Welcome to Romford

[CFuller]

loved reading this will be looking forward to the next posts.

I haved tried to get the lower leagues but cant seen to download it

thanks again for great story

You're very welcome, Crackers. It's always great to hear from new readers.

I'm playing FM13, but if you want lower leagues in FM14, have you tried the Steam Workshop? FMUpdates EEE is what I use - that takes the leagues down to Level 8. If you want to go even lower and you have a very powerful computer, FCUtdWill has created a file that can take you all the way down to Level 11.

If you are still having problems, drop me a PM.

[CFuller]

We hoped to open the New Year with our much-moved 'season-opener' away to Cray Wanderers on 2 January. Unfortunately, a combination of the good old British weather and a gruelling match three days earlier meant that the Hayes Lane pitch was still unplayable, so the game was postponed yet again hours before kick-off! This time, Cray informed us before we boarded the coach, so we didn't have to waste any petrol.

As a result of the postponement, the match was rescheduled for a FIFTH time, and pushed back to 12 January. Hopefully it would be fifth time lucky.

Before then, our year kicked off with a third consecutive home game - against mid-table Hendon. Like our last opponents Billericay Town, Hendon were in terrible form, having won just three points in their previous eight games.

Centre-back Greg Knock's trial period at Romford came to an end on the day before that game. I was keen to keep Greg permanently after four solid performances, but we failed to agree personal terms and he decided to look for another club. The man that he temporarily replaced - George Allen - returned to the Boro bench after being rested for a month due to poor form.

6 January 2015: Romford vs Hendon

After just four minutes, Boro forward Daniel Akindayini was injured in a challenge from Hendon full-back Josh Bryant. Fortunately, Danny wasn't affected too badly, and we soon settled into the game. On 19 minutes, Ashley Farrell played a one-two with Kieron Carroll and crossed to Kamal Guthmy, who ripped a fabulous half-volley into the Dons' net! Incredibly, it was the left-back's third goal in as many games! But precisely one minute and one second later, Javlon Campbell silenced Ship Lane with a fantastic finish from the edge of the area that drew Hendon level. The Dons stunned us again in the 23rd minute - by taking the lead! Callum Brown's right-wing cross was intercepted by Carroll's header, but the Romford skip could only deflect it into the path of Nathan Green, whose brilliant left-footed volley made it 2-1. A dramatic period of play continued two minutes later, when Akindayini missed the chance to head in an equaliser for us. On 30 minutes, Hendon goalkeeper Nick Jupp miscued a clearance when well off his line, and it fell towards Sean Hunt in the centre circle. Hunt volleyed towards an empty net... and missed by miles. We would not trouble the Greens again in the first half. Boro keeper Kieron Thorp flirted with disaster in the 37th minute, when he got his fingers to a Dan Evans cross. It looked for a moment as if the ball would dip into his own net, but fortunately for Kieron, it clipped the crossbar and he only conceded a corner. Our predicament was already bad enough without us nearly gifting Hendon a third goal before half-time!

Hendon's third goal came after 58 minutes, and I'm afraid to say that it was pretty much of our own making. Hunt tried to head the ball back to Jay Vassell after intercepting Jupp's goal kick, but the ball bypassed both Vassell and Farrell. The man who did get on the other end was Brown, who slipped a shot past Thorp and increased our arrears to 3-1. Hunt was already struggling, and that was the final straw for me - he was subbed in double-quick time. Not that it changed the course of the match, mind. Two minutes later, Hendon scored again to make it 4-1 - and the returning George Allen took the blame. Green curled a cross into the six-yard box, and Campbell beat Allen to the ball by slide-tackling it into the net. It was pretty much game over from that point. The Greens controlled the remaining half-hour with embarrassing ease. Brown missed several chances to get his second goal of the night, and in the last minute of normal time, Campbell came within inches of claiming what would've been an excellent hat-trick. The Romford fans couldn't get out of Ship Lane quickly enough after the final whistle, having seen their side lose a league game at home for the first time this season - and in emphatic fashion.

Romford - 1 (Guthmy 19)

Hendon - 4 (Campbell 20,60, Green 23, Brown 58)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 221 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Hendon 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Dymond, Betteridge (Allen), Guthmy, Farrell, Carroll, Vassell, Akindayini (Ademiluyi), Hunt (Walters), Hartson. BOOKED: Vassell.

