Welcome to Romford

[CFuller]

If we had won our FA Trophy match against Gainsborough Trinity last month, the next two weekends after our defeat to Slough Town would have been taken up by the Semi Finals. Instead, we had three weeks to try and hammer out the faults in our game on the training ground.

During that time, I also refreshed the squad with a couple of loan signings. First to come through the door was attacking midfielder Barry Donachie. The 23-year-old Scotsman arrived on a three-month deal from Dover Athletic.

He was later joined by Crystal Palace striker Tony Woods, who scored a couple of goals in League One earlier this season. I only approached the 22-year-old on a whim, and wasn't really sure whether a player of his ability would agree to join us, so I was ecstatic when he said yes. 'Tiger' is very quick and a cool finisher, so he should certainly help us to execute more chances.

After bringing in two loanees, I sent a couple of our teenage first-teamers out on loan for the rest of the campaign. Centre-back Keston James went to Isthmian South outfit Whitstable Town to get some more starting experience, while forward Kenny Pollard joined AFC Sudbury in the Isthmian North. Keston would definitely be coming back to us next season, but this was Kenny's final chance to earn a new contract.

Following that three-week break, we headed to Hampshire for a leap-day meeting with mid-tablers Havant & Waterlooville. This was how the top of the Conference South table looked heading into that game:

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Ebbsfleet              31    18    5     8     49    31    +18   59
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[color="#0000FF"]2.          Romford                31    17    5     9     59    40    +19   56[/color]
3.          AFC Wimbledon          31    16    5     10    65    39    +26   53
4.          Canvey Island          31    15    8     8     55    37    +18   53
5.          Weston-super-Mare      31    16    5     10    56    43    +13   53
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6.          Bromley                31    16    5     10    54    44    +10   53

With so many top-quality teams in contention for automatic promotion, we couldn't afford too many slip-ups from hereon in.

29 February 2020: Havant & Waterlooville vs Romford

Havant & Waterlooville put us under pressure right from the word go. After just 25 seconds, Boro defender Brett Reid had to head Herbert Boucka's cross away from our six-yard box. Less than a minute later, goalkeeper Kyle Thomas came to our rescue with a close-range save from John Ryan. Daniel Morrison then put his body on the line by blocking a couple of Ricky Wellard efforts before Duncan Greenwood had our first scoring chance in the 9th minute. Unfortunately for Big Dunc, his 25-yard strike was tipped behind by Havant keeper Josh Helm. Duncan was denied again after 14 minutes, this time by a brilliant saving tackle from Hawks left-back Declan John. The match was now shifting slightly in our favour. Serge Gnabry was unlucky to see his cross hit the woodwork in the 17th minute, but no amount of good fortune would've helped Garry Morath-Gibbs in the 22nd, when he volleyed miles over. That was a definite contender for the worst miss of the match. Another came after 33 minutes, when Havant midfielder Wellard hit a shot much too hard from the edge of the area. Five minutes later, Morath-Gibbs hit a 25-yard ball ahead of Greenwood. The ball bypassed Duncan, but Havant skipper Kiel Robinson diverted it towards his own goal, and Helm had to frantically boot it away before Greenwood could pounce! That ruffled the Hawks' feathers, and with the game still goalless at half-time, the home fans had reason to be concerned.

I brought on our two new boys for the second half, but neither Barry Donachie nor Tony Woods would have much influence on the outcome. Romford centre-back Kieron Gray could've had a major influence in the 49th minute, when his header from Dean O'Halloran's corner came back off the bar. A possible game-changer in the Havant ranks was Wellard, whose free-kick was caught by Thomas after an hour. Kyle made another save in the 70th minute, turning Stewart Lavery's shot away after the Hawks striker had flown past a sluggish Reid. Thomas has a reputation for raising his game when under pressure, and he did so again eight minutes later. John's attempted cross to Boucka was knocked back to him by Brett's replacement Aaron Connolly, so the Welshman curled a shot of his own towards goal. Thomas stretched as far as he could to divert it from the goal, and therefore deny Havant & Waterlooville their best opportunity to score. Then, four minutes from the end, came our moment to shine. Morrison's corner was weighted perfectly for Kieron, whose header looped into the Hawks' net and left the hosts in a state of shock! Havant had 13 shots at goal and us just seven, but we had scraped to victory by a single goal! After our recent collapse against Slough Town, this was just the tonic we needed!

Havant & Waterlooville - 0

Romford - 1 (Gray 86)

Conference South, Attendance 443 - POSITIONS: Havant 14th, Romford 2nd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Healey, Gray, Reid (Connolly), Bradley, O'Halloran, Saraiva (Donachie), Morrison, Gnabry, Greenwood, Morath-Gibbs (Woods).

Ebbsfleet United stumbled in their game, chucking away a 2-0 lead at Woking. That meant we gained two more points on the leaders, and we are now just a single point behind! With ten rounds to go, it is anyone's guess as to who will win that automatic promotion spot.

[CFuller]

When Robert Palmer was in the 1980s supergroup The Power Station, he once sang, "Some like it hot, and some sweat when the heat is on". Over the next couple of months, we would find out whether we could stand the heat of the Conference South title race, or fry under pressure.

Our next test came at home to Weston-super-Mare, who after an excellent start had dropped off the pace. As well as home advantage, we had the upper hand mentally, having won our last six clashes with the Seagulls. I didn't remind my players of that stat, though, lest they became distracted or complacent.

7 March 2020: Romford vs Weston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare gave us a mini-scare after just two minutes. A header from Joey Butlin was met by another from his Seagulls team-mate Roy Cox, but Romford goalkeeper Kyle Thomas made an easy catch. Butlin then missed a shot from distance in the 9th minute. A minute after that, George Colson's woeful pass allowed Tony Woods to kick off a Boro counter-attack. After exchanging passes with Serge Gnabry, our new loanee striker headed towards goal before bulletting in his first goal for the club! Tony's early stunner was followed in the 13th minute by a second Romford goal, as Kieron Gray volleyed home after Fabio Saraiva's free-kick ricocheted off the bar! We were once again asserting our authority all over Weston. With some more clinical shooting from Duncan Greenwood, we might have been home and dry by half-time. Big Dunc, who had not scored in any of his last five games, pulled a long-range effort wide in the 27th minute. He came closer to ending his drought three minutes from half-time, but Billy Baker pulled off a wonderful catch to keep Greenwood waiting.

Weston were slow to get going for the second half, and Gnabry missed a chance to put us 3-0 ahead in the first minute. We wouldn't have to wait long for goal number three, though. It came in the 49th minute, when Saraiva slid Gnabry's pass towards the new hero of Ship Lane. 'Tony the Tiger' knocked the ball past defender Brett Gerring before scoring again! Woods had scored with each of what would be his only two shots at goal - he certainly made the most of them! We were seemingly out of Weston-super-Mare's reach, but our visitors weren't ready to wave their white flag just yet. On 59 minutes, Thomas fumbled a difficult cross from Seagulls full-back Sean Newton before showing more composure to catch a follow-up. Our defence received another fright when Gerring headed inches wide in the 66th minute. Nine minutes later, a shot from Butlin forced Thomas into another difficult save. The ball fell towards Robbie Norrie, who was denied a Weston consolation by a last-ditch block from Boro right-back Robbie Healey. With our defence looking solid, a clean sheet looked likely, but a lapse in concentration in the 87th minute resulted in Norrie pulling one goal back for the Seagulls. That was the one disappointing aspect from what was otherwise an easy win - our seventh in a row against Weston-super-Mare!

Romford - 3 (Woods 10,49, Gray 73)

Weston-super-Mare - 1 (Norrie 87)

Conference South, Attendance 547 - POSITIONS: Romford 2nd, Weston-super-Mare 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Healey, Gray, Reid (Connolly), Bradley, O'Halloran (Telling), Donachie, Saraiva (Thompson), Gnabry, Greenwood, Woods.

Ebbsfleet United also recorded a two-goal win at home to Dorchester Town, so we remained one point behind the leaders going into our next game.

There was more positive news to come following our latest win over Weston. Coach Dean Standen qualified for his UEFA Pro Licence after spending the best part of four years studying for it. We now had two coaches with the Pro Licence - Simon Glover was the first to receive his.

A week later, we faced a daunting trip to Canvey Island, where we took on what could be described as our bogey team. Steve Tilson's charges are always difficult opponents, and if they beat us again, they would move to just two points behind us.

14 March 2020: Canvey Island vs Romford

Canvey Island pumped the ball into our box several times during the first minute, and we had to hold firm to keep the score goalless. Canvey's bright start continued with Kyle Storer hitting a piledriver against the post in the 6th minute. Two minutes later, Sam Beale's free-kick was fingertipped over the bar by Kyle Thomas before we saw off the resulting corner. Then came a promising spell from the Boro, as Barry Donachie and Duncan Greenwood each had shots blocked just before the 15-minute mark. Duncan came within inches of giving us the lead in the 18th minute. Six minutes after that, our two new loanees linked up perfectly to stun the Seagulls. Donachie chipped a delicate short pass to Tony Woods, and Tiger curled a half-volley beyond Simon Coulson's reach! It was 1-0 to Romford... but that would only be the case for a little over a minute. Soon after the restart, Curtis Weston centred the ball to Neavin, who cancelled out Tony's opener with a powerful finish from close range. Weston tried to give Canvey the advantage in the 37th minute, but his long-ranger went well wide. Three minutes afterwards, Seagulls playmaker Storer was brought down by a crunching tackle on Daniel Morrison. Storer was now carrying a knock as well as a yellow card from earlier in the game, so Steve Tilson was taking a big risk in keeping the 32-year-old on.

After a pretty even first half, the second half was dominated by one team. In the first minute, Weston turned past Russell Bradley and then had his shot parried by Thomas - the first indication that we would need to set up the barricades. A display of tiki-taka passing from Canvey four minutes later resulted in Storer pulling the ball narrowly off target. On 53 minutes, Storer's sliding tackle on Serge Gnabry left the Romford winger worse for wear. It was hard to tell whether Tilson's risky decision to keep Storer on the pitch would pay off or backfire. Six minutes later, we found out the answer. Kieron Gray made a needless challenge on Canvey captain Louie Swain just outside the penalty area, and Storer bent the resulting free-kick bang into the top corner. Canvey Island's dominant start to the half had given them a richly-deserved 2-1 lead. They could have gone 3-1 up had Nathaniel Knight-Percival's heading been a bit more accurate in the 64th minute. Gray nodded wide our first opportunity to equalise after 73 minutes, while substitute Vasilis Koutinis didn't get a great deal closer with his effort five minutes later. We'd not managed a shot on target since Woods' goal, and it seemed that we would have to rely on Tony to bail us out. Woods' volley in the 89th minute was parried by Coulson, but Tony was flagged offside, so he wouldn't have equalised even if he had found the target. That ended any hope we held of taking away at least one point against an excellent Canvey team. Ebbsfleet United also suffered defeat on the road, so I couldn't help feeling that we'd missed a chance to take the initiative in the title race.

Canvey Island - 2 (Neavin 25, Storer 59)

Romford - 1 (Woods 24)

Conference South, Attendance 780 - POSITIONS: Canvey Island 3rd, Romford 2nd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Dunn, Gray, Reid (Connolly), Bradley, Telling (O'Halloran), Donachie, Morrison, Gnabry, Greenwood (Koutinis), Woods. BOOKED: Telling, Gray.

The following day, I offered youth contracts to five local schoolboys who had impressed me in a trial match earlier in the week. Goalkeeper Thomas Cooper, centre-back Chad Carr, midfielder Bentley Wood, and strikers Seidu Asante and Dean Stuart all joined our Under-18s squad with immediate effect. Asante looks by far the most promising of the quintet.

Those five boys were starting their Boro journeys, but for two of our first-teamers, their time at Ship Lane was about to end.

[CFuller]

Good run of form for you. Also nice to have games in hand.

That's the good news. The bad news, possibly, is that one of those games in hand is at home to 4th-placed Kingstonian. We really don't want to lose that game.

[CFuller]

We signed off 2020 with two home victories on the trot, and we hoped to start 2021 with a couple more. The next visitors to Ship Lane were Woking, who would jump above us in the standings if they won.

2 January 2021: Romford vs Woking

The first few shots of the New Year did not suggest that this would be a cracker. Romford's Kieran Sadlier couldn't direct an effort towards the target after three minutes, and neither could Woking midfielder Danny Gardner three minutes later. Sadlier's next attempt in the 10th minute was a bit better, as he hit a long-ranger that Cards goalkeeper Tom McNeil blocked with his legs. Woking's number 1 was tested again over the next 10 minutes, as he caught a header from Ollie Whitbread and a long-range drive from Aaron Connolly. The match then went a bit quiet until the 31st minute, when we won a corner. Brett Reid broke away from his markers to head Josh Telling's delivery into the net and send the Romford fans into raptures! A second goal before half-time would've made them even noisier, but we couldn't quite manage that. Tom O'Reilly missed the target in the 35th minute, and Sadlier was denied three minutes later by a point-blank stoppage from McNeil. We couldn't even hold onto our slender advantage, as defender Kieron Gray made the mistake of dallying on the ball for too long during injury time. Ben Williamson took it off a hesitant Gray and then set up Jimmy Harrison for Woking's equaliser.

Both sides could have edged ahead early in the second half. McNeil kept out a tame shot from Boro midfielder Gary Stocco in the 47th minute, while Woking midfielder Harrison touched the bar with a thunderous drive in the 51st. Harrison's miss would be particularly significant, as we went 2-1 up about three minutes later. Telling jinked into the penalty area before playing in Sadlier, whose vicious effort found the top corner and left McNeil standing! Jake Fowler came within inches of a second equaliser for the Cards on 60 minutes, but before Woking could go close again, their captain Philippe Chevalier made two costly mistakes. The first was to shove Romford substitute Keston James in our six-yard box during the 76th minute, giving away a free-kick. The second came just moments later, when Telling's cross into the six-yard box deflected off the French defender's heel and crossed the goal line! Chevalier's own goal gave us some more breathing space, and victory was secured when Sadlier secured our fourth goal in the 80th minute. McNeil's clearance was intercepted by the brilliant Whitbread, who knocked it forward for Kieran to score from 25 yards. This was our best attacking performance for a good while, and some lionhearted defending from Reid late on ensured that Woking went home with just a single goal to their credit.

Romford - 4 (Reid 31, Sadlier 54,80, Chevalier og76)

Woking - 1 (Harrison 45)

Conference South, Attendance 470 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Woking 10th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Goulding, Gray (James), Reid, Holt, Connolly, Stocco, Whitbread, Telling, O'Reilly (Rafferty), Sadlier (Greenwood). BOOKED: Gray.

One of the few negative aspects of that victory was another disappointing show from Tom O'Reilly. I decided afterwards to take Tom out of the firing line, and loan him to a lower-league club. He will spend the rest of the season at Wembley, who play in the Southern League Division 1 Central.

Our fourth consecutive home league game was against 4th-placed Kingstonian, who had lost just once in their last seven matches. Who would prevail in this battle between two in-form teams?

6 January 2021: Romford vs Kingstonian

I told my defenders before kick-off that I wanted to see another strong display from them. That would be easier said than done against an attack as threatening as Kingstonian's. Caolan Lavery and Robbie Obrey each missed fine opportunities for the K's during the opening six minutes, and Michael Onovwigun wasted another in the 14th. The early pressure eventually told on our defenders, as Kingstonian went ahead after 20 minutes. Obrey slid the ball away from Romford full-back Kieran Goulding and found Wes Fletcher, who made the most of centre-half Keston James' hesitancy to hammer home. My pre-match team-talk seemed to have unnerved my backline - and our frontline wasn't looking overly confident, either. A poor header from Callum McNaughton gave Zak Fitzpatrick a chance to level for Romford in the 24th minute, but McNaughton redeemed himself with a crucial block at the last moment. Eight minutes later, Boro keeper Kyle Thomas kept our deficit down by gathering Emmanuel Oyeleke's cross just before Fletcher could poke it in. Kyle then caught a stunning 30-yard half-volley from Fletcher in the 44th minute. Would the match turn on those moments?

No, it wouldn't. Our poor performance in the first half was barely improved upon after the break, and we could have gone further behind if it wasn't for Thomas. The goalie made a determined block to thwart Lavery from close range on 54 minutes, and eight minutes after that, he tipped another dangerous Oyeleke cross behind. At the other end, we didn't seriously test the Kingstonian defence until very late on. An 85th-minute header from Fitzpatrick was hoofed away by K's midfielder Greg Tempest, and Kevin Holt hit the woodwork with a cross-shot about two minutes later. Otherwise, we never got close to avoiding our third league loss at Ship Lane this season. It didn't help that we once again failed to keep our discipline - we conceded an alarming 20 fouls, five of which led to yellow cards.

Romford - 0

Kingstonian - 1 (Fletcher 20)

Conference South, Attendance 411 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Kingstonian 4th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Goulding, James, Reid (Gray), Holt, Wiltshire, Wood, Briggs (Whitbread), Fitzpatrick, Appleyard, Asante (Greenwood). BOOKED: Briggs, Holt, Asante, Wood, James.

This was a costly defeat for a couple of reasons. Our three-game winning run was over, and we lost further ground on those teams in the play-off zone. 5th-placed Chelmsford City won 2-0 at home to Wealdstone, so we were now seven points behind them with just one game in hand.

We also lost some much-needed momentum going into our big FA Trophy Round 3 game at home to Stalybridge Celtic. Victory against the Conference Premier's 15th-placed team would put us through to Round 4 for the second time in as many seasons.

9 January 2021: Romford vs Stalybridge Celtic

We were not afraid to attack our more illustrious opponents from the off. Kieran Sadlier made an incredible run towards goal in the very first minute, only to blaze a fierce shot high and wide. Our defenders also showed little fear, hassling the Stalybridge offence whenever they could. Celtic soon got stuck in as well, as Andy Hunt's sliding tackle on Mark Briggs in the 8th minute left our midfielder hurt. Mark returned to the action after some treatment, and in the 18th minute, he fired a shot over the bar. Stalybridge's first attack came about two minutes later, and Boro keeper Kyle Thomas had to frantically punch Grant Roberts' cross away from visiting striker Iain Fisher. On 22 minutes, Brett Reid played a long ball from our half to Stalybridge's penalty box. Duncan Greenwood flicked it on to Sadlier, and Kieran struck the game's first blow for Romford! It would not be the last, as Stalybridge retaliated just two minutes later. It was their Scottish hotshot Fisher who levelled the scores, as he volleyed in Drew Tyler's cross from close range. That was the first goal we had conceded in the FA Trophy this term, and we reacted surprisingly well to it. In fact, it was Stalybridge who got edgier as the half wore on. Their midfielder Damon Lathrope was booked for fouling Ollie Whitbread in the 29th minute, and he didn't learn his lesson, as he picked up a second yellow card after 36 minutes. Lathrope's reckless challenge on Sadlier reduced Celtic to ten men and gave us the licence to really attack. Whitbread went close to reclaiming our lead on 43 minutes, but his low effort was pushed out of play by Stalybridge keeper David Ryan. Nature called for me a few minutes later, so I went into the dressing room a bit early and missed injury time.

After my - ahem - comfort break, I waited for my players to return to the dressing room. When they did, some of them had rather glum faces, and Greenwood was looking particularly miserable. When I asked what had happened, my assistant Wayne Daniel said, "We won a penalty right at the end of injury time - Sads was brought down by Hunt. Dunc took the pen, but the keeper saved it!" The lads had come so close to going 2-1 ahead before half-time, and it would take some inspirational words to rouse them for the second period.

I can't remember exactly what I said to the Boro boys during half-time, but it seemed to go down well in the second half. Greenwood had a couple of early opportunities to make up for his penalty miss. Though he missed the target in the 52nd minute and had a simple header saved by Ryan in the 60th, those attempts were at least encouraging. Whitbread also hit a couple of inaccurate shots later on, but it was clear that we were dominating our opponents. Stalybridge hadn't mustered another shot at goal since their equaliser, and that was largely down to our outstanding three-man defence. The in-form Brett Reid was particularly impressive at the back. Another major plus was that my decision to bring on Kevin Holt as a ball-winning midfielder at half-time had given us even more bite in the centre. In the 73rd minute, Kevin played the ball short to Whitbread, who exchanged passes with Greenwood before going on a run towards goal. Ollie then smashed the ball over the diving Ryan and into the net! We now led the Conference Premier team by 2 goals to 1, but five minutes later... we were even better off! Holt's through-ball was perfectly played to Greenwood, who finally got the better of Ryan and made it 3-1! Duncan could well have put the tie further beyond Celtic's reach in the 82nd minute, but his header from Josh Telling's delivery bounced into Ryan's hands. That particular miss would be academic, as Whitbread completed a 4-1 victory with his second goal after 89 minutes. Incredibly, we were into the Quarter Finals of the FA Trophy again, and the manner of our progression was unbelievably resounding! While the Cheshire Celts managed just that one shot at goal, we had 19 - and 10 of them were on target! No wonder, then, that the Romford fans went home with Cheshire cat smiles!

Romford - 4 (Sadlier 22, Whitbread 73,89, Greenwood 78)

Stalybridge Celtic - 1 (Fisher 24)

FA Trophy Round 3, Attendance 358

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Gray, Connolly, Reid, Wiltshire (Goulding), Dunn (Telling), Briggs (Holt), Whitbread, Appleyard, Greenwood, Sadlier. BOOKED: Wiltshire, Sadlier.

I was still astonished over what had happened long after the final whistle blew. We had ripped a strong Conference Premier team to pieces during the second half, and I now felt that we weren't just in the FA Trophy to enjoy the ride. I really believed that we were capable of WINNING the FA Trophy.

