FRUSTRATING COLLAPSE ENDS IN DEFEAT FOR TRAWLER BOYS!

Lowestoft Town U19's were on the road for the fourth consecutive game, visiting Romford FC in the National Youth Alliance League. The game began with Lowestoft once again starting the better team and getting an early goal inside three minutes when Fletcher Littlechild found Lewis Norbury who went through and calmly lobbed the ball over the onrushing keeper. Lowestoft kept the early momentum and when Norbury got brought down in the box it was Coby Lee who stepped up. The Romford keeper was equal to the strike and when Lee converted the rebound the offside flag was raised. The young Blues didn't let this affect them and when a free kick was cleared to Norbury on the edge, there was only one outcome with it becoming 0-2 to Lowestoft inside twenty minutes. The Trawler Boys added a third on the half-hour mark when Toby Wooldridge's cross cum shot ended up in the back post. The half time whistle blew with the hosts finding themselves 0-3 down to an excellent first half display from Lowestoft Town. Romford came out a much different side in the second half with changes made and within five minutes of the restart clawed a goal back when their winger was left unmarked to tap home. The Blues responded to this and against the run of play looked to have killed the game when Sam Howell chased down a loose ball before Coby Lee acrobatically found the net. 1-4 the score with around 35 minutes to play. Credit to the home team for never giving up, they got another goal back almost immediately when Alvin Smeraldi powered a header home from a deep cross. A couple of minutes later, a defensive mistake allowed Alvin to run through on goal before being brought down in the box. He made no mistake from the spot and suddenly were back in the game with all the momentum. Lowestoft struggled to deal with this onslaught from Romford and when a ball was cut back on the edge with around twenty minutes to go, they clinically finished to tie up the game. The disappointing collapse from the young Blues was finalised when another penalty was awarded to Romford and once again being converted after the second attempt. Lowestoft pushed to get a late equaliser with a few half chances but unfortunately came to nothing and when the full-time whistle blew, the Trawler Boys were left stunned and devastated with not being able to come away with anything. A disappointing second half collapse from the group after such an excellent first half display. Up next for the Blues is a home game against leaders Chelmsford in their final game of the season.