I'd rather not dwell on such a terrible result, so I'll move swiftly on to our away game at Witham Town, which came three days later. Witham looked set for a long and gruelling battle against relegation, but our recent record against Garry Kimble's men was not great. In our last six meetings, we beat them twice and they defeated us three times.

9 January 2015: Witham Town vs Romford

We had our first scare after 11 minutes, when Charlie Day's free-kick caused our defence a few problems before Anthony Chapman eventually cleared it. Two minutes later, Witham striker Glyn Mitchell powered a header at goal, but couldn't direct it towards the target. Kieron Carroll had Romford's first chance in the 15th minute, but he was forced into a tight angle and missed. In the 26th minute, Carroll's lobbed through ball offered Nicky Reynolds the chance to end his goal drought in the pouring rain. Unfortunately, a fantastic half-volley from Nicky rebounded off the post and Town cleared their lines. Boro keeper Joel Wilkinson caught a long-range effort from Steven Hogg five minutes later, and in the 42nd minute, he dealt with an edge-of-the-area strike from Day. At half-time, Witham were clearly on top, though the scoreline did not yet reflect that.

The second half was a largely scrappy affair. We were guilty of conceding too many fouls, and Witham of failing to create enough real opportunities. The hosts' main source of goals, Mitchell, was not having his best ever game, and in the 77th minute, he skied a long-distance shot horrendously off course. For a few minutes after that, we put Witham under considerable attacking pressure. Sean Hunt came the closest to breaking their resistance, hitting the corner of the woodwork in the 80th minute. The men in white managed to keep their clean sheet, and five minutes later, they snatched a late victory. Day's excellent free-kick was flicked to the far post by Mitchell, and Tony Timms was on hand to volley in his first ever Witham goal. That strike alone was enough to take Town out of the relegation zone, and it left us needing to make up even more ground on the top five.

Witham Town - 1 (Timms 85)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 90 - POSITIONS: Witham 18th, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Hatch (Hornsey), Betteridge, Walters, O'Halloran, Crawley, Vassell (Hunt), Guthmy, Carroll (Akindayini), Reynolds. BOOKED: O'Halloran.

After suffering back-to-back defeats, I was seriously questioning for the first time whether we were mentally strong enough to sustain a play-off challenge.

We were particularly struggling defensively and in the centre of midfield. I felt that we needed reinforcements in those areas, and so I delved into the loan market. Before I could recruit anyone, though, we had to play a third match in the space of just six days.

[CFuller]

140 days later than scheduled, our 'season-opener' at Cray Wanderers finally went ahead on 12 January. Since our last meeting on Boxing Day, the Wands had snapped their five-game winless streak, but I still thought we would be too strong for the Isthmian Premier's bottom side.

12 January 2015: Cray Wanderers vs Romford

We very nearly took the lead through a moment of good fortune in the 10th minute. Callum Crawley's cross looked like going into the Cray net off veteran defender Garry Richards' head, but Wands youngster Anthony Cousins backheeled it off the line! That could've put us ahead, and a minute later, Cray perhaps SHOULD have gone 1-0 up. Joey Butlin dived to head Paul Edwards' delivery into the net, but the linesman's flag went up for offside. From where I saw the incident, it looked borderline. We continued to struggle a little midway through the half, particularly with our discipline, as Kieron Carroll and George Walters both picked up yellow cards. Between those bookings, in the 24th minute, Martel Powell missed a golden opportunity for the amber-clad Wands. After 35 minutes, Boro winger Sean Hunt got into a scrap with Ryan Case, and came off worse than the Cray right-back. Losing a player with his creativity before half-time was the last thing that we needed.

Cray continued to look like the better side after the break. Butlin's close-range header in the 49th minute was caught by Boro keeper Kieron Thorp. On 61 minutes, Thorp made another save from substitute Tamer Tuna's long-range attempt. Three minutes later, Tuna slide-tackled Danny Newman, and our right-back's game was brought to a premature end through injury. It soon became apparent that this match had a 0-0 draw written all over it. Cray's shooting was typically profligate, and despite having more possession, we only managed two shots at goal. Neither of them were on target. That summed the game up for me.

Cray Wanderers - 0

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 103 - POSITIONS: Cray 24th, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman (Hatch), Dymond, Allen, Walters, Fisk, Crawley (Farrell), Vassell, Akindayini, Hunt (Ademiluyi), Carroll. BOOKED: Carroll, Walters.

