Frankie Curley of Hornchurch tries to get in a cross against Sutton (Gavin Ellis/TGSPHOTO)

Romford captain sees red in defeat

Hornchurch 1 Sutton 1

Wayne Gray’s late goal earned Hornchurch a fourth successive draw in Conference South yesterday.

Urchins began well at Bridge Avenue, with Martin Tuohy forcing an early save from stand-in keeper Wayne Shaw.

Lewis Smith forced a diving stop from Shaw, before Joe Woolley denied James Folkes.

Shaw kept out efforts from Smith and Tuohy after the restart, before Woolley tipped a Craig Dundas header onto the crossbar.

And the match remained goalless as Tuohy had an effort controversially ruled out for offside as the match drew to a close.

Sutton looked to have snatched victory when Dundas weaved his way through to beat Woolley six minutes from time.

But Urchins hit back on 88 minutes when a long throw from the returning Billy Coyne was turned home by Gray.

Sutton came within a whisker of stealing victory in injury-time, though, when Sam Rents saw his free-kick come back off the crossbar.

Urchins welcome Maidenhead to Bridge Avenue next weekend.

Romford 0 Witham 1

History repeated itself as Romford took on Witham for the second time in six weeks.

Boro captain Jack Barry had been sent off for two yellow cards when his side were beaten 1-0 at Spa Road before Christmas.

And the skipper received his marching orders again, with one goal proving enough for the visitors to complete a double at Ship Lane.

Atu Ngoy, having limped off in the late stages of Tuesday’s 5-0 defeat at Wroxham, returned to the Boro starting line-up and produced several impressive saves to keep the scoreline blank.

Romford’s best chance fell to Kurt Smith, whose shot flew across the face of goal, as the visitors grabbed all three points with a close-range finish.

Boro will look to get back to winning ways when they play host to Tilbury on Wednesday.