Romford Lift the FA Vase

It was a beautiful afternoon as the two teams walked out under the famous Wembley arch. 

Romford started the better of the two sides, and it wasn’t long before they manufactured their first chance of the game. 

And that chance fell to Harry Dorrell, he was found with a ball from the other side of the pitch, but before he could get his shot away, Luis Shamshoum had to smother the ball smartly to produce a top save to keep the game level. 

Romford kept threatening the Great Wakering defense, a corner from Sam Deering fell for Pinto who swung his right boot at it to force a block from Gorden who positioned on the goalline for Great Wakering. 

Great wakering still struggled to get going in the game and the next chance fell to Romford once more,  It was Dorrell again who was found in space wide on the left hand side but he snatched at the chance in the end, dragging the ball just wide of the post. 

Chris Newby Was the next one to have a speculative effort from the edge of the penalty area, the ball sat up for him kindly, but the ball was always rising and ended up well over the crossbar. 

The first booking of the game came moments later, Jake Gordan went on a run skipping around 3-4 players before Remi Sutton took one for the team to stop the midfielder in his tracks.

Just on the stroke of halftime Great Wakering had finally created  their first chance of the game. The ball fell to Callum Boylan on his left boot, but he dragged it just wide of the right hand post, and that was the last action of the first half. 

Romford started the 2nd half how they ended the first, they were moving the ball well and started to create a few openings for themselves. 

And it wasn’t long before they opened the scoring. Great Wakerings Perry Dunne was the one at fault as he passed the ball straight to Romford. Hassan Nalbert was played in on goal and slotted the ball calmly on his left boot past the keeper.

Great Wakering went in search of a quick reply, but all they could come up with was a speculative effort from the edge of the penalty area. 

Great Wakering were turning the screw in the game and had a penalty shout waved away after Junior Luke challenged Talbert for the ball. But Romford were quickest to react and launched a counter attack. Nalbant took the ball down and fed a square pass across for Dorrelll who fired straight at the goalkeeper, but the ball fell kindly to Sam Deering on the rebound who made no mistake, and fired into the bottom right corner to double to Romford Lead. 

Moments later Tommy Barton received a yellow card for a nasty challenge on Sam Deering that caused the latter to receive some treatment. 

Great Wakering were still pushing to get back in the game. It was Jake Gordon who saw his effort blocked by Darren Phillips to force a corner. 

Pinto was next into the book after a marauding run from the Great Wakering captain Ben Search. 

However the Great Wakering Rovers woes continued after Ben Search had a free kick 25 yards that was nowhere near the goal. However they continued to create half chances, Search found Locke out on the right hand side but his cross was straight down the throat of the keeper. 

Great Wakering were still plugging away and Search continued to be at the Heart of everything good Great Wakering were doing, a delicately threaded ball through found the substitute Anthony Martin who couldn’t test the goalkeeper and fired just wide of the right hand post. 

Nighty minutes on the clock and the biggest Great Wakering chance of the game fell to their top scorer Callum Boleyn. A good give and go between him and Anthony Martin opened up the Romford defense. But the shot was dragged wide of the goal much to the despair of the Great Wakering Fans.

Moments later Romford put the final nail in the Great Wakering Rovers Coffin, a lovely ball from the substitute Elegushi found talisman Hassan Nalbant, who had timed his run to perfection to beat the offside trap. And it was a delicate finish low into the right hand corner to confirm that the FA Vase was heading to Romford. 

They weren't finished there either, Elegashi went on a run that forced a good save from the Great Wakering Goalkeeper, but that was the final action of the game at Wembley. 

Romford deservedly lifted the cup at the home of English football after an excellent performance, we knew the cup was heading back to Essex, but it was Romford that lifted the 2024 FA Vase.