Now, about my attempts to bring in some loanees... well, er, I didn't have too much success. A Salisbury City midfielder turned us and about eight other clubs down to join Isthmian Premier leaders Harrow Borough, and one of Margate's surplus full-backs flatly rejected an offer to come to Ship Lane for the rest of the season. Fine. We didn't need them anyway!

There were no changes to the squad before our home game against Clinton Morrison's Bury Town. Their rather lowly position of 15th was arguably false because they had played fewer matches than everyone else in the division.

17 January 2015: Romford vs Bury Town

Bury Town nearly drew first blood with less than four minutes gone. Midfielder Oliver Muldoon struck the crossbar from just outside the penalty area, and George Allen had to stop Thomas Strain from sliding in the rebound. In the 13th minute, Romford striker James Hartson cut a shot just inches the wrong side of the post. Bury found a way through our defence in the 24th minute, when Strain found Billy Clark in plenty of space, but the former Ipswich Town midfielder blazed a sitter over the bar. Bury's next real chance, courtesy of Jonathan Kelty's header after 43 minutes, also cleared the bar. The scoreline was somehow still 0-0 at half-time, despite Bury's clear and utter dominance. Unless we changed things in the second half, the visitors would surely break through at some point.

We adopted a new, more attacking 4-2-3-1 formation for the second period - with Nicky Reynolds taking over from Hartson as our frontman. Our first post-interval chance was not too promising, with Kieron Carroll missing the target by miles on 49 minutes. Bury Town also exposed our defence a few times, and Thorp had to make crucial saves from Hakeem Adelakun and Jordan Patrick in the 57th and 58th minutes. But once Sean Hunt replaced the disappointing Kamal Guthmy after an hour, things began to click for us. In the 66th minute, Sean chipped a wonderful pass to send Reynolds through on goal. Nicky advanced on the keeper, and knocked the ball past him into the bottom corner! The delight on Nicky's face afterwards was clear to see - it was his first goal since November, and it had put us 1-0 up! The boost that gave to his personal confidence also rubbed off on the whole team. Defender Anthony Chapman made a fantastic clearance to deny Kelty a near-certain equaliser for Bury in the 78th minute. Two minutes later, another member of the Boro backline made his mark in the opposite penalty area. George Allen was the recipient of a Callum Crawley corner, and the resurgent centre-back controlled it perfectly before volleying us into a 2-0 lead! The victory was almost ours, although we still had to withstand one last Bury attack in injury time. Strain burst past our defence to pick up Clark's long ball and fire it past the advancing Thorp, but the shot lacked accuracy and Kieron's clean sheet remained intact. The final whistle came a few minutes later. We had done the double over Clinton Morrison's men, beating them 2-0 both at home and away.

Romford - 2 (Reynolds 68, Allen 80)

Bury Town - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 163 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Bury Town 16th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Allen, Walters, O'Halloran, Crawley, Farrell, Guthmy (Hunt), Carroll (Betteridge), Hartson (Reynolds).

This was our first victory of 2015, and it was also the first time that we'd won a league match by more than one goal since early October. Our second-half performance suggested that we were slowly returning to our best form, which boded well for the rest of January.

[Crackers786]

Chris thank you for the links I now have league down to lvl 11.

so I have started with Baffins Milton Rovers in the Hampshire Premier League as I live 5 mins away from there ground.

ill say again thank you

[CFuller]

Chris thank you for the links I now have league down to lvl 11.

so I have started with Baffins Milton Rovers in the Hampshire Premier League as I live 5 mins away from there ground.

ill say again thank you

I'll forgive the grammar mistake (it's their, not there in that case), and the fact your favourite team is T*ttenham, and wish you the very best of luck at Baffins Milton Rovers. Like I said to another reader, I don't have the patience to start so low in the pyramid, so good on you for giving it a go!

I'll continue the story next week. Until then, have a nice weekend, y'all!

[CFuller]

On the eve of our next match, I found another option for the centre of our midfield. 18-year-old Jake Hesketh joined us on a four-week trial as he hoped to earn himself a contract at Ship Lane. Jake was a product of the renowned Southampton youth academy, but he left St Mary's last year without making a first-team appearance.

That next game was a home meeting with Hastings United. Victory over the Arrows would see us leapfrog them into 6th place.