[CFuller]

The FA Trophy Round 4 draw took place on the Monday morning after our win against Stalybridge Celtic. We'd just knocked out one Conference Premier team at home, and we would have to repeat that feat against Hereford United on 23 January to reach the Semi Finals. Not an easy task by any means, but certainly not impossible.

We could've done with a good ball-winning midfielder earlier in the league season, and later that day, I started looking for a loanee who could really make a difference in that department.

My attempts to re-sign Connor Martin from his new club Exeter City sadly never got off the ground. I had more luck with Farnborough midfielder Warren Cooke, who agreed to join us for the rest of the campaign. The 21-year-old Mancunian played against us last month while on loan at Wealdstone, and he won the penalty that set the Stones on their way to victory. I'll forgive Warren for that if he performs well enough in a Boro shirt!

Cooke's first opportunity to impress came on Wednesday evening, when he travelled to Northamptonshire for our away game against Brackley Town. Brackley were barely in the top half, and they had never beaten us in the Conference South.

13 January 2021: Brackley Town vs Romford

When Ollie Whitbread had a shot saved by Brackley keeper Sam Ashton in the fifth minute, it looked like we had the edge against our visitors. However, we badly underestimated the abilities of the Saints' wingers. From the left wing, Ishmel Demontagnac hit a 9th-minute effort that Kyle Thomas uncertainly parried away from goal. Two minutes later, Brackley's right-winger Michael Duckworth swung a dangerous cross to striker Gary Graham, and Kyle couldn't quite get enough of his glove to the Scot's header. With that, Brackley led 1-0. My hopes for a swift equaliser grew when Duncan Greenwood's corner found Kieron Gray in the 17th minute, but Kieron's header was volleyed away by Danny Edwards. Fielding a 3-5-2 always leaves you vulnerable down the flanks, and on 29 minutes, Duckworth exposed us again. After his cross ricocheted off Kevin Holt and into the penalty area, a poor clearance from Aaron Connolly allowed Saints striker Adam Cunnington to score from a tight angle. Our attackers now really needed to get their shooting boots on. Kieran Sadlier scooped the ball over the bar moments after play restarted, and Ashton easily saved another Whitbread long-ranger in the 34th minute. When Duckworth was once again given too much room after 42 minutes, a third goal for Brackley seemed likely. A crucial interception from Brett Reid ensured that we weren't completely out of the game by half-time.

In a bid to subdue Brackley's threat from out wide, we switched back to 4-4-2 for the second period. This gave us more stability at the back, and we also created some more scoring opportunities. Trevor Dunn put a header wide on 51 minutes, and a minute later, substitute Warren Cooke nearly marked his Romford debut with an assist. Sadly, his long chip to Mark Briggs was wasted, as Mark hit the post and was flagged offside. Dunn and Greenwood both missed further chances before the hour mark, but the next 30 minutes would see us get nowhere near the Saints' goal. Another display of poor discipline - we conceded 22 fouls and incredibly didn't pick up a single booking - meant that we whimpered to our first league defeat against Brackley. One positive to take from this defeat was that Gray, who put in a top-notch performance at centre-back, headed home just before the final whistle to give us some late solace.

Brackley Town - 2 (Graham 11, Cunnington 29)

Romford - 1 (Gray 90)

Conference South, Attendance 238 - POSITIONS: Brackley 10th, Romford 9th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Gray, Connolly, Reid, Wiltshire (Dunn), Telling, Briggs, Whitbread (Cooke), Holt, Greenwood, Sadlier (Asante).

A couple of days later, I added another player to the squad. This was a real coup, as we beat Conference Premier duo Cheltenham Town and Grimsby Town to the signing of a highly-rated defender who was released by West Ham United last summer.

The lad in question was 21-year-old Efe Festus, who was born in Harlow but has won four caps for Nigeria Under-20s. Efe is mainly a right-back, and he can also play at centre-half if needed.

Our latest new boy was on the bench for our next away game. Mid-table Maidstone United wanted revenge against us after we smashed them 5-1 at Ship Lane earlier this term. Rather bizarrely, the return match took place at Canvey Island's Park Lane ground, as the Kent side's Gallagher Stadium was undergoing expansion work.

16 January 2021: Maidstone United vs Romford

We won ourselves a host of early corners, but we did not get a proper shot at goal until the 25th minute. Ollie Whitbread's ambitious attempt at a left-footed half-volley almost paid off, with the ball going just inches past the post. That was followed in the next couple of minutes by two chances from Kieran Sadlier. The first went over the bar, and the second was saved by Maidstone's on-loan Morecambe goalkeeper Milton Bannister. Two more Boro corners went begging, and the Stones then went on a counter-attack that ended with Paul McBride hitting a woeful shot after 28 minutes. There was one more Romford attack in this short, exciting spell of play, but Sadlier was again denied by Bannister. Five minutes before half-time, Danny Rafferty conceded a free-kick to Maidstone deep in our half. McBride's delivery was nodded back to him by Boro midfielder Warren Cooke, and the Irishman hit a second cross that found the head of Maidstone's debutant defender Kirk Broadfoot. The 36-year-old former Scotland international nodded his new team into a 1-0 lead against the run of play. Despite having the lion's share of possession and shots, we were on the back foot at half-time.

I wasn't panicking at the break, and I had little reason to. Josh Telling tested the Stones defence just over a minute after the restart, as his low shot towards the far corner was tipped away by Bannister. Shortly afterwards, Romford keeper Moses Millen got hold of a free-kick from Maidstone forward Mohamed Eisa. The hosts wouldn't get another opportunity to consolidate their advantage before it was wiped out in the 62nd minute. Sadlier exploited a gap in the Maidstone backline with an excellent through-ball that Kendall Appleyard thundered in for his first Boro goal! We never looked like suffering back-to-back defeats from that point, as our new defender Efe Festus made a promising debut after coming off the bench. A rare away win wasn't ever really on the cards, either. Telling pulled wide our only chance to go ahead in the 72nd minute, and we had to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Maidstone United - 1 (Broadfoot 40)

Romford - 1 (Appleyard 62)

Conference South, Attendance 444 - POSITIONS: Maidstone 12th, Romford 9th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Goulding (Festus), Gray, James, Rafferty, Telling, Whitbread (Briggs), Cooke, Appleyard, Asante, Sadlier (Greenwood). BOOKED: James.

I wasn't too unhappy with a single point, but our failure to take all three damaged our play-off prospects. We now trailed 5th-placed Chelmsford City by 10 points - and we only had one game in hand.

That game in hand was at the Beveree Stadium against Hampton & Richmond Borough. The Beavers had slumped to 21st place after a terrible run of form - they had won just one of their previous 10 league games, and none of their last five.

20 January 2021: Hampton & Richmond Borough vs Romford

Hampton & Richmond's early performance belied their very lowly league position. The Beavers attacked straight from the off, and Romford keeper Moses Millen had to tip away a vicious shot from their leading scorer Herbert Boucka in the second minute. Winger Andrew Dales and captain Connor Wilkins also had chances to score within the opening seven minutes, but both men missed the target. Our first effort at goal was a Duncan Greenwood free-kick that breezed past the post on 12 minutes. As the rainy and windy weather gradually improved, our defending got worse. In the 15th minute, Brett Reid's poor clearance was intercepted by H&R midfielder Brian Lenihan. The Irishman's fierce strike was spilt by Millen, and Lenihan's team-mate Boucka hammered in the follow-up. Hampton & Richmond's opening goal was followed up by a second on 26 minutes. Lenihan was once again involved as his pass was thrashed into the net by Dales. The second-from-bottom team were already well on top. To try and prevent a total humiliation, I took off the abject Reid and brought on Efe Festus in the 33rd minute. Daniel Formaston and Greenwood both hit woeful shots just before the substitution, and Duncan missed the target again on 39 minutes.

17-year-old Formaston's first league start of the season didn't get any better after the break. When Trevor Dunn's 47th-minute cross was unconvincingly blocked by Wilkins, Danny looked set to tuck the deflection in at the far post. He actually tucked it into the side netting. That miss was particularly frustrating as it had come off the back of 18 consecutive Romford passes. Our next 'attempt' to score was a terrible one from Dunn in the 61st minute. Barely a minute after that, Hampton & Richmond went 3-0 up through Boucka's second goal, which was yet another belting strike. The belting that H&R were giving us almost became more severe after 66 minutes, as Wilkins came within inches of adding a fourth goal direct from a free-kick. By that stage, I'd brought on Garry Morath-Gibbs for his first appearance in just over a month. Not even our returning hotshot could galvanise our attack, as Formaston put another terrible effort wide in the 72nd minute. Six minutes later, Millen narrowly stopped Boucka from scoring a hat-trick for the Beavers. We did get one goal back in the last minute, when Trevor headed Mark Briggs' free-kick home. That consolation was the only Romford shot out of 11 to even trouble the target. What a load of rubbish.

Hampton & Richmond Borough - 3 (Boucka 15,62, Dales 25)

Romford - 1 (Dunn 90)

Conference South, Attendance 411 - POSITIONS: Hampton & Richmond 20th, Romford 9th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Goulding, Reid (Festus), Connolly, Rafferty, Dunn, Briggs, Wiltshire, Appleyard (Holt), Greenwood (Morath-Gibbs), Formaston.

If you want to know why we had underachieved so much in the league so far this season, take a look at our away form. After 14 away games, our record was as follows: Won 1, Drew 6, Lost 7. That single victory on our travels was at Basingstoke Town in November, and in that case, we were very slow off the mark.

I honestly could not explain that. We still had a perfect away record in the cups, and in the last Conference South campaign, Ebbsfleet United were the only team better than us on the road! But this season, when it comes to league games, we seem to go to pot as soon as we leave Essex!

Our travel sickness issues meant that, in the final third of the league season, we would need to bridge a 10-point gap between us and the top five to have any hope of reaching the play-offs. Promotion seemed a long, long way off, but we could still salvage a disappointing campaign with success in the FA Trophy.

[jdoyle9293]

The turn of the year seemed as though the play-offs would be realistic but Romford have wavered slightly in the past few weeks because the games have been coming thick and fast. Hopefully it'll pick up before the end of the season and you can nick a play-off position.

[CFuller]

The turn of the year seemed as though the play-offs would be realistic but Romford have wavered slightly in the past few weeks because the games have been coming thick and fast. Hopefully it'll pick up before the end of the season and you can nick a play-off position.

Let's hope so. We had a great chance to build up momentum in the first few weeks of January, but we've ended up losing games that we really shouldn't have, and that could cost us dear when all is said and done.

[CFuller]

It was 23 January 2021 - the day of the FA Trophy Quarter Final between Romford and Hereford United at Ship Lane. Every Romford-supporting man, woman, dog and jellied eel was expecting our FA Trophy campaign to come to an end right there.

Hereford manager Matt Jones spoke in very confident terms about his team's chances leading up to kick-off - and nobody could blame him, really. The Bulls were miles ahead at the top of the Conference Premier, and they hadn't lost in 19 matches since Market Drayton Town knocked them out of the FA Cup... way back in mid-October.

Nobody thought we stood a chance against the club who produced Ronnie Radford's rocket half a century ago. Then again, major giant-killings aren't just confined to the FA Cup. Miracles DO happen in the FA's other knockout competition, and we would certainly need one.

23 January 2021: Romford vs Hereford United

We had little option other than to withstand Hereford's attacks for as long as we could, and then try to counter. The Bulls' first couple of shots weren't particularly threatening, as midfielder Andy Parker put a volley wide in the 5th minute and winger Steven Brown missed from outside the area in the 18th. Matt Lecointe went closer on 21 minutes, half-volleying just over the bar after receiving a superb defence-splitting pass from captain Steven Hewitt. Two minutes later, Piero Mingoia became the next Hereford player to narrowly miss the target. Our back four really was being stretched to its limit. After 34 minutes, centre-half Aaron Connolly headed Mingoia's cross out of the area, and then went down hurt. Aaron came off briefly to receive treatment before continuing what was an excellent performance. He didn't have his finest hour in the 43rd minute, when he failed to stop Bryan Paton from cushioning a header to Lecointe. Neither he nor Kieron Gray could intercept the pass, and Lecointe hit a low shot that was met by Kyle Thomas' first save of the match. That was by far the most important moment of the first half, at the end of which the scoreline was - incredibly - still goalless.

Although our defence had been superb in the first half, we had yet to register a single shot at goal. We rectified that statistic just two minutes into the second half. Hereford left-back Lewis Aird conceded a corner, which Boro winger Josh Telling curled to Connolly just outside the six-yard box. Aaron flicked it on to Gray at the near post, and Kieron's header rustled into the back of Calvin Hare's net! We'd scored with our first shot of the game, and we were 1-0 up against the Conference Premier leaders! Stunned by that opening goal, Hereford took a while to get going again. In the 64th minute, Brown raced up the right flank and drilled the ball across goal to his opposite winger Piero Mingoia. The former Watford man hit a left-footed volley and tried to send it in off Kyle's left-hand post... but it went beyond the upright and out of play. On 73 minutes, Romford skipper Kevin Holt collided with Bulls full-back Liam Ellis-Brown just inside the Boro area while heading the ball behind for a corner. Hereford wanted a penalty, and they protested to the referee for some time without avail. Four minutes later, Mingoia lofted an excellent long cross into the box, where Lecointe fired his header into Kyle's hands. With Hereford getting more and more frustrated, we edged closer to completing a memorable victory. Over the next five minutes, Kieran Sadlier missed two shots that could have finished Hereford's hopes. The Bulls still had one last chance to avoid elimination and force a replay. That came in the second and last minute of injury time, when Ellis-Brown's cross found Paton. The Scot got above Gray to head towards goal... but his attempt went inches past the post. As Kyle got ready to take the resulting goal kick, the referee blew his final whistle, and a huge roar went up at Ship Lane! WE WERE IN THE SEMI FINALS!

Romford - 1 (Gray 47)

Hereford United - 0

FA Trophy Round 4, Attendance 348

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Festus, Gray, Connolly, Holt, Wiltshire, Cooke (Briggs), Whitbread, Telling, Appleyard, Morath-Gibbs (Sadlier). BOOKED: Cooke.

IN-CRED-I-BLE!! We had ended Hereford's long unbeaten record, and broken new ground in the FA Trophy! No Romford team had ever before made it to the Semi Finals of that competition.

We were now potentially 180 minutes away from the promised land of Wembley Stadium. To get there, we would need to win a two-legged Semi against...

...Macclesfield Town. The first leg would be played at Macclesfield's Moss Rose ground on 13 February, with the return leg coming at Ship Lane on 20 February. If we could survive those battles and continue the fairytale, we would have a Final showdown against either Boreham Wood or Chelmsford City.

The man who got us into the Semi Finals - centre-back Kieron Gray - was rewarded handsomely for his cup heroics. Kieron received a new 18-month contract that doubled his wages to £400 a week, thus making him the club's highest earner.

In other Romford news, Trevor Dunn announced that he would be leaving the club this summer after four years at Ship Lane. The right-back, who provisionally agreed to sign for Isthmian North side Tilbury next season, had fallen down the pecking order since we brought in Efe Festus.

A week after our astonishing victory over Hereford, we returned to Conference South action with a home game against Welling United. The Wings had just dropped back into the relegation zone after briefly hovering above it. If we couldn't beat them, it would be another hammer blow to our promotion hopes.

30 January 2021: Romford vs Welling United

The first half would be a rather frustrating experience for Boro captain Duncan Greenwood. He snatched at a great chance to open the scoring after just five minutes, bending it wide. Duncan didn't get another opportunity, because in the 17th minute, our 6ft 5in giant was felled by the even taller Welling centre-half Kieren Dean. Greenwood came off with a dead leg, and Garry Morath-Gibbs took his spot up front. The Wings launched their first attack after 21 minutes, when Oluseyi Daley volleyed a long pass to Chike Kandi in the area. Kandi then hit a shot that was turned away smartly by Kyle Thomas. Five minutes later, Welling's fragile defence was opened up big time. After Ollie Whitbread found him in loads of space, Josh Telling half-volleyed the ball forward to Kieran Sadlier, who entered the penalty area and tucked in a calm finish. It was 1-0 Romford, and I half-expected the Wings to respond with a more attacking strategy. Instead, they sank further into their shell. We utterly dominated the rest of the first half, but failed to add a second goal. Our best chance came in the 35th minute through Kevin Holt, who'd taken the captaincy from Greenwood. Kevin cut inside brilliantly, and then hit a woeful left-footed shot.

The second half would follow a similar pattern to the first. Although we were all over Welling offensively, we could not turn our opportunities into goals. Kieran put a header into goalkeeper Bulent Un's hands in the 54th minute, while Garry fired a free-kick wide in the 64th. After 75 minutes, a weak interception from Wings midfielder Reece Jones allowed Warren Cooke to run through on goal, but our loanee's strike was easily caught by Un. At the other end, Welling showed why they were the league's lowest scorers by proving the old adage - if you don't shoot, you don't score. Their only shot of the second half came in the 80th minute, and Kandi's half-volley never looked like finding the net. Welling were so underwhelming that we coasted to a 1-0 win without breaking sweat. Sadly, though, Sadlier rolled his ankle just before the final whistle, and we would be without the Irishman for at least a month.

Romford - 1 (Sadlier 26)

Welling United - 0

Conference South, Attendance 404 - POSITIONS: Romford 9th, Welling 20th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Gray, Festus, James (Reid), Connolly, Telling, Cooke, Whitbread (Saraiva), Holt, Greenwood (Morath-Gibbs), Sadlier. BOOKED: James.

A very mixed month for Romford had ended on a high, with back-to-back 1-0 wins at home. The win against Welling ended a run of four league games without victory, but it remains to be seen whether we can get our promotion challenge back on track. That'll most likely depend on how we fare in the next couple of fixtures.

[CFuller]

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          AFC Wimbledon          29    17    7     5     56    26    +30   58
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.          Enfield Town           29    18    3     8     53    37    +16   57
3.          Kingstonian            29    15    9     5     54    25    +29   54
4.          Dorchester             30    15    9     6     46    34    +12   54
5.          Chelmsford             30    14    11    5     44    30    +14   53
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Woking                 30    12    9     9     51    43    +8    45
7.          Canvey Island          28    12    8     8     47    41    +6    44
8.          Brackley               30    12    8     10    54    53    +1    44
[color="#0000FF"]9.          Romford                29    12    7     10    45    37    +8    43[/color]
10.         Hayes & Yeading        30    11    9     10    46    38    +8    42
11.         Maidstone              30    11    9     10    43    44    -1    42
12.         Salisbury              29    12    5     12    39    39    0     41
13.         Weston-super-Mare      29    12    3     14    37    44    -7    39
14.         Slough                 30    11    6     13    36    52    -16   39
15.         Grays                  30    11    5     14    41    44    -3    38
16.         Eastbourne Boro        30    8     12    10    30    37    -7    36
17.         Havant                 29    9     7     13    50    51    -1    34
18.         Wealdstone             30    7     10    13    39    47    -8    31
19.         Hampton & Richmond     29    7     8     14    30    41    -11   29
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20.         Welling                30    7     8     15    27    43    -16   29
21.         Basingstoke            30    8     4     18    36    50    -14   28
22.         Hythe                  30    2     7     21    33    81    -48   3 *

* Hythe deducted 10 points for entering administration

[CFuller]

We could not have hand-picked a more difficult opponent to start February against than AFC Wimbledon. Going into our meeting at Ship Lane, Simon Weaver's Dons were top of the Conference Premier, both on points and goals. They were also on an excellent run of five wins in their last seven games. I was not looking forward to facing them.

3 February 2021: Romford vs AFC Wimbledon

One of the key factors behind AFC Wimbledon's recent surge was their 34-year-old winger Jason Puncheon, who just three seasons ago was playing Premier League football with Reading. Before kick-off, I told my left-back Kevin Holt to mark Puncheon very tightly. He did a decent job of that early on, and Wimbledon struggled to create chances during the first half-hour. The Dons took their frustrations out on our players with some rather rough tackling. After just five minutes, their midfielder Norman Jones clattered into Ollie Whitbread, causing the Romford playmaker to turn his knee sharply. Ollie soldiered on, but Josh Telling sadly couldn't after being brought down by Aaran Carroll in the 11th minute. Josh was taken off with a gashed leg and replaced with Trevor Dunn, who curled a free-kick wide of goal after 17 minutes. Wimbledon's industrial tackling continued three minutes later, when Mark Briggs was scythed down by Bulgarian middleman Georg Iliev. In the 36th minute, Whitbread tripped up Dons winger Luke Leahy just outside the Romford area and aggravated his knee injury. I couldn't take any chances with Ollie this time, so I lined up Fabio Saraiva as my second substitute. Before Fabio could come on, Iliev took the free-kick for Wimbledon. He played a one-two with Ronnie Potter and then crossed to Casey Phillips, whose header hit the crossbar. The ball bounced back into play, and Billy Winnard nodded it over the line to give the Dons a 1-0 half-time lead.

I made my final substitution during the break, as I brought on Daniel Formaston for the struggling Briggs. The Dons sensed that we were vulnerable, and they really attacked us early in the second period. Puncheon troubled us in the 48th minute with a free-kick that Kyle Thomas frantically parried behind. Winnard then had a couple of chances to claim his and Wimbledon's second goal. He put a header miles wide in the 50th minute before forcing a save out of Thomas in the 55th. Four minutes later, Winnard was tripped inside the Romford 'D' by Brett Reid. Perry Parker chose to take Puncheon's free-kick responsibilities on that occasion... and he promptly lashed the set-piece straight into the net! 2-0 to AFC Wimbledon. Puncheon came off injured shortly after the restart, and so would yet another Boro player in the 61st minute. To make matters worse, it was Kieron Gray who was forced off after hurting his leg whilst tackling Leahy. We'd lost our key centre-back and were now down to ten men, yet we never gave up the ghost completely. Garry Morath-Gibbs came within inches of reducing our deficit to 2-1 in the 64th minute. By the 75th, we were back to within one goal of parity. Reid headed Saraiva's excellent corner on to Formaston, who bagged his first league goal and gave us hope again. Alas, that hope would be short-lived. Six minutes later, Saraiva made a firm challenge on Bevis Mugabi that did more damage to himself than the Dons substitute! We were reduced to NINE men, and therefore had to play out the final nine minutes without a proper midfield! Unsurprisingly, AFC Wimbledon exploited the weaknesses in my innovative 'doughnut' formation (so named because it had a massive hole in the middle). In the 89th minute, former Celtic midfielder Liam Henderson scored the Dons' third goal and finished us off for good.

