Wimbledon, quite unusually for a midweek fixture, managed to travel to Essex with an unchanged team. Their opponents, Romford, had been beaten 1-0 by Bromley in the Amateur Cup final at the weekend and over 5,000 turned up to see if they could dent the visitors title aspirations.

They began brightly enough and early on Maddick sent Bridge clear, he passed to Newman but the centre-forward hit the side netting. Ron Head was then required to clear off the line after Jim Haydock was caught out of position, then Ken Lister sent Jim Smith away on the right, his cross found Harry Stannard, but Ivey saved his headed attempt on goal. The keeper then dived full-length to put Freddie Gauntlett’s first time drive for a corner and Stannard shot wide after rounding a defender. Despite those it was Romford who were dominating for large spells and Patterson, Newman and Maddick all missed easy chances. Against the run of play Vic Bird took advantage of a high defensive line to run through from his own half before finding Stannard, he swivelled in the area and shot on the turn between the backs and Ivey, unable to cope with the pace on the wet ball, could only watch it squirm past him and into the net, giving the Dons a half-time lead they would refuse to surrender.

Romford missed further easy chances after the break before Bird headed a Stannard centre wide, but the game gradually deteriorated and both sides were guilty of flagrant offences. Bird headed wide again from Wimbledon free-kick taken by Lister and Stannard did the same from another kick from Jim Woods. Ivey then turned Stannard’s drive around the post and Smith hit the cross-bar. The second half, though, was more notable for almost a foul a minute, described in the local paper report as reaching new depths of negative football. The referee spoke to several players and an un-named Dons defender had his name taken then, almost unheard of, Romford’s right-half Mackenzie was sent off without a previous caution.

Long before the final whistle crowd lined the enclosure to the dressing rooms and worried officials had to hold indignant supporters back. Similar mob scenes the previous season had resulted in the closure of Romford’s ground at one point, so at the final whistle the Romford officials rushed onto the field to escort the referee to safety with angry fans shaking their fists and booing both him and the departing visiting team. Almost 1,000 spectators surged around the official’s huts and loudspeaker appeals had to be made urgent them to leave the ground in an orderly fashion, and it wasn’t until over an hour after the end of the game and personal appeals from several of the Romford players were made that order was restored.