20 January 2015: Romford vs Hastings United

In the 3rd minute, Romford midfielder Jay Vassell picked up the ball just inside our half. He then proceeded to run all the way to the edge of Hastings' penalty area before drilling a shot in off the far post! A fabulous solo goal had given us the lead very early on! We now had to beware a Hastings backlash - most likely from their 36-year-old striker Darryn Stamp, who had already scored 20 times this season. Stamp tried to get his 21st with a half-volley on 14 minutes, but missed the target. A quarter of an hour later, Wayne Hatch hauled Stamp down just outside our penalty area. Stamp decided to take the free-kick himself, and he curled it past Kieron Thorp to draw the Arrows level. Hastings were rejuvenated by that, and in the 32nd minute, Lewis Taaffe picked out Owen Story with a pinpoint cross. Story should've put the visitors ahead, but Kieron pushed his close-range shot away to Kamal Guthmy, who scrambled it clear. As a result of Thorp's point-blank save, the scoreline remained 1-1 until half-time.

Nicky Reynolds had a chance to restore our lead 30 seconds after the restart, only to be denied by both Hastings goalkeeper Jordan Clement and the offside flag. After that, there wasn't much to comment on until the 62nd minute, when Daniel Akindayini fired a free-kick against the Hastings wall and had his follow-up shot blocked by Sam Clarke. Hastings themselves weren't as threatening going forward as they looked in the first half, though they did win a corner with just five minutes to go. That was headed away by Jay Vassell, and captain Ashley Farrell reached the loose ball to kick off a Boro counter-attack. Ashley slotted the ball to Nicky, who jinked past an Arrows defender and fired a powerful low shot into the net! We were 2-1 up, and it looked like the three points were ours!

Despite going behind so late in the game, Hastings battled on, and went at us all guns blazing in injury time. In the third minute, Stamp received the ball in our penalty area. After coming under pressure from Mark Betteridge, Stamp passed to his player-manager Sean Ray. Ray himself was being pressurised by George Allen, so he turned to Kyle Vassell, who hoped to find Stamp with a cross into the six-yard box. Betteridge then really came into his own for us, blocking the pass to Stamp before slide-tackling Jamie Lamb to stop him from getting a shot in. Jay Vassell then booted the ball deep into Hastings territory, meaning we could relax at last. We had weathered the storm, and the win put us on exactly 40 points at the midway point of the season.

Romford - 2 (Vassell 3, Reynolds 85)

Hastings United - 1 (Stamp 29)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 173 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Hastings 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Hatch (Allen), Betteridge, Guthmy, Farrell, Jones (Hesketh), Vassell, Akindayini, Hunt (Ademiluyi), Reynolds. BOOKED: Vassell.

That was Nicky Reynolds' 100th league appearance for me, and the winning goal was his 65th. That's a goal scoring ratio of nearly two goals in every three games - not bad, eh?

We would need Nicky to be on top form again if we were to break through Harrow Borough's steely five-man defence at their Earlsmead fortress. The Reds had won their last seven home fixtures, and in fact, they hadn't lost a single game at Earlsmead this season!

24 January 2015: Harrow Borough vs Romford

Harrow took just four minutes to show why they were serious challengers for automatic promotion. As the rain poured down on Earlsmead, Matthew Thompson swung a corner to Matt Ruby, who blasted the ball into the far end of the goal. That opening goal could well have opened the floodgates, but in the 10th minute, George Landais lobbed a shot just the wrong side of the post. Harrow would have to wait to double their lead. Romford midfielder Ryan Jones strained his neck two minutes later, and I took him off to replace him with Kieron Carroll. The substitution didn't seem to change much, though. In the 18th minute, Lee Wootton curled a great scoring opportunity wide for Harrow. We had a rare chance to break the hosts' backline after 26 minutes, when Dean O'Halloran's long ball forward went through the defence, but Nicky Reynolds scooped the shot over. Two minutes after that, Tashan Adeyinka nodded a pass to Landais in the middle of the Romford penalty area, and Landais should've tapped home for 2-0... but he instead scuffed his shot. Adeyinka did get the Reds' second goal in the 32nd minute, with a clinical low finish. Our situation became even more desperate in the 37th minute, as trialist Jake Hesketh stubbed his toe, forcing us into a second substitution. After 43 minutes, our half from hell - and a dream half from Harrow's perspective - was completed with a third goal for the hosts. Wootton curled in an exquisite free-kick to give the Reds a 3-0 cushion heading into the second period.