Romford - 1 (Formaston 75)

AFC Wimbledon - 3 (Winnard 37, Parker 59, Henderson 89)

Conference South, Attendance 429 - POSITIONS: Romford 11th, AFC Wimbledon 1st

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Festus, Gray, Reid, Holt, Wiltshire, Briggs (Formaston), Whitbread (Saraiva), Telling (Dunn), Appleyard, Morath-Gibbs.

Our casualty list from that match was so long that it made the Battle of the Somme look like a pillow fight at a slumber party. Ollie Whitbread was out for around four weeks with a twisted knee, Josh Telling for about three with a gashed leg, and Kieron Gray for one with a dead leg. Mr Briggs and 'Sicknote' Saraiva both avoided serious injury, but they too would be in no condition to play our next match.

That next game was at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium against Salisbury City. The Whites had just leapt above us in the standings following their victory at Havant & Waterlooville and our defeat to Wimbledon.

We were very short on attacking options, as Duncan Greenwood and Kieran Sadlier were still injured, Seidu Asante had gashed his head a week earlier, and Garry Morath-Gibbs wasn't fit to start. That meant we started against Salisbury with 17-year-olds Zak Fitzpatrick and Daniel Formaston leading the line.

6 February 2021: Salisbury City vs Romford

Salisbury launched a counter-attack in the third minute, when Kendall Appleyard's crossfield pass was intercepted by Whites captain Demar Collins. He knocked the ball to his winger Jonathan Montgomery, who dribbled from inside Salisbury's half to the edge of our penalty area, where he hit a woeful shot. On 13 minutes, we won a free-kick inches away from the hosts' area after George Scott flew into Daniel Formaston. Appleyard's free-kick deflected off the Salisbury wall and fell perfectly for Niall Wiltshire, who scored his first ever Romford goal - appropriately enough, in Wiltshire! Niall had edged us into the lead... but seven minutes later, disaster struck. Kyle Thomas tripped over just as he was about to safely gather a long punt from Whites full-back Tommy Toth, and his slip-up allowed right-winger Marc Gray to steal an equaliser! I was fuming on the touchline, and Dale Gray could have blackened my mood further in the 24th minute. Fortunately, Aaron Connolly made an inch-perfect tackle on the striker before he could reach Montgomery's weighted pass. Salisbury's penalty claims would be unsuccessful, and there were no more scoring opportunities for either side before half-time.

Garry Morath-Gibbs came on for the second half, and after ten minutes set up a chance for Formaston, who blasted it into the stands. Otherwise, it was Salisbury who looked more likely to take a 2-1 lead. After bang on an hour of play, Dale Gray attempted a 30-yard chip that sailed past the post. Jacob Stones went much closer in the 66th minute, hitting the upright before Brett Reid cleared for Romford. Eight minutes later, we launched an attack down the left flank. Kevin Holt aimed a long weighted pass for one of the strikers, and it was Formaston who moved from the centre to reach it. Danny took the ball on a couple of bounces, and then controlled it before stroking it into the net from an acute angle! 2-1 to Romford! Salisbury's first attempt to level was not successful, as Dale Gray missed from just inside the box on 78 minutes. A minute later, the offside flag went up against Marc Gray just as he was about to create a sitter for Stones. The home team had one last opportunity in injury time, but after a display of head tennis in the Romford area, Reid made a crucial interception and tried to launch a one-man counter-attack! Brett's extraordinary end-to-end run resulted in Whites keeper Dan Hanford easily catching his cross, but I was still happy with a 2-1 win. It was just our second league victory on the road this season.

Salisbury City - 1 (M Gray 20)

Romford - 2 (Wiltshire 13, Formaston 74)

Conference South, Attendance 1,270 - POSITIONS: Salisbury 11th, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Goulding, James (Reid), Connolly, Holt, Dunn, Cooke (Stocco), Wiltshire, Appleyard, Formaston, Fitzpatrick (Morath-Gibbs).

With 11 games to go in the Conference South season, we were eight points adrift of the top five. Our flagging play-off campaign was put aside for the next few weeks, as we tried to beat the odds in another competition - the FA Trophy.

By most accounts, Macclesfield Town were heavy favourites to reach the FA Trophy Final at our expense. They were 8th in the Conference Premier (and only one point off a play-off spot), and they obviously had more technically-gifted players than us.

We did, though, have two things on our side: our strong work ethic, and the fixture list. Macclesfield would have midweek league matches to negotiate prior to each leg of the Semi Final, while we would benefit from a week's rest before both games. I knew that having fresher legs could be crucial for us.

On 13 February, we travelled nearly 200 miles to Cheshire in the north-west for Leg 1 of our FA Trophy Semi Final. If we could come away from Moss Rose with even a narrow deficit, I would fancy our chances of going through at Ship Lane a week later.

13 February 2021: Macclesfield Town vs Romford

Unsurprisingly, Macclesfield put us under pressure very early on. After just one-and-a-half minutes, Egyptian wideman Yasser Ibrahim sent a cross to Richard Peniket in the penalty area, and the striker fired inches past the post. After that early scare, we did very well to keep the Silkmen quiet... until the 20th minute. Peniket and Ibrahim troubled our defence with a cheeky one-two before the Welshman hit an excellent 20-yard strike low into the bottom corner. Macclesfield had gone 1-0 up, but our response to that was very encouraging. The hosts failed to clear Duncan Greenwood's 24th-minute corner, which was bundled into the net by Kieron Gray, and we were back level! That could have been followed in the 39th minute by a sensational strike from Kevin Holt, who almost got lucky with a cross that hit the woodwork! Romford midfielder Warren Cooke made a magnificent interception a minute later to start off another Boro attack. Trevor Dunn's pinpoint pass found Greenwood, whose half-volley was tipped over by Macclesfield keeper Ross Fitzsimons. That excellent save denied us a surprise half-time lead.

Macclesfield's first attack of the second half wasn't particularly worrying, as captain Robbie Crawford missed by some distance in the 48th minute. Their poor shooting was matched to some extent by us. Dunn and Greenwood both put shots over the crossbar after 60 and 67 minutes respectively. In the 71st minute, Aaron Connolly conceded a corner to Macclesfield. Crawford's set-piece found defender Cameron Brand, who couldn't keep his header on target. The Silkmen would not get another chance to retake the lead, as Aaron did a marvellous job of keeping the defence watertight. At the other end, we could have won the game in the second minute of injury time. 17-year-old Daniel Formaston cut out Macclesfield midfielder Kyle Hinchcliffe's pass and exchanged passes with Garry Morath-Gibbs before advancing towards goal. Sadly, Danny could not seriously test Fitzsimons, who made a routine save from a tame shot. Despite that, we were still in a good position after the first 90 minutes of this Semi Final.

Macclesfield Town - 1 (Peniket 20)

Romford - 1 (Gray 24)

FA Trophy Semi Final Leg 1, Attendance 3,261

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Festus, Gray, Connolly, Holt, Dunn (Fitzpatrick), Cooke (Saraiva), Wiltshire, Appleyard, Greenwood (Formaston), Morath-Gibbs.

I was pleased that we'd managed to come away from the first leg with a draw, but the job was only half-done. We still needed to put in a superb performance back at Ship Lane if we wanted to go to Wembley next month.

A week later, it was our turn to host Macclesfield in Leg 2. The next few hours would determine whether our dream of playing at the home of English football would come true.

[CFuller]

20 February 2021: Romford vs Macclesfield Town

The first leg started with an early chance for the hosts, and the same was true in the second game. After just three minutes, Daniel Formaston played a superb lob to Romford skipper Duncan Greenwood, who went close to scoring with a superb 25-yard half-volley. Macclesfield's first opportunity came three minutes later, when midfielder George Honeyman launched a free-kick into our penalty area. His delivery reached 18-year-old American defender Richard Kenny, who headed against the bar. Kenny then failed to convert the rebound before Kyle Thomas caught the ball, much to the Boro fans' relief. That Macclesfield miss would be significant, because after 12 minutes, we went 1-0 up against our Conference Premier opponents! Formaston cut a pass through the Silkmen backline and found Mark Briggs, who marked his return to the side with an excellent finish into the near corner! Our belief that we could achieve the improbable grew and grew over the next half-hour, as Macclesfield failed to trouble our defence again during that space of time. Our only low points in the remainder of the first half were a 14th-minute injury to full-back Efe Festus and a 25th-minute booking for midfielder Warren Cooke. At the break, it was still 1-0 to the Boro, and we were 45 minutes away from the FA Trophy Final.

Macclesfield manager Steven Schumacher decided during the interval to bring his first-leg goalscorer Richard Peniket off the bench. With the Welshman back in the Silkmen attack, our defence came under much greater pressure. Peniket first tried to test us in the 53rd minute, moments after Kenny crucially headed Kendall Appleyard's cross out of Macclesfield's six-yard box. The resulting counter-attack fizzled out when Peniket pulled a shot wide, but the ex-Fulham man soon got a better opportunity. After 64 minutes, striker JJ Hooper was finally able to prise us open with an exquisite ball into the penalty area. The cross just about reached Peniket, who came under pressure from Kieron Gray but still hit a cool finish past Thomas. Just like at Moss Rose, the match was level at 1-1! Four minutes after Peniket's equaliser, things threatened to get worse for us. Ben McKenna's cross into our six-yard box hit Kieron's ankle and deflected almost perfectly to Peniket. The Silkmen supersub looked odds-on to score until Kyle made a point-blank save and Brett Reid hoofed the ball clear! We then had an attacking spell of our own, but Gray failed to hit the target on 70 minutes, and neither could Formaston on 73. Danny's miss was his last act of the game, as I took him off and brought on Garry Morath-Gibbs, who had not scored since November. Seven minutes from full-time, Garry was given a fantastic opportunity to end his three-month wait for a goal. Briggs played a short through-ball for Morath-Gibbs, who raced past Kenny and found himself one-on-one with Macclesfield goalkeeper Ross Fitzsimons. Was this his moment? Was this OUR moment?

GMG must have been thinking about Wembley when his time came to shoot, as although his powerful strike beat Fitzsimons, it also literally beat the post! The experienced Elliot Omozusi then took the back to Macclesfield feet before Garry could bury it into the net. Incredibly, Morath-Gibbs was offered another shot at glory in the 89th minute, when Peniket's tackle on Cooke knocked the ball into our top scorer's path. Garry again burst past Kenny and left himself merely needing to place a low finish past Fitzsimons. He was all set to pull the trigger when Kenny got back and slid the ball off him at the last possible moment! The Texan's tackle knocked it out of play and gave us a last-minute corner. Greenwood's delivery found Gray, who like Morath-Gibbs before him hit the post! With the match still level after 90 minutes, at least 30 more would be required to decide a winner.

I gave my players plenty of encouragement before extra-time, but when play resumed, Reid showed a bit too much enthusiasm. Brett was booked after 11 seconds following a foul on Peniket just outside our box. Macclesfield couldn't convert their free-kick into a big opportunity, and a minute later, we were hitting them on the break. Warren spotted Josh Telling making a run into space and passed to the substitute winger, who couldn't quite keep his shot from going over. The rest of the first half was fairly quiet, and the score remained at 1-1 going into the final quarter-hour. While we were quite happy to go to penalties, Macclesfield desperately wanted to win before a shoot-out would be needed. Peniket came very close to putting them ahead in the 106th minute, and he then troubled Thomas with a header in the 115th. The Welshman was really up for it, as he showed three minutes from full-time. Peniket did tremendously well to keep Omozusi's long ball in play when it was inches from crossing the byline. His subsequent cross was headed away by Reid, but McKenna swung the ball back into danger. Thomas tried to get to that cross just before Hooper… but his effort was in vain, as the striker rose high to nod it into the net. Romford 1 Macclesfield 2. Heartbreaker.

All wasn't lost, as we attacked straight from the kick-off to try and level the match again. A careless pass from Peniket in the 118th minute gave us one final chance. Cooke moved the ball forward to Morath-Gibbs, who struck from about 20 yards out. Alas, Fitzsimons was perfectly placed to pluck the ball out of the air. The full-time whistle blew about three minutes later, finally bringing to an end any dreams we harboured about Wembley. Macclesfield Town would be going there instead to play Boreham Wood, who beat Chelmsford City on penalties.

Romford - 1 (Briggs 12)

Macclesfield Town - 2 (Peniket 64, Hooper 117)

[after extra time, Macclesfield Town win 3-2 on aggregate]

FA Trophy Semi Final Leg 2, Attendance 843

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Festus (Reid), Gray, Connolly, Holt, Fitzpatrick (Telling), Briggs, Cooke, Appleyard, Greenwood, Formaston (Morath-Gibbs). BOOKED: Cooke, Reid.

I was almost in a state of shock after the final whistle. After congratulating Steven Schumacher on his team's victory, I headed down the tunnel and had a few quiet minutes to myself before entering our dressing room.

When I entered the room, I saw that Aaron Connolly and Kevin Holt were angrily confronting Kyle Thomas, and accusing him of costing us the game. Kyle was getting visibly upset, so I ordered Aaron and Kevin to leave him be. I then consoled my distraught goalkeeper, reassuring him that it wasn't wholly his fault that we lost.

This defeat was rather gutting from a financial point of view, as we missed out on a lucrative Final at Wembley. Nevertheless, we still made a good amount of money from our run in the FA Trophy. The £29,000 gate receipts from the two Semi Final matches, plus £32,000 worth of prize money from the previous five rounds, certainly made our financial position much more secure.

We wondered what might have been for the next couple of days, and then we went back to work. We had to make plans for a big derby game at home to Grays Athletic. Victory against our main rivals sure would make the Ship Lane faithful much happier.

27 February 2021: Romford vs Grays Athletic

Kyle Thomas was still wallowing in self-pity over his big mistake in the previous week, so Moses Millen took his place in goal for the visit of Grays. Moses almost conceded after just six minutes, when Gravelmen skipper Gílson headed Jemal Moran's free-kick narrowly over the bar. Grays did, though, take the lead in the 12th minute. Winger Samuel Smith set the goal up with an excellent pass to Andrew Jenkins, who bulleted in a first-time shot to continue his excellent scoring record against us. That put us 1-0 behind... but only for six minutes. When Grays keeper Neil Rushton misjudged the flight of Duncan Greenwood's free-kick, Kieron Gray found himself with an easy target to bury the ball into. Following that quick equaliser, our first chance to nudge in front came on 27 minutes. Kendall Appleyard almost found his fellow Boro winger Josh Telling with an excellent cross into the six-yard box, but Grays defender Alex Lacey headed his delivery away from danger in the nick of time. Things then went a little quiet before our full-backs ended the first half in contrasting fashions. On the left flank, Danny Rafferty hurt himself whilst making a clearance in the 40th minute. He went off as a precaution at half-time, which we headed into with a 2-1 lead... thanks to a surprise goal from right-back Efe Festus! Early in injury time, Efe picked up a Mark Briggs through-ball and curled it into the top corner! His first Romford goal had given us a slight advantage over our rivals!

We started the second half playing excellent possession football. There was nothing at all wrong with our passing, but we struggled to create chances. Greenwood's wait for his first league goal of the New Year continued in the 61st minute, when his header from Appleyard's cross hit the bar and went out. Garry Morath-Gibbs, who was also going through a rough patch, came on in Duncan's place soon after. One of Garry's first acts after coming on almost resulted in an equaliser for Grays! Niall Wiltshire's attempted long pass to GMG hit the back of the striker's head, and Niall was beaten to the rebound by Gravelmen midfielder Eoin Wearen! Moments later, Wearen hit a half-volley that sailed wide by just a few inches. The Irishman gave us an even bigger problem with another powerful strike in the 74th minute. His attempt from Moran's corner deflected into the net off Boro substitute Kevin Holt's chest, and our lead was gone. Even worse was to follow from another Moran corner seven minutes later. On that occasion, he found our Welsh nemesis Jenkins, whose header put the Gravelmen ahead again at 3-2! Unlike at 1-0 down, we couldn't fashion a reply, and we lost despite having 61% of possession. We may have beaten Grays home and away last term, but this season, we were on the losing end of a league double.

Romford - 2 (Gray 18, Festus 45)

Grays Athletic - 3 (Jenkins 12,81, Wearen 74)

Conference South, Attendance 463 - POSITIONS: Romford 10th, Grays 13th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus, Gray, Connolly (James), Rafferty (Holt), Wiltshire, Briggs, Cooke, Telling, Appleyard, Greenwood (Morath-Gibbs).

Other results made our derby day defeat even more significant. Had we held on to our 2-1 lead, we would've gone into March just five points adrift of the top five. But because of our failure to defend corners late on, we remained eight points behind with 10 matches to play.

[tenthreeleader]

Gutting loss in the second leg. It seems that you have had more than your share of pathos with Romford, which might be why the save is so good and the story so much fun to read.

[CFuller]

Gutting loss in the second leg. It seems that you have had more than your share of pathos with Romford, which might be why the save is so good and the story so much fun to read.

In each of the last four seasons, we've lost a Semi Final of some sort. We just can't seem to get over that hurdle.

[CFuller]

I called an urgent team meeting at the start of March. We badly needed a good run of results to get back into play-off contention, and I wanted that run to begin soon.

"We can't afford any more slip-ups, guys," I told the lads. "We've got four games in March, all against teams fighting relegation. Failure is not an option anymore. If we don't click into gear now, we won't make the play-offs - it's as simple as that."

The first of those four games was at Priory Lane against out-of-form Eastbourne Borough. Eastbourne parted company with their long-serving manager Tommy Widdrington after their most recent match, which was their fifth in a row without victory. His former assistant Alan Kimble was put in charge of the Sports for this fixture.

6 March 2021: Eastbourne Borough vs Romford

Eastbourne gave us a real worry in the 8th minute, when Louis Dennis hit a thunderous shot that Moses Millen had to turn over the crossbar. Kieron Gray intercepted the resulting corner and then tried to start a Romford counter-attack that didn't quite get into full gear. We had more success on the attacking front in the 14th minute, when Duncan Greenwood created our opening goal for rising star Daniel Formaston. It was 1-0 to Romford, but the next few minutes would give us a couple of injury concerns. First, Kendall Appleyard went down hurt in Eastbourne's penalty area on 16 minutes, and he needed treatment before carrying on. Sadly, carrying on was not an option for Danny Rafferty when Freddie Warren scythed our left-back down on the touchline after 23 minutes. Danny was taken off with a serious leg injury, and his exit led me to switch from a 4-4-2 formation to a 3-5-2. Following my tactical change, Eastbourne weren't able to get a foothold in midfield. For the remainder of this first half, the Sports troubled the referee more than they did Millen, picking up a couple of bookings. After Greenwood had an injury-time header saved by Eastbourne goalie Liam Mitchell, we went into the interval still leading by one goal.

Mitchell kept out a powerful strike from Formaston in the 47th minute, but the early moments of the first half would see more scoring chances for Eastbourne. The hosts' stalwart midfielder Warren was at the heart of their attacks. He headed wide in the 49th minute and half-volleyed over in the 61st, in between a couple of Eastbourne corners. Formaston then missed an opportunity to double our money in the 64th minute, after which I replaced him with Kieran Sadlier. The returning Irishman did not need long to make an impact. After 69 minutes, Sadlier lobbed the ball over Eastbourne's defence to Greenwood, who went through on goal... and hit the post when he just had to beat Mitchell. Dunc's misfortune was Kieran's opportunity, though, and the sub took it with a clinical tap-in. That made it two goals for Romford, and it could have been two for Sadlier after 82 minutes. His drilled effort from just outside the box was pushed out of play by Mitchell. Three minutes later, our goalkeeper was called into action after Eastbourne right-back Cole Evans hit a spectacular shot from 40 yards out! Millen spilt the shot, but then made up for it by resecuring the ball before Dennis could punish him. Our advantage could've been halved to one goal, but by the 86th minute, we were 3-0 up. Mitchell could only tip Sadlier's low centre into the path of sub Mark Briggs, whose strike all but ensured victory! Any remaining doubts were extinguished about a minute later, as Sadlier slotted in his second goal for a 4-0 lead! The points were definitely ours, but we couldn't quite hang onto a clean sheet. In the 89th minute, Harry Hooman's header for Eastbourne hit the woodwork, and Romford defender Aaron Connolly accidentally turned the ball into his own net as he tried to clear it.

Eastbourne Borough - 1 (Connolly og89)

Romford - 4 (Formaston 14, Sadlier 69,87, Briggs 86)

Conference South, Attendance 435 - POSITIONS: Eastbourne Boro 18th, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus, Gray, Connolly, Rafferty (Briggs), Dunn (Telling), Whitbread, Wiltshire, Appleyard, Greenwood, Formaston (Sadlier).

It later turned out that Danny Rafferty had damaged his achilles tendon in the first half. That unfortunate injury brought Danny's season to an early end, and he was understandably upset. His mood improved the following day, when I handed him his first senior contract, which kept him at Romford for at least another season.

Another defender was forced to join Rafferty on the sidelines when Aaron Connolly twisted his knee in Monday's training session. Aaron would be out of action for at least three weeks.

Next on the schedule was a trip to Hampshire, where we took on 16th-placed Havant & Waterlooville. Havant had boosted their survival hopes by winning their last two matches.

