deficit, in the 70th minute,
when he powerfully headed in from Duru's cross. Into the final minute,
an overhead kick from Gavin was the nearest his team came to an
equaliser, on a noght when F A Cup opponents Enfield also suffered
a surprising defeat, 0-5 at Braintree, again in the Full Members'
Cup.
Harrow:
Braathen; Hayrettin, Rrotain; Petersen ( 12 Gavin 62 ), Cooper,
Walsh; Duru, Nwaokolo, Gusavac, Oktay ( 14 Hurlock 54 ), McCormack;
other sub 15 Hook.
Romford:
White; Morley, Golbey; Flowers, Ray, Tresadern ( 15 Silver 65 );
Newman, Good, Renshaw ( 14 Bunce 78 ), Obbrey ( 12 Pridige 83 ),
Abraham.
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