After making my third and final substitution in desperation during the half-time break, I feared that things would only get worse in the second half. Less than two minutes after play restarted, evergreen midfielder Rob Wolleaston aimed a long-distance shot at goal, and Kieron Thorp did well to keep it out. Harrow then eased off a little, and after almost exactly an hour, we had a chance to pull one goal back. Sadly, Nicky Reynolds' diving header went straight into the hands of Reds goalkeeper Gareth Hoad. We did get off the mark in the 66th minute, when Dean O'Halloran's pinpoint corner found Mark Betteridge. Mark's shot was not particularly clinical, but he still managed to scuff the ball into the net. After 73 minutes, it looked like an amazing comeback was going to be on. O'Halloran dribbled into the area and agonisingly hit the post - and to make things even more frustrating, Hoad gathered the ball just as Dean was about to poke it in! We had lost a great chance to cut the deficit down to one goal, and any slim hope we had of getting back into the game was snatched away after 78 minutes. Teenage striker Barry Dix got past George Walters to reach a through-ball, and then hit the target at the second attempt after his first effort was spilled by Thorp. Harrow had completed a 4-1 win, which was no less than they deserved. Frankly, they tore us to bits.

Harrow Borough - 4 (Ruby 4, Adeyinka 32, Wootton 42, Dix 78)

Romford - 1 (Betteridge 66)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 285 - POSITIONS: Harrow 1st, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman (Chapman), Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, Jones (Carroll), Hesketh (Guthmy), Vassell, O'Halloran, Samaria, Reynolds. BOOKED: Samaria.

After the match, Ryan Jones was ruled out for around two weeks with a neck injury, and Jake Hesketh for one week with a stubbed toe.

Harrow's victory lifted them above Lowestoft Town to the top of the Isthmian League Premier Division, and the Reds were now favourites to take automatic promotion. Coincidentally, the newly-deposed leaders were our next opponents at Ship Lane.

28 January 2015: Romford vs Lowestoft Town

Lowestoft had the first chance inside the opening minute. Goalkeeper Lenny Pidgeley's long free-kick reached striker Louie Swain, who hit an ambitious strike from outside the penalty area and skied it over the bar. In the 7th minute, our number 9 - James Hartson - twisted his ankle in a challenge from Lowestoft left-back William Culverhouse, and we had to replace him with Daniel Akindayini. Danny's game started brightly when he sent a dangerous cross towards Nicky Reynolds in the penalty area on 18 minutes, and Curtley Williams had to head it off the line for the Trawler Boys. Akindayini was also in the thick of the action after 31 minutes, when another Lowestoft defender - Kieran Charnock - barged into him in the area. The referee pointed to the spot, where Reynolds quickly placed the ball before firing it to Pidgeley's right and drawing first blood for Romford! Our newly-installed lead came under threat just four minutes later. Keeper Kieron Thorp parried Jamie Godbold's free-kick, and moments after that, Kamal Guthmy made an important blockage to stop Scott Mitchell from volleying in a Lowestoft equaliser. Another Boro defender came to the rescue on 43 minutes, as George Allen intercepted Mark Nwokeji's effort. Then, in the first minute of added-on time, Reynolds passed to Akindayini in Lowestoft's penalty arc. Danny dinked his way past Charnock, and hammered in our second goal! There was still enough time for Reynolds to have another shot at goal, and he narrowly missed out on giving us a 3-0 half-time lead. It didn't really matter, because there was still clear daylight between us and the visitors after an exciting first half.

The Reynolds and Akindayini partnership did produce a third Romford goal, just seven minutes into the second half. After receiving the ball from Danny, Nicky powerfully drove it home to leave the Trawler Boys trailing 3-0. Having seen his team-mate score two goals, Akindayini now wanted a second of his own. He thought he'd got it in the 60th minute, when he converted Dean O'Halloran's cross from inside the six-yard box, but the offside flag said otherwise. Two minutes later, a 30-yard effort from Callum Crawley went narrowly high and wide. Lowestoft could have changed the complexion of the match by scoring the next goal, but Bobby Traynor typified their shooting with a 67th-minute half-volley that went off target. Three minutes from the end, captain Eric Paton had the visitors' best chance to take at least something back to Suffolk. After intercepting a wayward clearance from Allen, Paton blasted the ball towards goal and skimmed the crossbar. By the end of a thrilling match, Lowestoft had won the attempts at goal count by the odd attempt in 31, but it was the higher quality of our shooting that ultimately won us the spoils. This was the perfect way for us to get back on track after the hammering at Harrow Borough four days earlier.