13 March 2021: Havant & Waterlooville vs Romford

The resurgent Hawks had their first shot after five minutes, when midfielder Adam Walker was denied by a fine block from Boro keeper Moses Millen. Two minutes later, Romford full-back Kevin Holt found winger Josh Telling with a deep cross into the Havant & Waterlooville area. Josh's header cracked against the bar, but Duncan Greenwood was quickest to the rebound, which he buried home! Duncan's first league goal of 2021 had given us the early lead. The hosts sought an immediate reply through Stewart Lavery, but Millen stayed alert to parry the striker's shot. As Havant adopted a more ambitious approach after going behind, their defence started to show more cracks. They conceded several free-kicks, and Greenwood came close to scoring from one in the 16th minute. Roughly three minutes later, Kieran Sadlier ran onto a headed pass from Kendall Appleyard and fired in our second goal from a tight angle! Everything was looking shipshape for us after the first 20 minutes, but captain Greenwood let us down with some poor shooting later on. Duncan put a couple of half-chances wide in the 26th and 30th minute, and missed a gilt-edged one in the 39th. Sadlier curled in an excellent cross to Greenwood, who put too much power into his header. Max Noble had hit the post for Havant two minutes prior to that, and Big Dunc's big misses meant that the Hawks weren't completely out of the game by half-time.

Garry Morath-Gibbs came on for the second half, but this would be another frustrating day for GMG. He hit a weak header that bounced into Havant & Waterlooville goalkeeper Shaun Spooner's hands on 47 minutes. Two minutes later, Garry was brought down by Thomas Bryan and picked up a knock that hampered him further. Right-back Efe Festus also struggled for Romford after the break. After 55 minutes, Efe saw his pass closed down by Hawks forward Max Davies, who started an attack that resulted in Lavery pulling one goal back for Havant. What was a comfortable Boro lead suddenly looked vulnerable, as Davies went close to levelling with a long drive in the 57th minute. Havant did get an equaliser two minutes later, when Declan John's free-kick was headed in by centre-back Calum Flanagan. We had been 2-0 up, but now the match was level again at 2-2! Even worse could've followed in the 62nd minute, when Davies blasted a 25-yard shot just over the bar. I couldn't let the Hawks snatch all the momentum, so for the final half-hour, I ordered my boys to attack as much as they could. Greenwood hit another woeful effort in the 65th minute, but the captain almost created our third goal soon after. His 67th-minute corner was met by a header from Brett Reid, and Noble made a last-ditch clearance off the line for Havant! Telling got to the loose ball and crossed it back into the box, where Ollie Whitbread fired a shot into Spooner's grasp. Our next real chance came in the last minute of normal time, when Morath-Gibbs' effort was tipped away by Spooner. Kieron Gray then hit the woodwork with a header in injury time. Despite having twice as many shots at goal as the hosts, we somehow came away from Westleigh Park with only a single point.

Havant & Waterlooville - 2 (Lavery 55, Flanagan 59)

Romford - 2 (Greenwood 7, Sadlier 19)

Conference South, Attendance 496 - POSITIONS: Havant 15th, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus (Goulding), Gray, Reid, Holt, Telling, Briggs (Whitbread), Cooke, Appleyard, Greenwood, Sadlier (Morath-Gibbs). BOOKED: Sadlier.

What was it I said about no more slip-ups at the start of the month? Well, we certainly couldn't afford any in our next couple of matches, which were both at home against the Conference South's bottom two teams.

[CFuller]

The middle of March usually gives me a chance to look at some future Romford stars. This year's youth trialists were so underwhelming that the standout player was a sweeper - 15-year-old Garry Flitter, who sounds more like a paedophile pop star than a wannabe Franz Beckenbauer. He did enough to earn a youth contract, as did midfielders Matt Francis and Sam Lord, winger Brandon Crook, and striker Johnnie Standen.

Even at such an early stage in their careers, those five schoolboys would probably have been good enough to beat our next opponents Hythe Town, who were already relegated by the time they visited Ship Lane.

Hythe had been rooted to last place throughout what could only be described as the season from hell. The Forters had won just three league games (all at home), picked up a pathetic EIGHT points (albeit they started with a 10-point deduction), and conceded 89 goals! Their one half-decent player was frontman Junior Yusuf, who had scored 23 of their 38 league goals so far.

If we weren't in such poor form ourselves, I would've bet my house on us beating Hythe by a rugby score.

20 March 2021: Romford vs Hythe Town

If the first minute was anything to go by, we were going to have a field day against Hythe! Fabio Saraiva found Duncan Greenwood with an excellent through-ball. Duncan got past the rushing keeper Graham Sharp and would've scored had he not fired straight at centre-half Gaz Dean. Kieran Sadlier fired a rebound shot against the crossbar, and Greenwood then tapped in the follow-up to 'finally' give us the lead after 40 seconds! We didn't get another shot at goal until the 18th minute, when Warren Cooke volleyed just wide from distance. Three minutes later, Cooke's next attempt was pushed away by a sharper Sharp. Boro goalkeeper Moses Millen was also alert in the 28th minute, when he blocked a drive from Hythe midfielder Louis Richards with his left leg. Sharp then saved from Cooke again on 32 minutes before denying Sadlier a few moments later. Although our dominance was clear, we still had only a single-goal lead after the first half.

Sharp made an excellent save from Fabio Saraiva after exactly 48 minutes, but the Forters' fort crumbled again about half a minute later. Kendall Appleyard floated in a cross to the far post and found Greenwood, who with a fine header made it 2-0 Romford! Big Dunc was now chasing a hat-trick, and he was denied it in the 51st minute, when his next header was tipped behind by the Hythe keeper. Three minutes after that, Sadlier blasted a shot over from inside the 'D'. Kieran wouldn't join our captain on the scoresheet, and neither would his replacement Garry Morath-Gibbs, who had just one speculative attempt in the 76th minute. By then, Hythe's main attacking threat Junior Yusuf had limped off the pitch without having so much as a sniff at goal. At full-time, Hythe as a whole had managed just one shot at goal, whereas we had 16! Had we been a bit more clinical with some of those shots, particularly a couple of late ones from Greenwood, we might've won by a much bigger margin than 2-0. Nevertheless, the win still moved us back to within seven points of the play-off places.

Romford - 2 (Greenwood 1,49)

Hythe Town - 0

Conference South, Attendance 447 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Hythe 22nd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Gray, Festus (Goulding), Reid, Wiltshire, Telling, Cooke, Saraiva (Briggs), Appleyard, Greenwood, Sadlier (Morath-Gibbs).

That match would turn out to be Warren Cooke's last for Romford. Warren collided with Niall Wiltshire in a training session the following Monday and dislocated his shoulder, ruling him out for the season. His loan spell from Farnborough therefore came to a premature end after 10 matches.

We'd seen off the bottom team fairly comfortably at Ship Lane, so what about the second-from-bottom team? Basingstoke Town had been in or around the relegation zone all season and were not expected to give us much of a fright when they came to the Lane.

27 March 2021: Romford vs Basingstoke Town

Basingstoke manager Jason Bristow adopted a 'Christmas tree' formation and a surprisingly attacking approach right from the kick-off. The Dragons won themselves a couple of very early corners, though they couldn't create any real chances from them. The visitors' early approach could have backfired in the 17th minute, when we hit them with a counter-attack. Duncan Greenwood chipped a fantastic ball to Kieran Sadlier, who raced past both of Basingstoke's centre-backs and moved into the penalty area. Unfortunately, Sadlier couldn't finish the move off, as his low shot hit the post. That was, though, closer than Greenwood got to finding the net after 27 minutes. Duncan latched onto Kieron Gray's vicious punt up the pitch, but after breaking through the defence, he blasted over from a tight angle. Soon after that, an awful pass from Niall Wiltshire almost gifted Basingstoke the lead. His underhit crossfield pass to Kendall Appleyard was cut out by Dragons midfielder Billy Burton, who then set up a Darren Mullings strike that Moses Millen could only parry away from our goal. Basingstoke's hopes of taking a half-time lead were hampered in the 41st minute, when another midfielder - Sam Comer - was forced off injured. But unless we bucked up our ideas, the Dragons would surely break through in the second half.

Basingstoke's lone striker Barry Brennan had their first chance after the interval - a 56th-minute header that Millen had no problem catching. The visitors' attacking players were at least finding the target, which was more than could be said of ours. Greenwood curled a free-kick wide in the 60th minute, while substitute Garry Morath-Gibbs snatched at his first attempt three minutes later. The out-of-form frontman would not get another. Basingstoke looked increasingly likely to go in front midway through the half. Moses spilt a shot from Mullings in the 67th minute, but made a more confident save to thwart Burton in the 72nd. Kevin Holt came on at left-wing for us soon after. On 75 minutes, Holt made an excellent run up the flank before squaring a ball into the box. Adam Watts intercepted for Basingstoke, but the ball fell to Fabio Saraiva, whose shot drifted inches past the far post. Eight minutes later, space opened up for Greenwood to have one more go at giving us the lead. Duncan picked up a pass from Morath-Gibbs on the edge of the area, and slid the ball underneath Billy Baker as the Basingstoke keeper charged towards him. He looked certain to find the net... until Dragons captain Tom Sharpe hacked the ball away before it could cross the line! We seemed destined not to score, and after 87 minutes, we were consigned to a shock defeat. An excellent attacking move from Basingstoke ended with man of the match Anton Pitt creating the winning goal for 34-year-old Mullings, who scored from close range. Typical.

Romford - 0

Basingstoke Town - 1 (Mullings 87)

Conference South, Attendance 424 - POSITIONS: Romford 8th, Basingstoke 21st

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Gray, Festus, Reid, Wiltshire, Telling, Briggs, Whitbread (Saraiva), Appleyard (Holt), Greenwood, Sadlier (Morath-Gibbs).

That defeat didn't mathematically end our chances of reaching the play-offs, but it felt like a knockout blow. In my opinion, if we can only put two goals through Hythe's sieve-like defence, and then lose at home to 21st-placed Basingstoke, then we do not deserve to be promoted.

I said back in July that this would be a 'make or break' season... and I fear that we might have broken. This could be the beginning of the end for me at Romford.

[CFuller]

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.          Enfield Town           36    22    4     10    65    48    +17   70
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.          AFC Wimbledon          35    20    8     7     69    36    +33   68
3.          Kingstonian            36    19    9     8     68    34    +34   66
4.          Chelmsford             36    17    12    7     57    39    +18   63
5.          Dorchester             36    17    9     10    52    45    +7    60
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Hayes & Yeading        36    16    9     11    62    47    +15   57
7.          Salisbury              36    17    5     14    53    45    +8    56
[color="#0000FF"]8.          Romford                36    15    8     13    58    48    +10   53[/color]
9.          Maidstone              36    14    11    11    49    49    0     53
10.         Canvey Island          36    14    10    12    60    51    +9    52
11.         Brackley               36    14    8     14    62    66    -4    50
12.         Woking                 36    13    9     14    56    58    -2    48
13.         Slough                 36    13    8     15    44    60    -16   47
14.         Havant                 36    12    8     16    64    66    -2    44
15.         Grays                  36    12    8     16    48    53    -5    44
16.         Hampton & Richmond     36    11    11    14    41    47    -6    44
17.         Weston-super-Mare      36    13    5     18    49    58    -9    44
18.         Eastbourne Boro        36    10    13    13    39    50    -11   43
19.         Welling                36    9     10    17    35    53    -18   37
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20.         Wealdstone             35    8     12    15    48    56    -8    36
21.         Basingstoke            36    10    6     20    41    54    -13   36
22.   R     Hythe                  36    3     9     24    39    96    -57   8 *

* Hythe deducted 10 points for entering administration

[dllu]

Seven points in six games - maybe unrealistic but not impossible!

But you do have to hope the others choke just before the finish...

[jdoyle9293]

That paedophile pop star could come good some day! Big hurdle to jump but sneaking into the play-offs is possible. Absolutely shot me when I read the FA Trophy semi-final second leg, such a late goal to concede as well. :/

[CFuller]

Seven points in six games - maybe unrealistic but not impossible!

But you do have to hope the others choke just before the finish...

Yeah, it's pretty much out of our own hands now.

That paedophile pop star could come good some day! Big hurdle to jump but sneaking into the play-offs is possible. Absolutely shot me when I read the FA Trophy semi-final second leg, such a late goal to concede as well. :/

I've never played with a sweeper in 17 years as a CM/FM player, but you never know - maybe Garry Flitter might be the player who makes me rethink that.

[CFuller]

By the start of April, I had already given up on the play-offs. Making up a seven-point deficit when there are still 18 left to play for is never an impossible task, but in all honesty, I couldn't see how we could manage that.

Compared to our run of fixtures in March, when we dropped five big points against weaker opponents, our final six games looked much more daunting:

3 April: vs Chelmsford City (A) - Chelmsford were 4th, and had never lost to us in the Conference South

5 April: vs Kingstonian (A) - Kingstonian were 3rd, and had won their last six home games in all competitions

10 April: vs Canvey Island (H) - Canvey Island were 10th, and had not won in four matches

17 April: vs Dorchester Town (A) - Dorchester were 5th, and had the third-best home record in the division

24 April: vs Slough Town (A) - Slough were 13th, and had failed to win in their last three home games

2 May: vs Wealdstone (H) - Wealdstone were 20th, the lowest-placed of our remaining opponents

With that sort of run-in, even a top-half finish would be a good achievement. Even if we didn't break into the top five, staying in the top 11 would at least give me something positive to draw on when I consider my future after the Wealdstone game.

First up, we faced two away games in the space of 48 hours - both against teams occupying play-off places. I didn't feel particularly confident about getting a result at Chelmsford City, who'd won our last five head-to-heads without conceding a goal. I decided to rest a number of key players for this all-Essex match in order to keep them fresh for what I felt was a more 'winnable' game at Kingstonian.

3 April 2021: Chelmsford City vs Romford

We took a steady approach at the start, and it could've paid off as early as the ninth minute. Kieran Sadlier found Daniel Formaston with an excellent lobbed pass, but Danny fired just over the bar. Formaston's luck deserted him again two minutes later, when he hit the bar after being set up by Fabio Saraiva. Eventually, we would do something we hadn't managed in our previous five meetings with Chelmsford - score against them. The breakthrough came with Saraiva's 14th-minute through-ball to Sadlier, who tapped us into a 1-0 lead! City are made of stern stuff, though, and they found the net about a minute after the restart. Darty Fieldwick's headed goal from Joe Doyle's first-time cross was scrubbed out for offside, but Chelmsford's next shot to hit the net would give them the equaliser. Experienced winger James Vincent drilled a clinical shot bang into the corner, levelling the scores after 25 minutes. It was another moment to forget for Kyle Thomas, who was making his first appearance in the Romford goal since his costly error in the FA Trophy Semi Final. The remainder of the first half was fairly eventless, except where our holding midfielder Niall Wiltshire was concerned. Niall pulled a long-range drive off target after 28 minutes, and he was then forced off with a serious shoulder injury three minutes before half-time.

After a level first half, Chelmsford started to show their true class early in the second. Max Silk and Aristote Nsiala each had chances to give them the lead in the opening few minutes, but Fieldwick did just that in the 50th minute. Fieldwick's finish from a tight angle was his 30th competitive goal of the season. The deadly forward could have scored his 31st on 61 minutes, but his header brought a comfortable save from Thomas. City all but dominated the final half-hour, controlling possession effortlessly to close the game out. They sealed victory with a third goal in the 90th minute, as Danish defender Alexander Jackson Moller headed Lewis Lavender's corner into the net. Yet another defeat to Chelmsford saw us drop to 10th place, and we were now 10 points behind 5th. The match ended with even more pain for right-winger Trevor Dunn, who injured his groin in added-on time and couldn't finish.

Chelmsford City - 3 (Vincent 25, Fieldwick 50, Moller 90)

Romford - 1 (Sadlier 14)

Conference South, Attendance 1,039 - POSITIONS: Chelmsford 4th, Romford 10th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thomas, Connolly, Goulding, Reid, Wiltshire (James), Dunn, Briggs, Saraiva (Whitbread), Appleyard (Akpan), Sadlier, Formaston.

Niall Wiltshire broke his shoulder and Trevor Dunn picked up a groin strain in that defeat. Both men were ruled out for around four weeks, so it was very doubtful that we'd see them in action again this season. In Trevor's case, he might have played his last ever match for Romford, as he was already confirmed to be leaving in the summer.

Our next match was expected to be at Kingstonian on 5 April, but a waterlogged pitch meant that it was postponed by three days. It also meant that our next home game with Canvey Island was moved back by 24 hours and would now be played on 11 April.

The pitch at Kingsmeadow was in a more playable condition on Thursday evening, when we at last got a chance to avenge our home defeat to the K's earlier this term.

8 April 2021: Kingstonian vs Romford

The first 25 minutes were embarrassing to watch from a Romford perspective, as Kingstonian threatened to roll us over. K's striker Caolan Lavery was only denied a goal in the 11th minute by a fine save from our restored keeper Moses Millen. A minute later, Kingstonian unsuccessfully cried for a penalty after claiming that Kieron Gray had handled Derek Abel's cross. The hosts were utterly dominating possession by then, largely thanks to some terrible Romford passing. In the 24th minute, Gray softly gave the ball to Wes Fletcher, who narrowly missed the target with a quickfire shot. That was the final straw for me. Something HAD to change, so I ordered my team to slow play down - and by that, I meant slow it right down. Once we did that, everything seemed to click into place. Two minutes later, Kendall Appleyard sent the ball across Kingstonian's penalty area, and Josh Telling slotted it into the net! We were ahead against the run of play, and things got even better for us on 36 minutes. Josh's header was fired into the net by Duncan Greenwood, leaving us 2-0 to the good! Confirmation that the pendulum had most definitely swung our way came two minutes from half-time. Abel hit a fantastic strike from Rory McAuley's pinpoint pass, but it hit the crossbar and went out at the other side of the pitch.

Three minutes into the second half, we took a 3-0 lead through our substitute striker. Kendall's lob from the left wing found Garry Morath-Gibbs, whose first-time shot gave him his 20th goal of the season - more than four months after his 19th! Kingstonian were in disarray, and after nearly an hour, Gary Stocco hoofed the ball over their defence to send Greenwood through. Duncan hit a speculative volleyed chip over K's goalie Paul Parkinson, clearing the bar by only a few inches. That was the closest we got to a fourth goal, but Kingstonian rarely came close to scoring their first. A poor day for the usually prolific Fletcher ended with him coming off injured in the 80th minute. We came away from Kingsmeadow with a comfortable away win and a clean sheet, which really was incredible considering how terrible we were to start with!

Kingstonian - 0

Romford - 3 (Telling 26, Greenwood 36, Morath-Gibbs 48)

Conference South, Attendance 527 - POSITIONS: Kingstonian 3rd, Romford 9th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus, Gray, Connolly (James), Holt, Telling (Fitzpatrick), Briggs, Stocco, Appleyard, Greenwood, Sadlier (Morath-Gibbs). BOOKED: Connolly.

Our home match against Canvey Island was now scheduled for Sunday, so I spent Saturday watching the Romford Under-18s team in action versus Hayes & Yeading United. I was very impressed with what I saw, as we won 4-0! All four goals were scored in the first half by a 15-year-old schoolboy called Michael Montgomery.

Mickey didn't receive a youth contract after our Under-18s trials last month, but following his magnificent four-goal salvo, I was convinced that the left-footed striker deserved one. Remember this kid's name - he might have some potential.

The following day was my 36th birthday, and it was likely to be more stressful than I would've hoped for. We hosted a Canvey Island side who desperately needed a win to stay in the play-off picture.

[jdoyle9293]

Nice to see some youth coming through in the under-18's side of things, perhaps the ignition to spark a rise up the divisions. Great update as always.

[CFuller]

Nice to see some youth coming through in the under-18's side of things, perhaps the ignition to spark a rise up the divisions. Great update as always.

Hope so. Morath-Gibbs and Millen are really blossoming now, and we've got a number of other youth products in the first-team picture. In truth, Michael Montgomery might not ever get to GMG's level, but who knows what could happen with him?

[CFuller]

11 April 2021: Romford vs Canvey Island

Canvey Island could've taken the lead after only eight minutes through a former Romford loanee. French midfielder Eddy Gnahoré hit a vicious shot that Boro keeper Moses Millen just about tipped to his near post. The ball then deflected off the other post before Kieron Gray tackled it away from Gulls striker Louie Swain. Four minutes later, Fabio Saraiva sliced open the Canvey defence with a pinpoint pass to Duncan Greenwood, who finished with aplomb and gave us a 1-0 lead! Our joy didn't last for very long, because in the 22nd minute, another old friend created an equalising goal for the visitors. Dean O'Halloran's return to Ship Lane saw him find Swain with an excellent corner, and Canvey Island's top scorer added another goal to his tally. Garry Morath-Gibbs might have quickly restored our lead within five minutes, but he followed up a promising run with a tame strike. Two minutes after that, Kyle Storer hit the woodwork with a free-kick for the Gulls. The game's third goal came after 31 minutes, when Josh Telling drilled the ball through a crowded Canvey area and made it 2-1 Romford! The Boro fans were delighted, and at half-time, an unlikely win over one of our bogey teams was a real possibility!

Canvey Island boss Steve Tilson made two subs during the break, but both of them struggled early in the second half. In the 47th minute, O'Halloran's replacement Jordan Roberts strained his thigh whilst chasing a loose ball after Millen had saved from Gnahoré's header. Meanwhile, Jacob Hazel hit a woeful shot in the 55th minute. That Canvey howler at one end was followed a minute later by another from goalkeeper Simon Coulson. His wayward goal kick was cut out by Morath-Gibbs, who burst through on goal and took his time before placing the ball into Coulson's right-hand corner! We led 3-1, and the Gulls' confidence drained away as Swain missed an opportunity soon after play restarted. We never looked like squandering our advantage after that, despite having less possession than our visitors and losing midfield substitute Mark Briggs to injury in the 66th minute. Canvey's poor defending continued after 75 minutes, when full-back Sam Beale's long ball was intercepted by Kendall Appleyard, who then fired well wide. We again missed out on a fourth goal in the 84th minute, when Morath-Gibbs' attempted lob was caught by Coulson, but the game had already been won by that point.

