Chelmsford City 2 Romford 1ANTHONY Cook's sensational bicycle-kick and youngster Ricky Modeste's first goal for the First Team saw Glenn Pennyfather's Clarets launch a second-half fight-back to claim their first victory of the campaign against Ryman League Division One North side Romford.

Chelmsford City 2 Romford 1

ANTHONY Cook's sensational bicycle-kick and youngster Ricky Modeste's first goal for the First Team saw Glenn Pennyfather's Clarets launch a second-half fight-back to claim their first victory of the campaign against Ryman League Division One North side Romford.

The visitors had taken a 33rd-minute lead through Bradley Walsh's tap-in but Modeste levelled mid-way through the second period and Cook added a touch of class with eleven minutes remaining, which left Pennyfather delighted. He said: “Both scorers have an incredible appetite for the game. In the second half particularly they ran into areas which caused Romford a lot of problems.”

City went incredibly close to opening the scoring in just the 5th minute when a teasing left-footed cross from Danny Bunce was placed accurately in front of the forward line in the box and his namesake Hockton was able to meet it and shoot onto the face of the near post. The rebound eventually found its way to Jon Keeling though he whistled his drive inches over.

Romford weren't without opportunities themselves, however, and a through ball on 16 minutes saw Dean Nyman fire over while, just after the half-hour mark, the ball broke to skipper Paul Clayton on the edge of the box and he shot straight at goalkeeper Craig Holloway. They then moved into the lead as Walsh beat the offside trap to sprint through, rounding Holloway and slipping the ball into an empty net.

Either side of the interval, Cook was involved in threats to Neil Finn's goal at the other end. Firstly, he received a low pass into the box from Matthew Lock with his back to goal and shielded it as Lock progressed into the area to receive it back and strike deflected and wide. Then, after the break, he placed a sumptuous cross straight onto the head of Hockton who forced Finn to parry back out.

City had three great chances within 60 seconds in the 67th minute as supporters were left wondering how they didn't score. Hockton raced through only to find Finn in the way, Modeste emerged near the penalty spot to shoot at custodian Finn and, as the third phase off attack started, Jon Keeling's left-flank delivery bounced up onto the inside of the far post to be cleared to safety.

Given the pattern of play, it was no surprise when the Clarets netted twice in seven minutes towards the end to steal the contest. On 72 minutes Modeste was delighted to have announced his arrival from the bench when he outpaced his marker, beat Finn in a race to the ball and prodded wide of the advancing 'keeper into the net from fifteen yards. Soon afterwards the match was turned on its head as Cook produced a well-executed scissor-kick out of nothing from close range low into the goal.

After the game, Pennyfather summarised: “Results are secondary in pre-season but it was good to get a win. I've been involved long enough to know that you can have some fantastic or dreadful sets of results then the season proper is the complete opposite once it gets underway. What pleased me tonight was the performance of the players, particularly in the second half.”

City: 19 Craig Holloway, 2 Erkan Okay, 3 Danny Bunce, 4 Mark Haines, 5 Ricky Hayles, 6 Jamie Hand, 7 Matthew Lock, 8 Anthony Cook, 9 Danny Hockton, 10 Ronaldo Wright, 11 Jon Keeling

Subs: 1 Chris Elad (GK), 14 Ricky Modeste (On for Wright, 57), 15 Liam Saunders (On for Hockton, 78), 16 Nav Arain (On for Hand, 52)