Romford - 3 (Reynolds pen31,52, Akindayini 45)

Lowestoft Town - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 148 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Lowestoft 2nd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Allen, Betteridge (Hatch), Guthmy, O'Halloran (Ademiluyi), Crawley, Farrell, Hunt, Hartson (Akindayini), Reynolds.

James Hartson's twisted ankle would put him out of competitive action for about six weeks. It hasn't been the best of campaigns for James, and with Nicky Reynolds and Daniel Akindayini both coming into form, it might be a while before the Welshman is challenging for a starting place again.

[CFuller]

To wrap up January, we challenged 11th-placed Histon at their Glassworld Stadium. The Stutes were in a right royal state. They had won just two of their previous nine fixtures, and they didn't have a single recognised goalkeeper in their squad, so a local amateur had to go between the sticks.

31 January 2015: Histon vs Romford

Histon midfielder Jan Llado was a massive threat to us early on in the first half. Kieron Thorp just about got his fingertips to a shot from Llado after only six minutes. A minute later, the Spaniard stormed past George Walters to pick up a through-ball and put himself one-on-one with Kieron. Fortunately, Llado couldn't stay composed, and he blazed the shot over, but the tone for the game was set. After 18 minutes, the Stutes' midfield dangerman hit a lovely pass to 38-year-old Lee Hughes, and the former West Bromwich Albion striker hit a shot that was much too powerful for Thorp to handle. Histon had put their noses in front, and their lead looked pretty safe for the rest of the half. The closest we came to threatening it was in the 37th minute, when Irish winger Dean O'Halloran put a free-kick just over the bar.

I made two substitutions for the second half, one of which saw 17-year-old debutant Gerald Stroud come on for the underperforming Daniel Akindayini. I might as well have brought my unfit, overweight 29-year-old self on for all the difference it made. This was never going to be a good day for us, and that became apparant barely a minute into the second half. George Allen made an all-or-nothing challenge on Hughes, and got nothing except a nasty injury that ended his involvement early and forced us into a third substitution. Histon midfielder Bradley Hamilton also picked up a knock in the 55th minute, though it didn't change things as far as the hosts were concerned. They were still a goal up with less than a quarter of an hour to go, at which point we threw more men forward to try and grab an equaliser. Big mistake. On 81 minutes, Histon ripped us apart with a string of counter-attacking passes - the last of which saw Luke O'Nien pick out Andy Gooding, who put the game out of our reach with a poacher's finish. The astute Stutes had won by the same 2-0 scoreline that we beat them by in October.

Histon - 2 (Hughes 18, Gooding 81)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 150 - POSITIONS: Histon 10th, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Allen (Hatch), Walters, Farrell, O'Halloran (Ademiluyi), Guthmy, Carroll, Akindayini (Stroud), Reynolds. BOOKED: Farrell.

It's fair to say that January was not a good month for us. We lost four of our eight games, and won just three. We've stumbled in our bid to reach the play-offs, and things will not get easier for us in February or March. With 14 games scheduled, the next couple of months are sure to put our physical and mental abilities under severe strain.

[CFuller]

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.          Harrow                 29    16    8     5     53    28    +25   56
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2.          Lowestoft              30    16    3     11    48    30    +18   51
3.          Potters Bar            27    14    7     6     47    30    +17   49
4.          Dulwich Hamlet         28    14    7     7     43    28    +15   49
5.          Sutton Utd             30    14    7     9     34    25    +9    49
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Hastings               28    12    8     8     42    37    +5    44
[color="#0000FF"]7.          Romford                26    12    7     7     38    31    +7    43[/color]
8.          Concord Rangers        25    13    3     9     32    25    +7    42
9.          Thurrock               29    10    12    7     34    29    +5    42
10.         Histon                 30    11    7     12    40    36    +4    40
11.         Grays                  28    10    9     9     41    44    -3    39
12.         Whitehawk              30    9     12    9     31    40    -9    39
13.         Maidstone              26    11    5     10    30    32    -2    38
14.         St Neots               27    10    6     11    43    49    -6    36
15.         Bury Town              24    10    5     9     31    27    +4    35
16.         Hendon                 29    9     6     14    39    47    -8    33
17.         Billericay             30    9     6     15    34    51    -17   33
18.         Bognor Regis           26    7     11    8     26    28    -2    32
19.         Faversham              27    9     4     14    34    36    -2    31
20.         Witham                 31    7     10    14    27    45    -18   31
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         St Albans              27    7     6     14    33    33    0     27
22.         Enfield Town           29    6     9     14    29    47    -18   27
23.         Cray                   23    7     4     12    29    41    -12   25
24.         AFC Hornchurch         25    4     8     13    27    46    -19   20

[CFuller]

February was going to be a pretty strange month for us. It would start with us playing a double-header against one team, and end with back-to-back games against another.