Romford - 3 (Greenwood 12, Telling 31, Morath-Gibbs 56)

Canvey Island - 1 (Swain 22)

Conference South, Attendance 504 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Canvey Island 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus, Gray, Connolly, Holt, Telling (Fitzpatrick), Saraiva (Briggs (Reid)), Stocco, Appleyard, Greenwood, Morath-Gibbs. BOOKED: Appleyard.

That impressive win over Canvey Island just about kept alive our mathematical hopes of sneaking into the play-offs. However, those hopes would be extinguished if we lost our next game.

We were five points behind 5th-placed Dorchester Town going into our meeting in Dorset. Another Romford win would cut the gap to two points with only two games remaining, but if we lost, we'd definitely be staying in the Conference South.

17 April 2021: Dorchester Town vs Romford

Romford goalkeeper Moses Millen kept out a half-volley from Dorchester captain Calum Elliot in the second minute. Two minutes later, Magpies custodian Aaran Sills made a fine save of his own, getting his fingertips to Josh Telling's low drive. Josh had another attempt in the sixth minute, but he headed Kevin Holt's cross into the stand. On 18 minutes, a poor interception from Boro right-back Efe Festus allowed Jonny Rowell a shot that the Dorchester midfielder put wide. After that, the next scoring opportunity for either side came in the 34th minute. Garry Morath-Gibbs' strike was turned behind by Sills, who then caught Duncan Greenwood's header from the resulting corner. The match was still goalless at the end of a largely forgettable first half.

Zac Smith fired Dorchester's first shot of the second period over the bar in the 51st minute. Morath-Gibbs hit the post two minutes later, and his miss would carry extra significance after 58 minutes. Kevin wasted a throw-in that Smith intercepted with ease. Smith passed to Rowell in the area, and the midfielder knocked the ball through the legs of Keston James and Festus to find winger Michael Doughty, who scored at the far post for Dorchester! That horrible defensive display looked like being the death knell for our play-off hopes. With just half an hour left to keep our dream alive, we renewed our attacking efforts. In the 68th minute, Telling's header was met by another from Greenwood, who couldn't beat Sills - at least, not on that occasion. Four minutes after that, Duncan did get the better of the home goalie, equalising from a tight angle! We looked to get another goal on 79 minutes, but Mark Briggs was brilliantly dispossessed by Rowell as he entered the Magpies box. The final 10 minutes would see Elliot have no fewer than three chances to win the game for Dorchester. All three of them missed the target by some way, and the points were shared.

Dorchester Town - 1 (Doughty 58)

Romford - 1 (Greenwood 72)

Conference South, Attendance 511 - POSITIONS: Dorchester 5th, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus, Gray (James), Reid, Holt, Telling, Saraiva (Briggs), Connolly, Appleyard, Greenwood, Morath-Gibbs (Sadlier). BOOKED: Gray, Holt, Festus, Connolly.

We remained in play-off contention ahead of our penultimate league game, which was at Slough Town. This time, we couldn't afford anything other than a victory, and we also needed Chelmsford City to avoid defeat at Dorchester Town.

24 April 2021: Slough Town vs Romford

The opening stages of the first half were dominated by one man - Garry Morath-Gibbs. In the sixth minute, he broke through Slough's offside trap to reach Duncan Greenwood's excellent through-ball, but somehow curled his shot over the bar! Five minutes later, Garry's header was saved by Rebels goalkeeper Nick Pope. Morath-Gibbs had another effort in the 21st minute, shortly after Greenwood was booked for elbowing Stuart O'Donnell. Mark Briggs sent GMG clean through, but our usually clinical striker sent his shot across the goalmouth. Two minutes after that, a terrible clearance from Slough full-back Alton Hardwick allowed Morath-Gibbs yet another golden opportunity. This time, he hit the post. Garry's poor shooting was matched by Briggs, who put a couple of ambitious long-range strikes wide in the 25th and 34th minutes. Duncan fared slightly better with a half-volley that Pope parried away in the 44th minute, but our failure to convert our chances meant that the game was still goalless at the break.

Kieran Sadlier replaced Morath-Gibbs at half-time, and he continued where his predecessor left off. The Irish striker missed two opportunities in the first minute after the restart. Slough finally showed up in the 50th minute, when substitute midfielder Omari Alexander-Salmon had his low shot pushed away by Romford goalie Moses Millen. Nine minutes later, Alexander-Salmon audaciously chipped the ball from the left flank over Millen's head... and into the goal! However, his freak goal was ruled out by the officials, as Slough striker Andy Clarke had backed into Moses while trying to reach the ball. That let-off should have inspired us to up our game, but our finishing continued to lack a cutting edge. Briggs volleyed the ball into Pope's grasp on 69 minutes, and Sadlier missed the target with another attempt ten minutes later. The match ended on a scrappy note, with the referee booking two Rebels players along with Romford's Kevin Holt in the final 15 minutes. The final score remained 0-0, even though we dominated the shot count by 13 attempts to Slough's two. Our failure to win ended any hopes of us breaking into the top five, but we wouldn't have had a chance anyway, as Dorchester Town secured the last play-off spot by beating Chelmsford City 1-0.

Slough Town - 0

Romford - 0

Conference South, Attendance 703 - POSITIONS: Slough 13th, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Gray, Goulding, Reid, Connolly, Telling, Briggs, Saraiva (Whitbread), Appleyard (Holt), Greenwood, Morath-Gibbs (Sadlier). BOOKED: Greenwood, Holt.

With our promotion dream officially dead for another 12 months, I reluctantly accepted that I had failed my main objective for this season.

Pretty soon, I will have to answer a question similar to what Mick Jones from The Clash asked himself about 40 years ago - should I stay, or should I go?

[CFuller]

We completed our fifth season in the Conference South with a home game against Wealdstone on 2 May. This was my 495th match as Romford manager - and possibly my last.

I still wasn't sure whether I wanted to stay on for one more season, or even if Boro chairman Leo Jones still wanted me at the helm. Any firm decision about my future would have to wait until this final game was over with.

We weren't going to make the play-offs, and we were already assured of finishing in the top half, so there was nothing at stake for us. I took this match as an opportunity to blood some of our younger stars, and also to give one final appearance to the departing Trevor Dunn, who'd just recovered from a groin injury.

Unlike us, Wealdstone had something to play for - their Conference South status. The Stones were precisely one point and one place above the relegation zone heading into this game. Only a victory would guarantee their survival at the expense of 20th-placed Basingstoke Town, who were at home to play-off qualifiers Kingstonian.

2 May 2021: Romford vs Wealdstone

The Romford fans had a goal to cheer about after just two minutes! Wealdstone defender James Yeboah got his head to Felix Akpan's cross, but he could not prevent Daniel Formaston from blasting the loose ball into the net. That gave us an early lead, which we came close to losing in the very next minute. Some scrappy Boro defending led to us conceding a corner, from which Stones winger Robbie Obrey headed over. Formaston then tried to consolidate our fragile lead, but each of his shots in the 13th and 18th minutes went wide of the mark. In the 32nd minute, Danny squared an excellent ball to right-winger Zak Fitzpatrick, who fired into the side of Wealdstone goalkeeper Chris Riley's net. Riley made his first save in the last minute of normal time, when he caught Seidu Asante's header after Keston James had hit a fabulous long ball to our 16-year-old striker. At the interval, a very young Romford team was still 1-0 up against arguably Wealdstone's strongest XI.

I made two changes at the break. Ollie Whitbread came off with a dead leg and was replaced by Gary Stocco, while 15-year-old Brandon Crook took over from Akpan at left-wing. Wealdstone needed a change of strategy, as Basingstoke Town were beating Kingstonian 1-0. If that score remained unchanged, the Stones would need no less than all three points to stay up. They set about taking the victory in the 52nd minute, when they scored the first of the two goals they required. Obrey's conversion from James Dayton's free-kick levelled the scoreline at 1-1 and shifted the momentum to Wealdstone. In the 57th minute, Keston had to block a fierce shot from Luke Watson, while Moses Millen saved from Dayton a minute later. Then came a major talking point after 62 minutes. Asante was pushed by Stones defender Dwight Blackburn as he tried to reach Crook's cross, but instead of awarding a penalty, the referee let play continue. Wealdstone launched an unsuccessful counter-attack immediately after that incident, but then went close to scoring from another breakaway move four minutes later. Dayton's right-wing cross found Obrey, who headed the ball into Millen's hands. Wealdstone continued to increase the pressure over the next few minutes. With just under ten minutes left to play, Dayton fed the ball to Watson inside the Boro penalty area. Our defence forced the former Rochdale midfielder wide, but he still scored from an acute angle. It was 2-1 to Wealdstone - a score that would keep our visitors in this division. Five minutes later, though, we put their survival back in doubt. Formaston had started the match by scoring a goal, and he finished it by creating a first ever competitive goal for Asante! With Basingstoke still leading 1-0 in their game, Wealdstone were now desperate to regain the advantage. Early in injury time, Brian Woodall presented strike partner Jordan O'Shea with a great opportunity to save his team. The young substitute hit a first-time shot, which limped weakly towards Millen and was easily dealt with by the Romford goalkeeper. The final whistle blew about three minutes later. While we were happy to finish with a draw, Wealdstone were not - they had been relegated from the Conference South.

Romford - 2 (Formaston 2, Asante 86)

Wealdstone - 2 (Obrey 52, Watson 81)

Conference South, Attendance 606 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Wealdstone 20th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Dunn (Goulding), James, Carr, Briggs, Fitzpatrick, Whitbread (Stocco), Wood, Akpan (Crook), Asante, Formaston.

A final position of 7th is not terrible by any means, and we finished with a five-game unbeaten run that we could be proud of. While a lot of Boro fans went home feeling rather optimistic, I wasn't so positive about our future.

The truth was that we had regressed for a second season in a row, both in terms of our league position and our financial situation. The day after our final game, Leo Jones revealed at a board meeting that we were projected to make a yearly loss of around £25,000. That left us with approximately £85,000 in the bank - not enough to make any substantial improvements to our infrastructure.

Had I hit a brick wall with Romford? Had I taken my hometown club as far as I could?

[jdoyle9293]

Great updates again but the Slough game was the heartbreaker this time round. I hope you can continue with Romford as it would mean a lot more to be successful with them. The younger talent coming through might make the transfers needed to get into the Conference redundant.

[CFuller]

Great updates again but the Slough game was the heartbreaker this time round. I hope you can continue with Romford as it would mean a lot more to be successful with them. The younger talent coming through might make the transfers needed to get into the Conference redundant.

My heart wants me to stay on, but after five years without promotion, I'm seriously doubting for the first time if can ever get us out of the Conference South. You'll learn of my final decision soon enough.

I wouldn't say our younger talent would make any transfers redundant. If anything, we need more experience in the ranks.

[CFuller]

My contract with Romford was two months away from expiring, and I didn't have much intention of extending it. This season had been a disappointment on the league front, as we missed out on the play-offs by nine points. We did reach the FA Trophy Semi Final and come excruciatingly close to a Final appearance at Wembley, but otherwise, we had stagnated as a club.

I thought long and hard about my future post-Romford. There was a managerial position in the Conference Premier that I would be very interested in applying for if it became vacant. If it didn't, then I'd most likely take a year away from coaching and return to sports journalism - either temporarily or even permanently.

I was almost ready to hand Leo Jones another resignation letter - one that he would have no choice but to accept. However, Mr Jones was determined to keep me on board for another season.

"Please, Christopher," he pleaded. "Give it one last season. I'll give you whatever money you need to build a team that will win promotion. Not a team that can win, a team that WILL win. Next season can be THE season for us."

'Whatever money you need', in this case, was a wage budget of £4,000 per week.

"I dunno," I said uncertainly. A few seconds later, I sighed, "I think I'm going to walk away, actually. I think I've done everything I possibly could to try and win promotion."

Mr Jones is nothing if not persistent, though, and he said, "This is a big decision, Christopher. You know what, I'll give you a few more weeks. The players come back for pre-season on 28 June. I want a final decision a week before then."

I reluctantly agreed, and promised that I'd let him know before pre-season so he could have time to bring in a new manager if I chose to leave.

Although I had still not decided my future, I wasn't going to let it impact on our squad-building for the new season. I quickly set about offering new contracts to some of our best young players.

Moses Millen was first in line for an improved deal. He agreed a contract for the next two seasons, during which I hope he establishes himself as Romford's first-choice keeper - either with or without me.

Three of our teenage talents also received two-year senior contracts. Zak Fitzpatrick and Daniel Formaston have signed theirs, and Seidu Asante will follow suit when he celebrates his 17th birthday in July.

However, Keston James will not be part of the Boro team next season. The lanky centre-half received offers from six clubs, and he eventually accepted one from Chatham Town of the Kent Football League.

Kyle Thomas is also leaving Romford after losing his number 1 jersey to Millen. He will be heading to the Republic of Ireland to play full-time for Sligo Rovers, who have won three consecutive League of Ireland championships under their legendary perma-tanned manager Phil Brown.

There are likely to be several more major departures in June. Fabio Saraiva has been transfer-listed, as has Tom O'Reilly, who scored just three times in a disappointing loan spell at Wembley. I've also yet to decide whether to offer new deals to Kevin Holt, Kieran Sadlier or Josh Telling.

[CFuller]

                                   P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS
1.    C     AFC Wimbledon          42    25    10    7     79    41    +38   85
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.          Enfield Town           42    26    6     10    71    49    +22   84
3.          Kingstonian            42    22    10    10    77    42    +35   76
4.    P     Chelmsford             42    21    12    9     71    45    +26   75
5.          Dorchester             42    20    11    11    61    51    +10   71
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Hayes & Yeading        42    18    9     15    71    55    +16   63
[color="#0000FF"]7.          Romford                42    17    11    14    68    55    +13   62[/color]
8.          Canvey Island          42    17    11    14    72    60    +12   62
9.          Salisbury              42    18    8     16    59    53    +6    62
10.         Maidstone              42    17    11    14    59    61    -2    62
11.         Woking                 42    15    11    16    64    65    -1    56
12.         Eastbourne Boro        42    14    14    14    47    54    -7    56
13.         Brackley               42    15    10    17    67    75    -8    55
14.         Havant                 42    15    9     18    69    74    -5    54
15.         Slough                 42    15    9     18    48    64    -16   54
16.         Grays                  42    14    9     19    53    60    -7    51
17.         Hampton & Richmond     42    12    13    17    49    58    -9    49
18.         Weston-super-Mare      42    14    6     22    53    69    -16   48
19.         Basingstoke            42    11    9     22    45    60    -15   42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20.   R     Wealdstone             42    9     14    19    58    70    -12   41
21.   R     Welling                42    10    11    21    38    57    -19   41
22.   R     Hythe                  42    5     10    27    50    111   -61   15 *

* Hythe deducted 10 points for entering administration

[CFuller]

GOALKEEPERS               APPS    CON  CLN  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Moses Millen              27 (1)  31   10   0    68%  -    -    0    0    6.84
Kyle Thomas               28      37   8    0    73%  -    -    0    0    6.80

OUTFIELD PLAYERS          APPS    GLS  AST  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Felix Akpan               3 (1)   0    1    0    70%  3.05 -    0    0    6.85
Kendall Appleyard         21      1    5    0    76%  2.14 14%  1    0    6.91
Seidu Asante              5 (4)   1    1    0    75%  1.08 23%  1    0    6.71
Mark Briggs               23 (16) 4    6    0    78%  3.90 36%  2    1    6.95
Chad Carr                 2 (2)   0    0    0    69%  2.81 -    0    0    6.75
Aaron Connolly            43 (1)  2    5    3    71%  2.43 36%  3    0    7.13
Warren Cooke              9 (1)   0    0    0    78%  5.22 60%  2    0    7.00
Brandon Crook             0 (1)   0    0    0    100% 0.00 -    0    0    6.60
Trevor Dunn               29 (4)  3    0    0    78%  3.62 29%  2    0    6.92
Efe Festus                13 (2)  1    0    1    68%  2.55 50%  1    0    7.07
Zak Fitzpatrick           8 (9)   2    1    0    78%  2.04 75%  0    0    6.94
Daniel Formaston          7 (7)   6    4    1    77%  1.26 35%  0    0    7.35
Kieran Goulding           21 (7)  0    1    1    71%  2.72 0%   3    0    6.85
Kieron Gray               39 (1)  4    0    3    68%  2.88 38%  4    0    7.22
Duncan Greenwood          39 (7)  20   16   9    75%  1.83 39%  4    0    7.42
Kevin Holt                31 (9)  0    4    0    74%  3.03 33%  7    1    6.87
Keston James              15 (8)  1    0    0    67%  2.83 50%  6    0    6.91
Garry Morath-Gibbs        27 (13) 21   9    6    75%  2.42 48%  1    0    7.33
Tom O'Reilly              15 (10) 2    5    1    75%  2.02 37%  4    0    6.90
Danny Rafferty            24 (1)  0    2    1    74%  3.26 67%  4    0    6.89
Brett Reid                24 (10) 1    2    1    65%  2.33 54%  2    0    7.14
Kieran Sadlier            24 (14) 14   6    1    76%  2.17 44%  4    0    7.11
Fabio Saraiva             17 (6)  1    6    0    81%  4.35 29%  1    0    6.97
Gary Stocco               8 (6)   1    0    0    76%  3.37 33%  2    0    7.04
Josh Telling              35 (6)  4    12   3    76%  2.89 44%  6    0    7.00
Cillian Thompson          7 (1)   0    0    0    76%  3.57 25%  2    0    6.72
Ollie Whitbread           24 (8)  5    5    2    77%  2.66 44%  1    0    7.05
Niall Wiltshire           35 (3)  1    1    0    80%  4.39 20%  3    0    6.86
Bentley Wood              2 (2)   0    0    0    76%  2.86 0%   1    0    6.70

APPS - Appearances (Substitute apps), GLS - Goals, AST - Assists,
CON - Goals conceded, CLN - Clean sheets, MOM - Man of the Match awards,
P% - Pass completion %, TR - Tackles per 90 mins, ST - Shots on target %,
Y - Yellow cards, R - Red cards, AV RAT - Average match rating

[EvilDave]

On the one hand, I can't imagine you enjoying another club as much as Romford. On the other, I'm interested to see how that goes. Either way, this is as excellent as ever and I'm looking forward to what's coming.

[dllu]

So close on several occasions and yet so far away!

If you do decide to leave, surely there must at least be Conference clubs who could use your talents?

[CFuller]

On the one hand, I can't imagine you enjoying another club as much as Romford. On the other, I'm interested to see how that goes. Either way, this is as excellent as ever and I'm looking forward to what's coming.

The plan was for this to be a one-club save, but I'm enjoying it so much and getting so engrossed in the game world that I'll almost certainly continue playing, even if I do leave Romford.

So close on several occasions and yet so far away!

If you do decide to leave, surely there must at least be Conference clubs who could use your talents?

I know, we've had terrible luck!

If I decided to move on, it would have to be to a Conference Premier club based in Essex, London or the south-east. I declared my interest in taking over at one particular club whose manager's job status was 'Insecure', but that didn't go any further, so this next update won't surprise you.

[CFuller]

The Romford supporters' club announced their team of the season on 18 June - ten days before the players were due to return for pre-season training. The fans' best XI for the 2020/2021 campaign were: Moses Millen, Trevor Dunn, Kieron Gray, Brett Reid, Kevin Holt, Josh Telling, Ollie Whitbread, Mark Briggs, Tom O'Reilly, Duncan Greenwood, Garry Morath-Gibbs.

I'll admit that I was surprised to see O'Reilly included in that team. Tom was only with us for the first half of the season (he spent the second half on loan at Wembley), and scored just twice in 25 games.

Less surprising was the fans' choice for their Player of the Year. For the second year in a row, it was Garry Morath-Gibbs, who matched his 21-goal tally from the previous campaign. He beat captain Duncan Greenwood into second place, despite Big Dunc scoring 20 goals and setting up 16 more.

On that same day, I made a big decision on my future as manager.

Romford were losing money off the pitch, the team had regressed on it, and the Conference Premier was looking more like a distant dream than an achievable short-term target. Bromley, Dover Athletic and Oxford City - three teams we hated playing against in the past - would all be returning to the Conference South to further complicate our bid for promotion.

This felt like an ideal time to bail out and hand the reins to another manager... but when the time came to make my final decision, I just couldn't let go.

I loved this club too much, and the chance to give promotion one final shot proved irresistible in the end. I signed a new season-long contract worth £625 per week, on the proviso that I would be allowed to leave if it didn't pan out well.

"This time, it really is promotion or bust," I said to Leo Jones as I inked my signature on my new contract.

Before then, I had taken significant steps towards building a squad that would be very strong contenders for promotion - regardless of whether I stayed or not.

One of our new signings was 21-year-old defensive midfielder Tim Crossley, who previously played for Peterborough United. He made one league appearance for the Posh before leaving London Road in 2020.

The next arrival was arguably a bit more exciting. Muamer Tankovic, a very skilful centre-forward who can also play on the wing, signed a two-year contract with the Boro worth £400 per week.

Former Sweden Under-20s international Tankovic - inevitably nicknamed 'The Tank' - was once tipped for big things while coming through Fulham's youth academy. It didn't quite work out for Mujo, and after a three-year stint with Northampton Town, he had been a free agent for nearly a year. Now aged 26, he is hoping to resurrect his career at Ship Lane.

