Frankie Harvey netted twice in Romford's derby defeat at Chelmsford

Chelmsford 7 Romford Raiders 5

Romford Raiders saw their National League title hopes hit by derby defeat at Chelmsford last night.

The defending champions were left four points behind their Essex rivals after the Riverside reverse, with one game in hand.

And tempers boiled over late on, with Andrius Kaminskas ejected after receiving his second 10-minute misconduct penalty of the match.

Lithuanian Kaminskas was among the first players to head to the penalty box with only three minutes gone, after being called for cross-checking.

And he was joined on the sideslines by team-mate Ryan Giles and Chelmsford’s Grant Bartlett, who received double minors for roughing.

Chieftains broke the deadlock just past the five-minute mark as Tom Castle struck, then doubled their advantage just 45 seconds later through player-coach Gary Clarke.

But Raiders hit back through Grant Taylor, who was making his 358th league appearance for the club, and Frankie Harvey, who netted with a penalty shot to level.

Tripping penalties against AJ Smith and Giles gave Chieftains a 5-on-3 chance and they regained the lead through Clarke.

And Michael Ranby made it 4-2 just 20 seconds later, with the home side still on the powerplay, to complete the first period scoring.

Harvey hit back with barely a minute played in the middle session, only for Julius Sinkovic to make it 5-3 on another Chelmsford powerplay, after JJ McGrath was binned for slashing.

Former Raider Daniel Hammond netted a sixth for the hosts, before Romford player-coach Danny Marshall used his timeout.

But Matt Turner kept Romford’s hopes alive with a stunning unassisted effort before the end of the session.

Kaminskas was hit with slashing and roughing minors early in the final period, though, and Sinkovic made it 7-4 in his absence.

Smith replied with less than five minutes remaining, but Raiders could not make any further inroads and their frustrations grew in the closing stages.

Scorers, Chelmsford: Gary Clarke 2+2 Julius Sinkovic* 2+1 Michael Ranby 1+3 Daniel Hammond 1+1 Tom Castle 1 Tibor Schneider* 0+3 Dan Wright 0+2.

Romford: Frankie Harvey 2+1 AJ Smith 1+1 Matt Turner 1+1 Grant Taylor 1 Tom Davis 0+1 Ryan Giles 0+1.