A late penalty by Shannon Simpson saw Romford’s women secure a hard fought 1-0 win over fellow promotion hopefuls Stanway Rovers.

With regular goalkeeper Jamie Williams unavailable, outfield player Evie Doyle-Love stepped in between the posts and kept a second successive clean sheet for the Boro Belles.  

Leading goalscorer Simpson was closely marked throughout, but support came from Sharmari Crawford’s pacey runs on the right wing, with Lillie Toms and Francisca Lafaurie-Tull combining well on the opposite flank to cause problems.

Crawford fired the best chance of the first half over when she burst through on 20 minutes.

But Venetia Stuart was controlling the midfield as she and Kathleen Shanahan broke up Stanway’s attacks, with clear chances rare.

As half-time approached Toms picked up a knee injury that forced her out of the action at the break. Replacement Antonia Lafaurie-Tull played on the right and linked up well with sister Francisca. 

With Crystene Fenton also introduced chances continued to be provided for Simpson but the close attention of two defenders made it hard for the Boro captain.

Holly Winser and Izzy Kearns were also introduced from the bench, both having played for the Under-16 girls earlier in the day.

The breakthrough came with five minutes left when a challenge on Simpson in the box was seen to have been unfair and a penalty was awarded.

Simpson stepped up to convert the spot-kick for her 15th goal of the season, making her the league’s second-highest scorer.  

Romford’s defence, led by the outstanding Emily Beard, held firm as Stanway chased an equaliser in eight minutes of stoppage time and the win takes Boro to second behind leaders Chelmsford, with two matches left including a return at Stanway on Sunday.  

An understrength Under-16 girls' side lost 6-2 against fellow high-flyers Aveley at Westlands.

The Belles have been hit by injuries at the worst time of the season and were missing seven players, including keeper Maeve Pitney.

They began well and could have been in front before Tabitha Hellen was brought down in the box by visiting keeper Jessica Deans for an early penalty.

Aveley went ahead with their first attack and doubled their lead on the half hour as Boro’s injury woes continued, with skipper Izzy Kearns limping off with an ankle injury and Chloe Bramley following with an ongoing knee problem. 

Any hopes of a comeback were extinguished as a cross into the box flew past blameless stand-in keeper Lottie Lambert to make it 3-0, with a similar effort added soon after.

Aveley scored a fifth from a free-kick, then rounded off their tally by latching on to a loose clearance to poke home.

Hellen added some respectability with two fine finishes, latching on to a through ball from Mia Murray to slot home and exchanging passes with Walsh for a fine second.

But a fine unbeaten league run stretching back to November was lost and manager James Kearns said: “We have to be realistic and with so many players out it was always going to be hard against a really good side. Lottie did us a huge favour by going in goal and Hellen produced two fantastic finishes but we tip our cap to Aveley who were better than us.

"I’m proud of our efforts against the odds and we’ll need every bit of that resilience to get through the next few fixtures that we have coming up”.

Boro visit leaders Barking for a double header this Sunday.