I also signed 24-year-old goalkeeper Jason Byrne on non-contract terms from Ashford Town (Middlesex). Jason, who counts Carshalton Athletic and Bath City among his former clubs, is set to act as Moses Millen's deputy in the upcoming campaign.

Meanwhile, Kevin Holt committed himself to Romford for another two years by signing a new deal. In doing so, he turned down a potential return to his native Scotland with St Johnstone. Although his first season at Romford wasn't an unqualified success, there is little doubt that Kevin is an accomplished full-back at Conference level.

In terms of departures, Tom O'Reilly was the next Boro boy to go through the exit door. The young forward is moving on to Redbridge, who will play in the Essex Senior League next season after they dropped out of Isthmian League Division 1 North.

Former captain Fabio Saraiva also left Romford, after three years with us, but he will remain in the Conference South with his new club - recently-promoted Wingate & Finchley. Another Boro midfielder, Josh Telling, is dropping down a tier after signing for relegated Wealdstone.

Kieran Sadlier's first season at Ship Lane will not be followed by a second. Instead, he is moving to Scotland, having agreed terms with Raith Rovers. Trevor Dunn's proposed move to Tilbury was ratified, and after failing to agree a new contract, Gary Stocco was released along with fellow youth-teamers Felix Akpan, Larry Elliot and Malachi Semanshia.

In the backroom, physio Gary Ling and scout Nicky Reynolds both penned new two-year contracts, and all of my coaching staff agreed to stay - except Dean Standen. Dean's wage demands were too high for us to meet, so after a total of seven seasons at Romford, he was looking for a new job.

His replacement as defensive coach was 33-year-old Dominic Shimmin. The former Arsenal trainee centre-back had just retired from playing after three years with Sutton United. Dominic's arrival has actually saved us a little bit of money, as we won't have to fork out on new training kit! We can just reuse Dean's old kit without changing the initials - but we’ll have to wash it first, of course!

As pre-season drew nearer, the Conference South's fixture list for 2021/2022 was published. Like the previous season, we would be kicking off against Woking. Unlike the previous season, we would be at home to Kevin Nolan's Cards - on 7 August.

10 August would see our first away meeting - a tricky encounter at the home of Isthmian League champions Barnet. Two other ties to look out for would be our home game versus Grays Athletic on 25 September, and the reverse fixture at Rush Green on 5 March.

Another significant date was 28 June, as that was when my tenth pre-season with Romford got underway.

The lads looked very pleased to see me, particularly Aaron Connolly, who came up to me and said, "Great to have you back with us, boss!" I smiled and told the defender, "I never went away."

[CFuller]

Five years ago, we recorded the biggest win in our history by lifting the Isthmian League title. That earned us promotion to the Conference South, where we remain today, despite our best efforts to break into the Conference Premier. Half a decade on, how have our title winners from the 2015/2016 season fared?

Fans' Team of the Year

Joel Wilkinson (Goalkeeper, Boro 2012-2016) - My first ever signing as Romford manager, Joel was with us for four seasons, only really holding down a first-team place during the last of those. He played briefly for Brentwood Town and AFC Hornchurch, and then had three years at Hythe Town before he gave up football last year.

Danny Newman (Defender, Boro 2014-2017) - Former Millwall trainee Danny spent three solid years with us before leaving in 2017 to sign for Horsham. He was only with the Isthmian League Division 1 South side for a single campaign, and was then forced to finish playing due to work commitments.

George Allen (Defender, Boro 2013-2017) - A real unsung hero during our Isthmian Premier years, George found the going much tougher once we entered the Conference South. The reliable centre-half moved on to Tonbridge Angels and then Staines Town before signing for his current club Whitehawk last year.

Connor Dymond (Defender, Boro 2013-2018) - Connor may have had five excellent seasons at Romford, but amazingly, the centre-back could not find another club after leaving Ship Lane. He turned his back on semi-professional football and is now coaching a youth team in south London.

Jason Collins (Defender, Boro 2015-2018) - Jason joined us prior to our title-winning campaign, and stayed on for our first two seasons in the Conference South. He then dropped down two tiers to the Isthmian North, where he has just completed his third term with Ware.

Ashley Farrell (Midfielder, Boro 2013-2016) - Local boy Ashley left us in 2016 and enrolled in a sports coaching course at Cambridge Regional College, where he also played for the football team. Surprisingly, after five years, he is still at CRC, who compete in the Eastern Counties League.

Brian Neville (Midfielder, Boro 2013-2018) - Another locally-bred midfielder, Brian flew the nest in 2018 to sign for Wingate & Finchley. After winning promotion from the Isthmian North, he opted to spend the next two seasons with Potters Bar Town, where he has recently been transfer-listed.

Jason Harley (Midfielder, Boro 2013-2018) - Sadly, Jason's career has continued to be wrecked by injury since he joined North Greenford United in 2018. Since breaking his foot two-and-a-half years ago, he has barely played for the Isthmian South team, with just a single league appearance this season.

Nick Fenwick (Midfielder, Boro 2015-2017) - A former product of Leyton Orient's youth set-up, Nick left the semi-professional game shortly after his release by Romford five years ago. Since then, the left-winger has only been playing sparingly at Sunday League level.

Kieron Carroll (Forward, Boro 2013-2018) - Kieron was a real Boro hero until he failed to score a single goal in 2017/2018. He's played for Slough Town since then, but his inconsistency has continued - after bagging 18 Conference South goals in 2019/2020, he didn't score any in the season just gone!

Duncan Greenwood (Forward, Boro 2015-present) - Duncan's love affair with Romford has endured over his time at the club, which shows no sign of ending soon. The big Geordie has overcome a couple of serious injuries to score 114 goals in 235 games for the Boro.

Other notable players

Nicky Reynolds (Forward, Boro 2010-2018) - Our all-time top scorer with over 150 goals, Nicky stopped playing for us in 2018, but he returned to Ship Lane a year later as our scout.

Mark Betteridge (Defender, Boro 2013-2017) - Mark's playing career started and ended at Romford, and the Yorkshire-born defender has been concentrating on work since leaving us.

Dean O'Halloran (Midfielder, Boro 2014-2020) - Ambitious Irish winger Dean moved across Essex last summer to sign for Canvey Island, where he hasn't been able to regain his best form.

Jay Vassell (Midfielder, Boro 2012-2017) - A talented but fragile playmaker, Jay is currently at Eastbourne Town after an earlier stint at another Sussex side - Whitehawk.

Ryan Jones (Midfielder, Boro 2014-2017) - Ryan gave up the game a few years ago and, like a stereotypical Aussie, now works in a pub near Romford.

Kamal Guthmy (Defender, Boro 2013-2017) - Kamal's time with Romford was followed by a two-year stint with Tonbridge Angels, but he hasn't played in the pyramid since then.

Daniel Akindayini (Forward, Boro 2014-2017) - After a few years playing in the south coast for Tonbridge Angels and Three Bridges, Daniel called time on his football career in 2020 aged just 24.

[tenthreeleader]

Catching up with the old boys is an excellent idea, and creative. Humble suggestion: why not write about a Boro all-class reunion?

Excellent work.

[CFuller]

Catching up with the old boys is an excellent idea, and creative. Humble suggestion: why not write about a Boro all-class reunion?

Excellent work.

That's not a bad idea. I haven't already thought about it, but I may well come round to writing it up when a suitable time comes.

[CFuller]

Premier League

Arsenal may have lost their manager José Mourinho to Porto in the summer, but that didn't stop them from retaining the Premier League title. Roberto Donadoni arrived from Empoli to succeed the 'Special One' and achieved the very special feat of winning both the PL and the UEFA Champions League in his first season. Winger Kingsley Aremu and midfielder Marco Verratti were both instrumental for the double-winning Gunners. Manchester United pushed Arsenal close in the league, finishing 2nd in their first campaign under Slaven Bilic's stewardship.

Tottenham Hotspur's hotshots achieved a 3rd-place finish, and star man Uros Zinic was named Top Goalscorer again after hitting 29 PL goals - one more than United's Damien King. Manchester City recovered from former captain Vincent Kompany's exit and a sluggish start to come 4th and win the FA Cup. However, the Citizens are facing further tumult, as they will be without goalkeeper Joe Hart and legendary manager Roberto Mancini next season.

Croatian superstar Marko Skopljanac single-handedly led Southampton to their best ever Premier League finish of 5th. The Saints were just ahead of Chelsea, who incredibly won the UEFA Europa League for the third time since 2018! Norwich City looked like surprise candidates for Champions League qualification before an end-of-season slump knocked them down to 7th.

Nottingham Forest had another brief Premier League stint, and they will once again return to the Championship. Going down with them are Aston Villa, whose 33-year top-flight stay ended shortly after American owner Randy Lerner sold the club to local businessman Adam Davis. Everton occupied the other relegation spot, with goal difference sparing a youthful Wolverhampton Wanderers team.

Top Four: Arsenal (1st, 82 pts), Manchester United (2nd, 78 pts), Tottenham Hotspur (3rd, 76 pts), Manchester City (4th, 69 pts).

Relegated: Everton (18th, 35 pts), Aston Villa (19th, 32 pts), Nottingham Forest (20th, 30 pts).

Championship

After Mark Robins left them for Everton, Reading gave ex-England midfielder Frank Lampard his first management job. The gamble paid off, as Lampard's Royals won the Championship just ahead of fellow promoted side Sunderland, for whom teen sensation Clive Johnson scored 20 league goals.

Stoke City comfortably won their Play-Off Semi Final against Doncaster Rovers, while Brighton & Hove Albion survived a second-leg fightback from Swansea City. The Final finished 3-2 to the Seagulls after their longest-serving player Liam Bridcutt scored the match-winning goal for Paul Groves' men. Next season will be Brighton's first as a top-level club since 1982/1983.

The Championship's top scorer was Greek striker Apostolos Vellios, who found the net 28 times for Sheffield United. The Blades finished a comfortable 14th, but Bolton Wanderers needed a late renaissance to avoid dropping into League One. Rochdale narrowly survived in their debut campaign at the second tier.

The three unfortunate teams to suffer relegation were Birmingham City, Bristol City and Crewe Alexandra. Birmingham conceded 80 goals in finishing bottom, although to be fair, the cash-strapped Blues had to rely on teenage goalkeepers for the entire season.

Promoted: Reading (1st, 89 pts), Sunderland (2nd, 88 pts), Brighton & Hove Albion (5th, 74 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Stoke City (3rd, 85 pts), Swansea City (4th, 79 pts), Doncaster Rovers (6th, 73 pts).

Relegated: Crewe Alexandra (22nd, 42 pts), Bristol City (23rd, 42 pts), Birmingham City (24th, 37 pts).

League One

League One's promotion race went right to the very wire. Middlesbrough were crowned champions and Portsmouth were also promoted, but Northampton Town would've gone up automatically had they not conceded a 90th-minute goal in their final-day win at Brentford.

The Cobblers quickly put their disappointment to one side by beating Millwall in the Play-Off Semi Final. Facing them in the Final were Morecambe, who defeated Walsall in extra-time. Following a 2-2 draw at Wembley, Northampton won 5-4 on penalties to at last reach the Championship!

Relegation befell Burton Albion, Swindon Town and Carlisle United before the final round of fixtures. They were soon joined in League Two by Tranmere Rovers, who went down after both Blackpool and Charlton Athletic narrowly escaped.

Promoted: Middlesbrough (1st, 81 pts), Portsmouth (2nd, 79 pts), Northampton Town (3rd, 79 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Walsall (4th, 77 pts), Morecambe (5th, 73 pts), Millwall (6th, 72 pts).

Relegated: Tranmere Rovers (21st, 49 pts), Carlisle United (22nd, 48 pts), Swindon Town (23rd, 45 pts), Burton Albion (24th, 43 pts).

League Two

The top two teams in League Two - Shrewsbury Town and Torquay United - were separated by only two points. Gillingham took the other automatic promotion place at the expense of AFC Telford United, who were mightily impressive in just their second season as a Football League club.

Telford overcame Aldershot Town to advance to the Play-Off Final against Hartlepool United, who had seen off Bristol Rovers. Hartlepool stormed into a 3-0 lead at Wembley before being incredibly pegged back to 3-3, but 18-year-old Malcolm Darby's extra-time goal eventually won promotion for the Pools.

The hapless Milton Keynes Dons became the first team since the 1890s to lose their League status after just one season. Accrington Stanley were also relegated to the Conference Premier after putting up more of a fight.

Promoted: Shrewsbury Town (1st, 85 pts), Torquay United (2nd, 83 pts), Gillingham (3rd, 78 pts), Hartlepool United (4th, 75 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: AFC Telford United (4th, 77 pts), Bristol Rovers (5th, 76 pts), Aldershot Town (7th, 70 pts).

Relegated: Accrington Stanley (23rd, 44 pts), Milton Keynes Dons (24th, 30 pts).

Conference Premier

Hereford United waltzed back into the Football League, only taking their foot off the pedal once the Conference Premier title had been secured in late March.

Leighton Baines enjoyed a fine start to his managerial career, leading Exeter City to promotion via the Play-Offs. Exeter knocked out Bury in the Semi Final before winning the Final 2-0 against Luton Town, who had earlier defeated Cheltenham Town.

After one season each in the Conference Premier, Hednesford Town and Bromley were sent back to whence they came. Dover Athletic and Oxford City were the other two sides who suffered relegation.

Promoted: Hereford United (1st, 93 pts), Exeter City (3rd, 85 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Luton Town (2nd, 90 pts), Bury (4th, 76 pts), Cheltenham Town (5th, 75 pts).

Relegated: Oxford City (21st, 47 pts), Dover Athletic (22nd, 41 pts), Bromley (23rd, 40 pts), Hednesford Town (24th, 33 pts).

Conference North

Promoted: Kettering Town (1st, 79 pts), Harrogate Town (3rd, 72 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Ilkeston (2nd, 73 pts), Lincoln City (4th, 71 pts), Guiseley (5th, 69 pts).

Relegated: Market Drayton Town (20th, 40 pts), Skelmersdale United (21st, 37 pts), Hinckley United (22nd, 29 pts).

Conference South

Promoted: AFC Wimbledon (1st, 85 pts), Chelmsford City (4th, 75 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Enfield Town (2nd, 84 pts), Kingstonian (3rd, 76 pts), Dorchester Town (5th, 71 pts).

Relegated: Wealdstone (20th, 41 pts), Welling United (21st, 41 pts), Hythe Town (22nd, 15 pts*).

* deducted 10 points

Regional Premier Divisions

Promoted from Northern Premier League Premier: North Ferriby United (1st), Mossley (3rd).

Promoted from Isthmian League Premier: Barnet (1st), Wingate & Finchley (5th).

Promoted from Southern League Premier: Tiverton Town (1st), Worcester City (3rd).

[CFuller]

Major Transfers

• With Leighton Baines now retired, Manchester City signed another England international left-back to take his place. Their £24million signing of Southampton's Sam Barnett was a shrewd move, as the 23-year-old enjoyed an impressive first campaign at the Etihad Stadium.
  
• Arsenal bolstered their attacking options further with the signing of PSV forward Milad Rajabzadeh for £22.5million. The Iranian would score 15 goals for the Gunners, including one in their UEFA Champions League Final win over City. Arsenal also signed a centre-back - Croatia international Ivan Bulat - from Espanyol for £20million.
  
• Tottenham Hotspur made one of the best signings of this summer when they snapped up veteran midfielder Arturo Vidal on a free transfer. The former Manchester City man showed at the age of 33 that he was still as tenacious as ever with some excellent performances. Spurs also felt the need to sign yet another striker, and Maxim Rybin scored 20 goals following his £19.5million arrival from Dynamo Kiev.
  
• In stark contrast to Tottenham, Chelsea were wasteful with their purchases. They only played Raheem Sterling in 19 games after signing the England winger from Fulham for £14.5million. The Blues also forked out £10million on Valladolid's Dutch midfielder Thom Haye, and got a return of one assist from 27 matches.
  
• Real Madrid's chosen long-term successor to retiring goalkeeper Iker Casillas was somewhat of a surprise. They paid £12million for Jack Butland, who had just been relegated with Stoke City, but the Englishman proved to be a great signing.
  
• Real also signed Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany for £625,000 in the summer. They raided the blue half of Manchester again in January, poaching City's unsettled winger Artur Zarembski for £22million. At the same time, Los Merengues splashed out £36million on Sao Paulo and Brazil forward Flávio.
  

Managerial Movements

• José Mourinho left Arsenal in the lurch last summer, when he returned to his old stomping ground at Porto. The Gunners replaced him with Roberto Donadoni, who had just won the UEFA Europa League with Empoli. Donadoni achieved a memorable league and European double with Arsenal, while his old Azzurri side finished as Serie A runners-up under the management of Massimiliano Allegri.
  
• Tony Pulis left Watford for a second time in November after getting the sack from Vicarage Road. He was replaced as Hornets manager by Michael Appleton, whose old job at Wigan Athletic was handed to Henning Berg. West Bromwich Albion also went for a change of boss at around the same time, as Zema Abbey was succeeded by Lee Clark of Everton.
  
• Everton's next appointment was not a success. Mark Robins' decision to swap Reading for Goodison Park blew up in his face, as the Toffees came unstuck and his former Royals won the Championship. Aston Villa were also left to regret replacing their gaffer. Billy Davies moved from Stoke City to replace Darren Ferguson, and he suffered relegation with a FIFTH different Premier League club.
  
• After 11-and-a-half enormously successful years in charge, Roberto Mancini resigned as manager of Manchester City in mid-June. He will pursue a fresh challenge next season at Valencia, whose previous boss Zvonimir Soldo went to Schalke 04 following the retirement of Martin Jol.
  
• Joaquin Caparrós retired after leading underdogs Real Sociedad to last season's La Liga title, and he proved a very difficult act to follow. His successor José Luis Oltra lasted just four months at the Anoeta before Álvaro Cervera came in from second-division Racing Santander. Cervera could only lead the champions to an 11th-place finish, though he did get Los Txuriurdin into the Copa Del Rey Final.
  
• After the retirement of Giuseppe Pillon, AC Milan hired Giuseppe Sannino as their seventh head coach since the start of 2016. They would soon appoint an eighth, as Sannino failed miserably and Stale Solbakken was charged with picking up the pieces. The Rossoneri eventually finished a shocking 15th in Serie A.
  

Other Major Stories

• An all-English Champions League Final between Arsenal and Manchester City served up plenty of drama in Paris. Arsenal went ahead through Rajabzadeh after just two minutes, and they remained in the lead until the 82nd minute. James Rodríguez levelled with a sensational 30-yard volley, just minutes after his City team-mate Sergio Aguero had a penalty saved by Wojciech Szczesny. Then, with four minutes remaining, a sublime solo goal from Antoine Griezmann secured Arsenal's second European Cup in three years!
  
• Manchester United striker Damien King had an astonishing goalscoring record this season. The 'Altrincham Arrow' bagged no fewer than 45 competitive goals for United - 28 in the PL, 11 in the CL, and 6 in domestic cups! He also found the net 18 times for England, including 14 times in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. That's a grand total of 63 goals since the European Championship Final!
  
• Casillas made his 751st and final league appearance for Real Madrid just weeks before his 40th birthday. He was joined in retirement by Cristiano Ronaldo, who at 36 decided to bow out while still at the top of his game. The incomparable Portuguese forward amassed 290 goals in 409 La Liga matches for Real.
  
• Vitor Pereira's Barcelona were nigh on unbeatable in La Liga, which they won by 17 points. Barca scored 79 league goals, 25 of which came from Nando Ribas. They also conceded only 18 goals all season - to put that into context, their Chilean goalkeeper Bryan Calderón had the same number of clean sheets!
  
• Paris Saint-Germain's ninth successive Ligue 1 victory was perhaps their most emphatic yet. PSG scored 95 points and lost just one game - at home to eventual runners-up Monaco - on the way to a record points total of 103! The rest of France might as well give up!
  
• Hibernian led the Scottish Premier League when Berg left them... but Colin Cameron's return to Easter Road made them even stronger. Hibs romped to their second league championship in four seasons, finishing 15 points clear of St Mirren and Rangers. Former champs Celtic had an inexplicably shocking season - their 7th-place finish was their worst for 56 years!
  

Cup Winners

FA Cup: Manchester City 2-1 Norwich City.

League Cup: Manchester United 4-0 Aston Villa.

Community Shield: Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal.

Football League Trophy: Oxford United 1-0 Middlesbrough.

UEFA Champions League: Arsenal 2-1 Manchester City - at Stade de France, Saint-Denis.

UEFA Europa League: Chelsea 3-2 Anji Makhachkala (aet) - at Turk Telekom Arena, Istanbul.

UEFA Super Cup: Empoli 2-1 Barcelona - at Huseyin Avni Aker, Trabzon.

FIFA Club World Championship: Barcelona 3-2 Corinthians (aet) - at Rose Bowl, Pasadena.

Major European Leagues

Dutch Eredivisie: FC Utrecht (1st), PSV (2nd), Ajax (3rd).

French Ligue 1: Paris Saint-Germain (1st), Monaco (2nd), Lyon (3rd).

German Bundesliga: Bayern Munich (1st), Eintracht Frankfurt (2nd), Borussia Moenchengladbach (3rd).

Italian Serie A: Juventus (1st), Empoli (2nd), Roma (3rd).

Portuguese Primeira Liga: Porto (1st), Sporting CP (2nd), Braga (3rd).

Russian Premier League: Anji Makhachkala (1st), FC Krasnodar (2nd), CSKA Moscow (3rd).

Scottish Premier League: Hibernian (1st), St Mirren (2nd), Rangers (3rd).

Spanish La Liga: Barcelona (1st), Real Madrid (2nd), Valencia (3rd).

Award Winners

PFA Player of the Year: Marko Skopljanac (Southampton).

PFA Young Player of the Year: Alison Brito Neves (Chelsea).

FWA Footballer of the Year: Kingsley Aremu (Arsenal).

Premier League Manager of the Season: Roberto Donadoni (Arsenal).

PFA Premier League Team of the Year: David De Gea (Manchester United), Kamohelo Mokotjo (Tottenham Hotspur), Grigoris Stasinopoulos (Manchester City), Dedé (Manchester United), David Alaba (Manchester United), Kingsley Aremu (Arsenal), Marco Verratti (Arsenal), Nicusor Stanciu (Manchester City), Marko Skopljanac (Southampton), Neymar (Manchester United), Uros Zinic (Tottenham Hotspur).

FIFA Ballon d'Or: Lionel Messi (Barcelona).

World Soccer World Player of the Year: Lionel Messi (Barcelona).

European Golden Shoe: Uros Zinic (Tottenham Hotspur).

UEFA Best Player in Europe: Nando Ribas (Barcelona).

FIFA/FIFPro World XI: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Nelson Parra (Paris Saint-Germain), Dedé (Manchester United), Kurt Zouma (Barcelona), Samuel Umtiti (Real Madrid), Arturo Vidal (Tottenham Hotspur), Marco Verratti (Arsenal), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Nicusor Stanciu (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Paris Saint-Germain).

[CFuller]

Before I resume the story, I would like to thank everyone who nominated and/or voted for "Welcome To Romford" and "Another Night In Istanbul" in the 2015 FMS Awards.

I am incredibly honoured and humbled that "Istanbul" won two awards (Short Story of the Year co-winner, and Best International Management Story of the Year), and also that both my stories were FMS Story of the Year finalists.

Although it's true that the main priority as a writer is to write for yourself, it is always very motivating when you receive praise from others that admire your work. Your support has really helped me to keep playing and writing, even through some difficult times over the past year or so.

I have now published the first nine seasons of my FM13 story, and the next five have already been written. Indeed, I played the final match of the 14th season of my save last night. I won't say whether I was still managing Romford or not, because that'd be spoiling things...

Anyway, I'd best get cracking. The tenth - and possibly final - season of "Welcome To Romford" starts here.

Christopher Fuller (CFuller)

17 August 2015

[CFuller]

JULY 2021

At the end of our first Conference South season, back in 2016/2017, Romford finished nine points adrift of the top five. Four seasons later, we finished... nine points adrift of the top five. That wasn't particularly promising for a team who had reached successive Play-Off Semi Finals in the previous two campaigns.

 

This season, though, I was confident that we really could do something special. Based on the squad I had at the start of pre-season, I reckoned that we had the makings of a solid defence, plenty of options in midfield, and some substantial firepower. With a few more quality signings, we would certainly have the capabilities to reverse our decline and - at the very least - jump back into the play-off spots.

 

After the players' first week back, I had a meeting with Boro chairman Leo Jones, who wanted to discuss a few things with me.

 

Firstly, he announced the end of a year-long 'special partnership' with League Two side Bristol Rovers. In all honesty, I didn't know that we even had a partnership with the Pirates. They certainly didn't loan us any players last season!

 

The next topic was rather worrying. Mr Jones, who is set to celebrate his 65th birthday next year, told me that he had been thinking long and hard about retirement. He decided that he would step down as chairman as soon as he could find a new owner capable of leading this club onwards and upwards.

 

Mr Jones has been the Romford chairman - and my boss - for seven years. Over that time, he must have put something like £500,000 of his own money into the club. He has been nothing if not a wonderful chairman for us.

 

While I pondered life without Mr Jones in charge, I added another player to our squad. 20-year-old French right-winger Bernard Brun - formerly of Welling United - joined us on an initial month-long trial.

 

Our opening friendly of the season was a bit earlier than usual, on 7 July. It was the first ever meeting between us and Milton Keynes Dons.

 

The Dons had agreed to visit Ship Lane as part of a deal that saw us sell Serge Gnabry to them for £18,000 last year. Serge's first season with his new team was not a roaring success. MK Dons were relegated straight back to the Conference Premier, and Gnabry was named by one online publication as the WORST signing in League Two!

 

7 July 2021: Romford vs Milton Keynes Dons

Unsurprisingly for a match so early in pre-season, neither team really got up to speed in the first half. Less surprisingly, MK Dons had slightly better chances than us. Sean Anderson was denied by Moses Millen's parry at the near post in the 7th minute, while Tom Brooks went close in the 18th. Two minutes later, Boro skipper Duncan Greenwood - who had been booked just moments before - forced Dons goalie Simon Locke into a simple save. Millen made an even better one in the 40th minute, tipping our former winger Serge Gnabry's volley over the bar. MK had earlier lost former Wales Under-21s winger Brooks to injury, and they would lose another player in added-on time. The Dons' left-back and captain Christian Gough was forced off with a bruised shin just before the break.

 

Following a dire first half, MK Dons sparked into life just eight minutes into the second period. They went on the counter-attack after a poor Romford corner, and substitute winger Mike Hurst beat our full-back Efe Festus to Damian Doolan's long clearance. Hurst dribbled up the left flank and cut inside before crossing to Keke Holyoak, whose looping header put the Dons into a 1-0 lead. Moments later, I brought on a couple of substitutes, including debutant Tim Crossley, who didn't take long to make his mark. In the 59th minute, Tim's corner was headed home by Kieron Gray for the Boro equaliser. Crossley and Gray threatened to recreate that goal three minutes later, but Kieron nodded just over. Gray would later make a number of key interceptions at the other end to thwart MK, though Hurst twice came very close to restoring the visitors' advantage. Dagenham-born Hurst hit the post on 75 minutes, and in injury time, he hit a long-ranger that was well caught by our replacement keeper Jason Byrne. The new boy's save secured us a draw in a close encounter that was low on quality.

 

Romford - 1 (Gray 59)

Milton Keynes Dons - 1 (Holyoak 53)

Friendly, Attendance 495

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen (Byrne), Festus (Goulding), Gray (Carr), Connolly (Reid), Holt (Rafferty), Tankovic (Formaston), Briggs (Whitbread), Wiltshire (Crossley), Appleyard (Crook), Greenwood (Brun), Morath-Gibbs (Asante). BOOKED: Greenwood, Goulding.

 

I made another new signing - or, rather, an old new signing - in time for our next friendly. Warren Cooke had a short loan spell with us at the back end of last season, and I was so impressed by his attitude that I asked Farnborough if we could have him again. They agreed, so Warren will be with us for the whole of this upcoming campaign!

 

Cooke's 'second debut' as a Romford player would be at home to another Conference Premier team - Boreham Wood. Their manager Ian Allinson, who has been in charge since 2008, was starting his final season at the helm before retirement.

 

10 July 2021: Romford vs Boreham Wood

Like in the Milton Keynes Dons game, both sides struggled to get their early shots on target. We also found it difficult to control our tackling, as Ollie Whitbread and Kieron Gray both picked up bookings inside the opening 11 minutes. Boreham Wood captain Chez Isaac struck a weak long-range strike after 13 minutes, while Muamer Tankovic missed from a similar distance for us four minutes later. We had a couple more opportunities in the 27th minute. Seidu Asante ran at the Wood defence and had his shot blocked by full-back Shay Mullan before Tankovic miscued the rebound. We would eventually get a shot on target after launching a strong counter-attack on 37 minutes. Whitbread fed the ball first-time to Kendall Appleyard, who sharply turned past right-back Charlie Holt and buried his shot at the far post. That gave us a 1-0 lead that would nearly be strangled in its infancy. Three minutes later, Tim Crossley made me cross with a horrible clearance that Isaac headed to Cameron Lancaster in the Boro area, but Jason Byrne spared Tim's blushes with a vital save.

 

Kendall came close to getting his and our second goal in the 48th minute, while Seidu was denied by Wood keeper Greg Keeling two minutes after. Boreham Wood were on top for the next ten minutes, as they won several corners but couldn't quite make the most of them. Afterwards, we largely restricted the visitors to long-distance shots that our defenders blocked superbly. Isaac was perhaps the biggest threat to our lead. He curled a shot wide from inside the box on 83 minutes, and early in added-on time, he swung in a dangerous corner that Meshach Venables volleyed off target. Boreham Wood dominated possession in this game, but the fact they only managed one shot on target said it all. Although we ourselves only got two, one of them did find the net, and that gave us a narrow victory.

 

Romford - 1 (Appleyard 37)

Boreham Wood - 0

Friendly, Attendance 168

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Byrne (Millen), Gray (Connolly), Goulding (Festus), Reid (Carr), Crossley (Cooke), Brun (Fitzpatrick), Briggs (Wiltshire), Whitbread (Wood), Appleyard (Holt), Tankovic (Greenwood), Asante (Stuart). BOOKED: Whitbread, Gray.

 

We weren't playing pretty football by any means, but we came through unbeaten in our first two friendlies against stronger opponents. However, we would soon have to come to terms with the loss of a midfielder.

[fabioke]

Before I resume the story, I would like to thank everyone who nominated and/or voted for "Welcome To Romford" and "Another Night In Istanbul" in the 2015 FMS Awards.

I am incredibly honoured and humbled that "Istanbul" won two awards (Short Story of the Year co-winner, and Best International Management Story of the Year), and also that both my stories were FMS Story of the Year finalists.

Although it's true that the main priority as a writer is to write for yourself, it is always very motivating when you receive praise from others that admire your work. Your support has really helped me to keep playing and writing, even through some difficult times over the past year or so.

I have now published the first nine seasons of my FM13 story, and the next five have already been written. Indeed, I played the final match of the 14th season of my save last night. I won't say whether I was still managing Romford or not, because that'd be spoiling things...

Anyway, I'd best get cracking. The tenth - and possibly final - season of "Welcome To Romford" starts here.

Christopher Fuller (CFuller)

17 August 2015

Having read everything in one go(don't tell my GF!), I can only say that I admire your passion!

[CFuller]

Having read everything in one go(don't tell my GF!), I can only say that I admire your passion!

Thanks. You must have had plenty of time on your hands if you read it all in one sitting! (Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. )

[CFuller]

JULY 2021 (continued)

Kieran Goulding was offered contracts by four Conference Premier clubs, but he turned them all down to stay with us. Brett Reid also rejected an opportunity to move elsewhere - he signed a 12-month part-time contract to end interest from Ashford Town (Middlesex).

 

Another Boro boy high in demand was our defensive midfielder Niall Wiltshire. He received a shedload of contract offers, and chose in the end to sign for Isthmian League Premier Division new boys Burgess Hill Town. After just twelve months with us, Wiltshire was swapping Essex for Sussex.

 

Meanwhile, versatile defender Leon Wood started a trial with us just a couple of days before his 20th birthday. Leon spent last season at Ashford Town - the same club who tried to sign Reid as his replacement.

 

Our next outing was at Carshalton Athletic, who had fallen on hard times in recent years. Carshalton were relegated to the Isthmian South in 2018, and they remain there to this day.

 

13 July 2021: Carshalton Athletic vs Romford

We made a sloppy start defensively and were punished after just five minutes. Ali Fuseini's long drive ricocheted off Boro centre-back Chad Carr and fell towards Aaron Sephton, whose unstoppable volley got the Robins up and running. That could have been disastrous, but we recovered quickly, drawing back level in the 16th minute. Tim Crossley's fine centre was tucked in from close-range by Garry Morath-Gibbs, and it was one-all. Carshalton sought to quickly retake the lead through Sephton, who headed wide a minute after play resumed. We put Athletic back under pressure on 25 minutes, as their defenders had to clear a couple of dangerous balls from Zak Fitzpatrick and Crossley. By the 32nd minute, we were in control of the game. Left midfielder Kevin Holt cheekily floated a cross over the head of Carshalton's 17-year-old goalkeeper Garry Dean, and found the back of the net! Kevin's first ever goal in a Romford shirt gave us a 2-1 lead heading into the second period.

 

Half-time substitute Muamer Tankovic set up a 47th-minute chance for Morath-Gibbs, who missed by a narrow margin. Three minutes later, Robins right-back Osa Obamwonyi's clearance was intercepted by Warren Cooke, who then laid on a simple finish for Tankovic. Despite Carshalton's claims for offside, Mujo - like Kevin in the first half - celebrated his first Boro goal. We now led 3-1 and were firmly in the ascendancy. Our Swedish forward had another go in the 58th minute, forcing Dean into a difficult save. While Dean was struggling, Romford keeper Moses Millen was seldom troubled by the Robins in the second half. He only needed to make a handful of routine stops from Sephton after 52 minutes, and then Sean Battersby after 62. We would eventually win this game 3-1, though Tankovic could've given us a fourth goal with an injury-time free-kick that just clipped the crossbar.

 

Carshalton Athletic - 1 (Sephton 5)

Romford - 3 (Morath-Gibbs 16, Holt 32, Tankovic 50)

Friendly, Attendance 113

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Byrne (Millen), Goulding (Festus), Carr (L Wood), Connolly (Gray), Rafferty (Reid), Fitzpatrick (Brun), Crossley (Whitbread), Cooke (Briggs), Holt (Appleyard), Greenwood (Tankovic), Morath-Gibbs (Formaston).

 

Next, we travelled to Forest Gate in Newham for a meeting with Essex Senior League minnows London Bari. Another defender joined us on trial in time for this match, as Greek centre-back Zacharias Kousouris hoped to earn a deal following his exit from Dagenham & Redbridge.

 

17 July 2021: London Bari vs Romford

It was clear from the very start that we would dominate this game. Tim Crossley curled the ball into London Bari's net after just 69 seconds, but his goal was ruled out as Seidu Asante had impeded goalkeeper Matt Hinshelwood. We next found the target in the 7th minute, and this time, Ollie Whitbread's goal did count. Bernard Brun played an excellent through-ball to Ollie, who slipped it past the diving Hinshelwood. Following our opener, London Bari began to show that they wouldn't roll over easily. They went close to equalising in the 12th minute through Brook Wettner, who missed another opportunity in the 23rd. On 25 minutes, Crossley hit a fantastic long ball towards Asante, and Hinshelwood had to punch it away from our rising starlet. Seidu had just signed his first senior contract after turning 17 earlier in the week, and he would soon get a belated birthday present. After half an hour, Seidu headed Kendall Appleyard's free-kick home for 2-0. By the 43rd minute, we were 3-0 ahead. Crossley, who had narrowly missed a 30-yard attempt four minutes earlier, set up a fine finish for French winger Bernard Brun. We would be in an even more comfortable position a minute later, when Asante's second goal put us four clear! Bari complained that Seidu may have been offside, and also that their midfielder Ryan Desormeaux was fouled by Warren Cooke in the build-up. Nevertheless, the goal stood, and Desormeaux was forced off injured before half-time.

 

Asante was denied a hat-trick in the 48th minute, when Hinshelwood caught his diving header just before it could cross the goal line. Three minutes later, a cross from London Bari winger Saul Davis clipped our crossbar. Bari later replaced their struggling keeper Hinshelwood with Romone Thompson, who in the 58th minute made a fine parry to keep Seidu waiting for his third goal. Another Bari sub, Khalid Idris Al-Mahi, forced Moses Millen into a catch two minutes later. The match then went into a lull until Daniel Formaston had three chances in as many minutes to give us a 5-0 lead. The first, in the 80th minute, struck the hosts' crossbar, and the second failed to threaten. The third would be much more successful. 16-year-old winger Brandon Crook lobbed the ball through to Formaston, who slotted past the rushing Thompson. With eight minutes to go, it was 5-0, and that was how the rout ended.

 

London Bari - 0

Romford - 5 (Whitbread 7, Asante 30,44, Brun 43, Formaston 82)

Friendly, Attendance 39

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen (Byrne), Festus (L Wood), Carr (Kousouris), Reid (Connolly), Rafferty (Holt), Crossley (Briggs), Whitbread (Morath-Gibbs), Cooke (Lord), Brun (Fitzpatrick), Appleyard (Crook), Asante (Formaston).

 

Our early pre-season form was encouraging, which was more than could be said of our promotion odds from one bookmaker. They priced us at a very long 40-1 to go up! (For the record, Barnet were slight favourites at 3-1, with the relegated trio of Bromley, Dover and Oxford City not far behind.)

 

I learnt a long time ago not to take the bookies' words as gospel, but I always like to prove them wrong.

[CFuller]

JULY 2021 (continued)

After two good away wins, we faced a tricky home game against Stevenage, who finished 11th in League Two last season under the management of Darius Vassell.

 

20 July 2021: Romford vs Stevenage

Stevenage were very positive at the start, and they found the back of our net after 11 minutes. Darrell Clitheroe's flick-on was tipped into the net by Boro keeper Moses Millen, but not before Paddy Nolan barged into our goalie. The goal was disallowed, and Irish striker Nolan would be booked two minutes later for another ugly foul on Kieron Gray. At the Stevenage end, we struggled to create scoring opportunities against the League Two side. Kendall Appleyard saw his shot blocked by centre-half Brad Burke on 25 minutes, and aside from a few corners, we didn't trouble our opponents again in the first half. At half-time, another tepid friendly was waiting to ignite.

 

Jason Byrne replaced Millen during the break, and he pushed away a Clitheroe strike seven minutes into his game. Clitheroe had another chance in the 61st minute, when the former Peterborough United forward headed Lee Hills' long throw over the bar. Clitheroe was soon replaced by Scottish frontman Brian Taggart as both teams adopted more attacking strategies. After 69 minutes, Mark Briggs gave away a free-kick to Stevenage in a decent position. Daniel Kearns' delivery was poorly dealt with by Romford right-winger Zak Fitzpatrick, and Danny Hylton picked up the header. Hylton then played the ball through our defence to Taggart, who tapped in a soft goal for Stevenage. Faced with our first defeat of pre-season, we went even more attacking to try and snatch an equaliser. Garry Morath-Gibbs pulled a disappointing shot past the post on 73 minutes, and he headed into the hands of Stevenage's Australian keeper Mark Birighitti a minute later. Garry's replacement Seidu Asante also showed a lack of incisiveness with a poor effort in the 77th minute. Within the next six minutes, Byrne made a couple of saves to stop Kearns from putting the match beyond our reach. Jason's efforts were in vain, as after 84 minutes, Taggart squared the ball for Burke to make it 2-0. A second-half slump, and Stevenage's greater quality, had brought an end to our unbeaten run.

 

Romford - 0

Stevenage - 2 (Taggart 69, Burke 84)

Friendly, Attendance 224

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen (Byrne), Goulding (Festus), Gray (L Wood), Reid (Kousouris), Briggs (Rafferty), Brun (Fitzpatrick), Connolly (Whitbread), Cooke (Crossley), Appleyard (Holt), Tankovic (Greenwood), Morath-Gibbs (Asante). BOOKED: Holt.

 

After the game, Bernard Brun committed himself to Romford by signing a two-year contract for £300 a week. Bernie had been impressive while on trial, and I could see the Frenchman being a big hit with the Boro fans.

 

We went to the south coast - Brighton, to be precise - for our next friendly four days later. Whitehawk were a mid-table Isthmian League Premier Division team who had former Romford players George Allen and Cillian Thompson in their ranks.

 

24 July 2021: Whitehawk vs Romford

Cillian Thompson gave us a gift after almost exactly ten minutes in the form of a wayward pass that Duncan Greenwood gladly took. We were still in possession about half a minute later, when Duncan's deft backheel was floated first-time into the net by Ollie Whitbread! One might have expected us to run riot after taking a 1-0 lead... but it didn't quite pan out like that. Mitch Brundle came within inches of levelling for Whitehawk in the 19th minute, and the same player forced Jason Byrne to turn the ball behind moments later. After 34 minutes, Whitbread's attempt to chip Hawks goalkeeper Dale Newton went awry. Darren Jefferies then tried to do something similar for Whitehawk from the touchline, but Jason read the situation well and tipped his cross-shot over. We survived that major scare to retain a 1-0 lead at half-time.

 

Bernard Brun was one of my half-time substitutes, but two minutes into the second period, he somehow managed to get whiplash while crossing the ball! Brun carried on, though his neck injury stopped him from being particularly effective. Three minutes later, Hawks striker Nathan Blissett miscued a horrible header that would not have impressed uncle Luther. Indeed, nobody would have been impressed with the standard of play in this second half. Aaron Gough's dreadful strike for Whitehawk in the 80th minute, which bypassed the far post, summarised the few shots either team could muster. We could have punished George Allen for a poor clearance after 87 minutes, but Garry Morath-Gibbs hit the post and we would only win by a single goal. This was not a victory to remember.

 

Whitehawk - 0

Romford - 1 (Whitbread 11)

Friendly, Attendance 58

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Byrne (Millen), Kousouris (Reid), Festus (Flitter), L Wood (Gray), Goulding (Brun), Crossley (Connolly), Rafferty (Holt), Cooke (B Wood), Whitbread (Briggs), Greenwood (Tankovic), Formaston (Morath-Gibbs). BOOKED: Goulding, Holt.

 

Both of our trialist defenders left the club following our win in East Sussex. Zacharias Kousouris' trial was cut short by a thigh injury, and Leon Wood signed a deal with Chalfont St Peter of the Southern League Premier Division.

 

By contrast, Kieran Goulding was not going anywhere. The right-back turned down a fifth Conference Premier club - Rio Ferdinand's Cambridge United - and once again made it clear that he wasn't leaving Romford.

 

The final team to visit us at Ship Lane this pre-season would cause a stir - and plenty of excitement in and around Romford. They were former Premier League masochists Crystal Palace, who had been stuck in League One since 2016.

 

27 July 2021: Romford vs Crystal Palace

Over 1,500 spectators flocked to Ship Lane, and at first, it looked like they were about to witness an exhibition from Crystal Palace. In just the second minute, Palace striker Brewster Bailey saw his shot saved by Boro keeper Moses Millen and cleared behind by full-back Efe Festus. The Eagles had an even better opportunity to open the scoring after seven minutes. Millen could only parry Iain Partner's shot to Bailey, whose follow-up drifted narrowly past the post. In the 15th minute, Northern Irish midfielder Philip Lowry also went close with a drive from just outside the area. Palace were attacking with all their might, but our defence was more than up to the job. Moses caught a 25th-minute header from Bailey, and moments later, Kieron Gray made an impeccable challenge on the on-loan Chelsea forward. 16-year-old midfielder Sam Lord also caught the eye with some fine passing until a tackle from Lowry brought his game to an end after 29 minutes. Losing Sam didn't affect us too badly, and when Gray intercepted a pass from Palace midfielder Andy Parker in the 38th minute, we got our first sniff at a counter-attack. We passed short and quick up the field until Zak Fitzpatrick drilled the ball across the Eagles' goalmouth, and Muamer Tankovic flicked it into the net! Romford 1 Crystal Palace 0! Fancy that! A dream scoreline almost became more fantastical after 41 minutes, when Brett Reid headed Tim Crossley's corner inches over the crossbar.

 

Tankovic looked to get another goal four minutes into the second half, but he shot from too far out to worry Crystal Palace goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi. After 60 minutes, Kevin Holt really frightened the Hungarian shotstopper with a free-kick taken from just inside Eagles territory. Kevin's audacious lob was pushed behind by Gulácsi for a Romford corner that Crossley pretty much bungled up. Two minutes later, Tim tried to pick out Tankovic with a long ball towards the centre circle, but Abdul Latif Asante got in the Tank's way. Palace's right-back found Hogan Ephraim on the cusp of our area, and the experienced winger cut inside before restoring parity. The dream scenario of a 1-0 lead against Crystal Palace was history, and at 1-1, the Eagles were all set to stamp their class on the game. Gray wouldn't make it easy for them, as he defended stoically before coming off with a quarter of an hour to play. We continued to hold firm without Kieron, restricting Palace to a solitary shot that Ephraim drilled into the hoardings after 82 minutes. When the final whistle blew, we had still conceded only one goal. We pulled off an incredible result - a 1-1 draw against opponents from three divisions above us!

 

Romford - 1 (Tankovic 38)

Crystal Palace - 1 (Ephraim 62)

Friendly, Attendance 1,631

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus (Goulding), Gray (Carr), Reid (Flitter), Holt (Rafferty), Connolly (Cooke), Lord (Crossley), Briggs (Whitbread), Fitzpatrick (Greenwood), Tankovic (Appleyard), Morath-Gibbs (Asante).

 

With just one friendly left to play, our preparations for the upcoming campaign were going rather smoothly. I didn't have any worries about our defence, although our attacking movement left some room for, er, improvement.

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2021

We like stability here at Romford, and I am no different. Duncan Greenwood retained the captaincy for yet another season, while Kevin Holt remained vice-captain.

 

Two other key Boro players maintained the status quo here by extending their contracts. Kieron Gray and Garry Morath-Gibbs will both be pulling on the blue and yellow jerseys until at least the end of the 2022/2023 season.

 

However, there was much less stability in the boardroom, where chairman Leo Jones was still trying to find a buyer. I was still none the wiser about our financial future when we played our last pre-season friendly at Ilford. The Foxes returned to Isthmian League Division 1 North last season, finishing 19th.

 

1 August 2021: Ilford vs Romford

Way back in 2016, Sol Jackson scored a hat-trick against us while playing for Brentwood Town. Five-and-a-half years later, Jackson faced us again with his new club Ilford - and he came close to scoring after just three minutes. His strike partner Adeoye Yusuff also threatened us early on. Yusuff rode past Aaron Connolly's challenge in the fifth minute, but the waiter struck poorly and kept Ilford waiting for their first goal. Jackson's game would be ended by injury after just 12 minutes. He suffered a thigh injury in a tackle from Sam Lord just moments after Duncan Greenwood hit the bar with our first decent scoring opportunity. Duncan would have several more over the course of the first half. He narrowly missed from close range in the 22nd minute, and stung Foxes keeper Neill Wilkinson's palms in the 31st. We were asserting ourselves over Ilford by that stage, and it was only a matter of time before Big Dunc helped us to open the scoring. After 39 minutes, Greenwood spotted Daniel Formaston in acres of space, and Danny pounced to finally get us off the mark.

 

Deon Meikle could've reduced our 1-0 lead to dust just two-and-a-bit minutes into the second period. Fortunately, Romford keeper Jason Byrne tipped Meikle's attempt over before it could swerve into the top corner of his goal. After that, we were so dominant that it was almost embarrassing. Ollie Whitbread nodded Greenwood's free-kick wide on 51 minutes, while Garry Morath-Gibbs went closer with a header of his own four minutes later. Our one-goal lead would eventually be doubled after 62 minutes, when GMG beat Ilford defender Joel MacKenzie to Greenwood's cross and fired it in. Garry gave MacKenzie another nightmare nine minutes after that. The Boro striker chased a loose ball in Ilford's penalty area, and then rolled over after what looked like a soft challenge from MacKenzie. We cried penalty, Ilford cried play-acting, and the referee's decision went in our favour. Greenwood converted the spot-kick to hand us a 3-0 advantage after 72 minutes. Ilford tried to hit back as soon as play restarted, but Keith Taylor's shot was child's play for our youth goalkeeper Thomas Cooper. The Foxes finished with just four shots at goal in the entire match, while we ended up with the same number of goals. Our fourth and final strike was a 90th-minute special from Seidu Asante, who chipped Ilford's first-choice goalie Toby Cook from 30 yards out!

 

Ilford - 0

Romford - 4 (Formaston 39, Morath-Gibbs 62, Greenwood pen72, Asante 90)

Friendly, Attendance 64

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Byrne (Cooper), Carr (Gray), Flitter (Goulding), Connolly (Festus), Fitzpatrick (Brun), Holt (Cooke), Lord (Crossley), Whitbread (Briggs), Crook (Rafferty), Greenwood (Asante (Standen)), Formaston (Morath-Gibbs).

 

All in all, I considered this pre-season campaign to be a success. From eight matches, we racked up five wins, two draws, and only one loss. While our strikers didn't find the back of the net as regularly as they did this time last year, I doubt that they'll have too many problems in the Conference South.

 

One more week of training followed before we got to the nitty-gritty of league football. By then, though, the identity of our next chairman was still as clear as mud.

 

It wasn't until I bought a copy of the Romford Recorder on Friday morning that I got an idea of who the new chairman might be.

 

Apparently, a London-based businessman by the name of Nick Bristow was planning to buy the club off Leo Jones for around £90,000. He stated that he was willing to invest time and money to get Romford into the Football League. If the Recorder article suggested anything, it was that he would be a great choice to succeed Mr Jones.

 

When I 'Binged' his name online later that day, doubts started to creep into my mind. Firstly, I learned that Bristow wasn't from Romford, nor did he have any links with the town. He was actually born in West Sussex. About five years ago, he tried - and failed - to buy his local club Burgess Hill Town.

 

Secondly, while Mr Jones is a proper Essex geezer with a no-nonsense, old-school attitude to business, Bristow came across as a middle-class twerp who eats corporate jargon for breakfast.

 

I then thought, "Gosh! If Nick Bristow IS the new owner, I'd better not say that to his face!"

[CFuller]

Romford squad - Start of 2021/2022 season

(All ages correct as of 1 August 2021)

GOALKEEPERS

Jason Byrne (age 24, English)

With his aerial ability, Jason can be a very solid backup keeper if he improves his decision-making.

Thomas Cooper (age 17, English)

Thomas is no mug, but he needs a good season for the Under-18s if he is to have a future here.

Moses Millen (age 20, English)

Now our clear first-choice keeper, Moses has become more commanding as he has developed.

DEFENDERS

Chad Carr (age 17, English)

Chad surprised me in pre-season, and I hope the left-footed centre-half can keep on improving.

Aaron Connolly (age 23, English)

Aaron is a tactically astute covering defender whose form tends to come in peaks and troughs.

Efe Festus (age 22, Nigerian)

Right-back Efe is a fine athlete, though he can be too greedy for his own good at times.

Garry Flitter (age 15, English)

Unfortunately-named sweeper Garry is a promising kid who I hope to develop into a centre-back.

Kieran Goulding (age 19, English)

I hope that speedy full-back Kieran can kick on this term after a tough first campaign here.

Kieron Gray (age 23, English)

Our most resolute defender, Kieron's only real weaknesses are his speed and decision-making.

Kevin Holt (age 28, Scottish)

Left-back Kevin didn't play great last season, but I still have faith in my hard-working vice-captain.

Danny Rafferty (age 18, English)

Danny is determined to re-establish himself in the side after recovering from an Achilles injury.

Brett Reid (age 20, English)

Aggressive centre-half Brett's form since the New Year has been nothing short of outstanding.

MIDFIELDERS

Kendall Appleyard (age 24, English)

I'd like to see Kendall create more chances from the left wing in his first full season with us.

Mark Briggs (age 21, English)

Pint-sized tyro Mark plays best as a box-to-box midfielder and always gives 100% on the pitch.

Bernard Brun (age 20, French)

Hopefully we'll see the talent that once got winger Bernard into Tottenham Hotspur's youth academy.

Warren Cooke (age 21, English)

Mancunian midfield destroyer Warren is on loan from Farnborough for a second time.

Brandon Crook (age 16, English)

Brandon's got good physical attributes, but the left-winger still needs to improve technically.

Tim Crossley (age 21, English)

Tim looks like a very composed young defensive midfielder, even though he's not particularly brave.

Zak Fitzpatrick (age 18, English)

The next couple of years will decide whether Zak will ever make it as a Romford regular.

Matt Francis (age 16, English)

Matt can go on to be a ball-winning midfielder - but only if he really strengthens up.

Sam Lord (age 16, English)

Young and aggressive midfielder Sam is decent when it comes to free-kicks and long-range shots.

Ollie Whitbread (age 19, English)

As an attacking playmaker, Ollie must improve on last season's tally of 5 goals and 5 assists.

Bentley Wood (age 17, English)

Bentley certainly has strong technique, but he hasn't yet played a good game for the senior team.

FORWARDS

Seidu Asante (age 17, English)

Seidu's our big hope - if he combines his pace with better finishing, he'll be really prolific.

Daniel Formaston (age 18, English)

Daniel is an unpredictable young striker who scored six times in just 14 matches last season.

Duncan Greenwood (age 25, English)

Giant skipper Duncan will probably approach the peak of his powers in his seventh Boro season.

Michael Montgomery (age 16, English)

Michael is not the quickest of our youth forwards, but he could make a decent target man.

Garry Morath-Gibbs (age 20, English)

Garry scored 42 times in his last two seasons and will hope to use his pace to great effect again.

Johnnie Standen (age 16, English)

Johnnie's a big and brave young man who'll want to make his mark in the Under-18s.

Dean Stuart (age 17, English)

Injury-prone Dean's development took a big hit last season when he tore his hamstring - twice.

Muamer Tankovic (age 26, Swedish)

Multi-talented Muamer has joined us after injury wrecked a promising professional career.

 

BACKROOM STAFF

Manager: Christopher Fuller

Assistant Manager: Wayne Daniel

Coaches: Simon Glover, Dominic Shimmin, Sammy Winston

Head of Youth Development: Ricki Mackin

Physio: Gary Ling

Scout: Nicky Reynolds

[tenthreeleader]

Could be worse. Romford could be bought by the Glazers.

[CFuller]

Could be worse. Romford could be bought by the Glazers.

Or the Oystons. (shudder)

[CFuller]

AUGUST 2021 (continued)

Incredibly, for the third year in succession, I came face to face with Kevin Nolan on the opening day of the Conference South season. Nolan took his Woking side to Ship Lane for what was likely to be a tough encounter.

 

7 August 2021: Romford vs Woking

We were marginally the better team in a dire opening quarter-hour. Tim Crossley had a shot blocked in the 6th minute, and his fellow midfielder Warren Cooke hit an unclean volley in the 14th. Woking's first chance came after 20 minutes, when defender Dean Winnard pulled a shot wide after we failed to clear Kyel Reid's corner. After that, we started to give away silly fouls, and Efe Festus and Kieron Gray were both booked before the half-hour point. On 31 minutes, just moments after Kieron's booking, Woking centre-back Mickey Demetriou gifted us an opportunity to snatch the lead. Demetriou's tackle on Kendall Appleyard knocked the ball goalwards, and Duncan Greenwood should've tucked it away... but he put it past the post! That would be a key moment, because a minute later, Reid made a move towards our goal. Efe stood off the experienced winger, which was a mistake, because Reid smashed a stunning low strike bang into the corner! What could've been a 1-0 lead for Romford was now 1-0 in favour of the visitors! We should have levelled in the 37th minute, but Kendall's effort was kept out by Cards goalie Daniel Lloyd-Weston. A third Boro player - left-back Kevin Holt - would be booked near the end of a frustrating half.

 

A half-time tactical switch from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 didn't exactly turn things in our favour. Indeed, Woking had a chance to move further in front after just two second-half minutes. Former Manchester City right flanker Javan Vidal found Danny Gardner, who couldn't quite find the target. We continued to struggle thereafter, and Muamer Tankovic was subbed midway through the period following an ineffective debut. In the 68th minute, Crossley swung in an excellent corner to Greenwood, who headed it over the bar. Two minutes later, Moses Millen pulled off a fine save to stop Cards midfielder Francis Davis from embarrassing us further. Nothing seemed to be going our way until the 80th minute, when Lloyd-Weston's clearance was intercepted by substitute Bernard Brun. Bernie played the ball through to Big Dunc, whose bid to make it third time lucky was thwarted by a great recovery save from Woking's goalkeeper. Following an 87th-minute altercation with Woking captain Philippe Chevalier, a poor day for Duncan ended with a yellow card to the Boro skipper's name. We finished without a goal to ours, thanks to Lloyd-Weston's injury-time save from Garry Morath-Gibbs. Losing to a side who only finished 11th last season was not a great way to kick off this campaign.

 

Romford - 0

Woking - 1 (Reid 32)

Conference South, Attendance 551 - POSITIONS: Romford 18th, Woking 11th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus, Gray (Connolly), Reid, Holt, Crossley, Cooke, Whitbread (Morath-Gibbs), Tankovic (Brun), Appleyard, Greenwood. BOOKED: Festus, Gray, Holt, Greenwood.

 

I met with Leo Jones the following day to ask about the reported takeover from Nick Bristow. Mr Jones revealed that the rumours were true and an offer had been made... but Bristow had withdrawn it. After watching us lose to Woking, he felt that we were a "steaming pile of excrement", or words to that effect, who didn't deserve his money.

 

Truth be told, I wasn't exactly devastated. He obviously didn't give a "steaming pile of excrement" about us.

 

We looked to bounce back from our early home loss when we faced Barnet at The Hive. The Isthmian Premier champions were still the bookies' favourites to go up for a second straight season, even after losing their opening game to fellow promoted side Tiverton Town.

 

10 August 2021: Barnet vs Romford

Garry Morath-Gibbs gave Duncan Greenwood an opportunity to put us into the lead after just seven minutes, but Duncan scuffed it wide. Two minutes later, we found ourselves under severe pressure from Barnet until Graeme Logan's cross was volleyed clear by Aaron Connolly. Logan was at the heart of that Bees attack, and in the 12th minute, the Scottish teenager ran onto a superb through-ball from Barnet captain Mick Marsden. Logan looked to chip the ball over Moses Millen, but he got it all wrong and missed. Our next chance to score came in the 22nd minute, when Greenwood's long-range drive was caught by Barnet keeper Kristian Morton. Four minutes later, Romford defender Brett Reid was hacked down in our penalty area by Marsden. Brett sustained a dead leg and had to be replaced by Kieron Gray. Losing an in-form defender didn't hurt us too badly against the Bees - indeed, we would sting the hosts after 34 minutes! Morath-Gibbs ran onto Bernard Brun's cross to the near post, and shrugged off defender Roger Beresford's presence to give us a 1-0 lead! We might have doubled that to 2-0 had Greenwood been more clinical with a header in the 37th minute. Big Dunc was giving me reason for concern, so I replaced the captain with 17-year-old Seidu Asante at the break.

 

The hosts returned for the second half looking much more dangerous. Brun cleared Beresford's header away from our goal in the 47th minute, but we were helpless to stop the Bees from equalising a minute later. Max Lee's cross was turned over the line by a perfectly-timed slide from Liverpudlian striker Marsden. Two minutes after we lost the advantage, Asante hit a shot that never looked like reinstating it. A close match then went into a mini-lull until Barnet's Andre Bennett dragged a low strike wide in the 67th minute. The same player would go close with a fiercer attempt from 30 yards just moments later. The tide then started turning our way, as we won three corners within four minutes. With nine minutes to go, we put together a string of passes, and Morath-Gibbs crossed to Asante, who was about 25 yards from goal. Seidu tracked back, and struck a sweet drive that whistled into Morton's net! The away fans roared to life as we grabbed a 2-1 lead in stunning fashion! Barnet were shellshocked. The Bees never recovered, and they needed Morton to save from Asante in the 87th minute to avoid a bigger defeat.

 

Barnet - 1 (Marsden 48)

Romford - 2 (Morath-Gibbs 34, Asante 81)

Conference South, Attendance 1,428 - POSITIONS: Barnet 19th, Romford 12th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Goulding, Reid (Gray), Connolly, Rafferty, Brun (Fitzpatrick), Cooke, Briggs, Appleyard, Greenwood (Asante), Morath-Gibbs. BOOKED: Morath-Gibbs, Asante.

 

How do you bounce back from losing your opening match at home? By beating the favourites on their own ground, that's how!

 

We returned to Ship Lane for our next match against Maidstone United, who like us had started with an away win and a home defeat. Brett Reid was unavailable for us because of his leg injury from the previous game.

 

14 August 2021: Romford vs Maidstone United

Maidstone goalkeeper Tom Halsall made a save after only five minutes, catching Kieron Gray's header from a Muamer Tankovic corner. Halsall caught another header from Duncan Greenwood in the 9th minute, and then set the wheels in motion for a Stones counter-attack. Filip Lesniak's killer ball to Anson McBride was cut out by Gray, but Kieron's clearance took a bad deflection off his fellow Boro defender Kevin Holt. McBride punished our usually reliable centre-back's mistake by finishing the rebound, and Maidstone led 1-0 after 10 minutes. Halsall denied Greenwood a swift Romford reply in the 12th minute. Just over a minute later, the tide changed with one reckless studs-in tackle from Lesniak. The Slovak's two-footed lunge on Kendall Appleyard turned him from hero to villain, and his red card reduced Maidstone to 10 men. We looked to make our numerical advantage count by controlling possession and attacking whenever we could. Although Halsall made another save at Mark Briggs' expense on 16 minutes, his sheet would soon be dirtied. After 26 minutes, Big Dunc cushioned Appleyard's deep cross to the feet of Garry Morath-Gibbs, who powered in the equaliser! The match was now getting away from Maidstone, whose plight worsened in the 33rd minute. Kieron's firm tackle on McBride left the Stones scorer too badly hurt to play on. After a number of unsuccessful Romford attacks late in the first half, Maidstone were perhaps relieved to go into the dressing room still level.

 

Halsall was arguably the main reason why the Stones weren't getting a stoning. Three minutes into the second half, the goalkeeper made an outstanding save, turning Greenwood's free-kick around his right-hand post! Halsall then blocked a first-time strike from Romford right-back Efe Festus in the 54th minute. The ball fell to Maidstone's right-back Joe Keaney, who beat off Appleyard to knock it behind for a corner. Kendall protested for a penalty, but to no avail. The middle part of the second half would be a story of missed Romford opportunities. Greenwood spurned two in the 64th and 71st minutes, while Morath-Gibbs scuffed a sitter in between. GMG had one last chance on 76 minutes, when we launched a counter-attack after a rare Maidstone free-kick was headed clear by Bernard Brun. Ollie Whitbread did well to find Garry on the edge of the area, but the striker didn't do well enough to beat Halsall. Seconds later, Morath-Gibbs made way for Daniel Formaston. It would be an inspired substitution, as the teenager finally gave us the lead after 80 minutes. Gray's excellent long ball was cushioned by Greenwood to Formaston, who stabbed it in at the far post! We led 2-1, and Moses Millen kept us in front by saving Stones substitute Eddie Garman's close-range effort in the 83rd minute. Brun missed a gilt-edged chance to rubber-stamp victory three minutes later, but Maidstone were so poor that we didn't need to score again. Our second hard-fought victory on the trot moved us up into the top half.

 

Romford - 2 (Morath-Gibbs 26, Formaston 80)

Maidstone United - 1 (McBride 10)

Conference South, Attendance 557 - POSITIONS: Romford 10th, Maidstone 15th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Millen, Festus, Gray, Connolly, Holt, Tankovic (Brun), Cooke, Briggs (Whitbread), Appleyard, Greenwood, Morath-Gibbs (Formaston). BOOKED: Formaston.

 

Here are some statistics that underline our dominance of this match. We had 66% of possession, a pass completion rate of 85%, and Warren Cooke made 102 successful passes! Also, while Maidstone had only three shots at goal, we had 24 (10 on target). The moral of the story is that it doesn't matter how many opportunities you have to clinch a match... just as long as you do clinch it.

 

The following weekend saw us play another home game. Havant & Waterlooville, who racked up four points from their first three fixtures, were the visiting team on that occasion. We boasted an excellent record against the Hawks, who hadn't beaten us in their last eight attempts since 2017.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

I always smile if I see you've updated your story. You've done a great job of creating a thread that makes me want to root for your side!

You said this very well might be your last season at Ship Lane if you don't manage to get Romford promoted. That's another reason why I'm pulling for your lads this year. But, whether or not you're at Romford, I'll be following the story wherever it leads.

KUTGW.