Our first double came against Faversham Town, and it began at their Salters Lane ground in Kent. The Lilywhites had recovered from a very poor start to the season and were at this point hovering just above the relegation zone.

4 February 2015: Faversham Town vs Romford

After a slow start to proceedings, a fluke goal put us 1-0 up in the 14th minute. Sean Hunt lofted a cross from the left flank, and somehow managed to send the ball into the net off the woodwork! Five minutes later, Hunt almost turned from hero to villain. His headed back-pass to Jay Vassell was intercepted by Faversham midfielder Jack Shonk, who then passed to Charlie Stimson on the right flank. Stimson crossed into a crowded penalty area and found Ryan Maxwell, who missed a close-range effort to leave the Lilywhites still trailing. On 33 minutes, Romford forward Daniel Akindayini collided with Ronnie Bull in the Faversham penalty area, and collapsed to the floor in total agony. Danny didn't suffer too much damage, but I subbed him just to be on the safe side. Two minutes later, Shonk swung a free-kick into the Boro penalty area and found the head of Harry O'Malley, but Kieron Thorp did well to catch the defender's header.

We took a slim 1-0 lead into the second half, and built on it six minutes after the restart. Our recent prowess in attacking corners produced results again, as George Allen found the net from Callum Crawley's delivery! We were now two goals in front! The Sorters needed to sort things out, and after conceding that second goal, they slowly upped their game. Thorp pushed away a low, long-range shot from Maxwell in the 53rd minute, and then watched Stimson head wide in the 59th. Stimson had another chance after 68 minutes, though it was from too far out to cause Kieron any serious problems. Faversham were building up the pressure, and with a quarter of an hour to go, they were finally rewarded for their efforts. Stimson attempted to thread a through-ball to Ben Johnson, and he needed a second try after his first deflected back to him off Connor Dymond. When Johnson did get the pass, he powered it into the corner to halve our lead. Immediately, I ordered the Romford players to sit back and defend what was now a slender advantage. But just two minutes later, in the 77th minute, we were back to the drawing board. Maxwell played a one-two with Johnson and then flighted a cross to the far post, where a pinpoint header from Stimson levelled the scores at 2-2. Faversham then went for the kill as they tried to complete a fabulous comeback. Fortunately for us, the Lilywhites couldn't quite do it. Tom Vickers skied a half-volley high and wide in the 88th minute, and Stimson missed the target again a minute later. The full-time whistle came as a sigh of relief, but as far as I was concerned, this was a case of two points dropped rather than a point gained.

Faversham Town - 2 (Johnson 75, Stimson 77)

Romford - 2 (Hunt 14, Allen 51)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 257 - POSITIONS: Faversham 19th, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Dymond (Betteridge), Allen, Walters, Neville, Crawley, Vassell, Akindayini (Ademiluyi), Hunt, Reynolds (Carroll). BOOKED: Hunt.

To be honest, that result left me feeling rather frustrated. We were in such a strong position, so to miss out on a rare away win in those circumstances was gutting. It also made me even more determined that we would beat Faversham when they came to Ship Lane for the reverse fixture.

Unfortunately, the weather had something to say about that. A torrential rainstorm on the eve of the rematch left the Ship Lane pitch unplayable, and the game was postponed until later in February.

That meant we faced two more away matches back-to-back before we could reacquaint ourselves with Faversham. The first of them was at relegation-threatened St Albans City.

Even though the Saints were second-from-bottom and had lost more than half of their matches, that didn't mean that we were expected to take them to the cleaners. St Albans are a team that loses regularly but almost always by small margins, and in the rare occasions that they have won, they've often won by at least three goals. In short, it would either be very close, or they would totally destroy us.

10 February 2015: St Albans City vs Romford

The performance of St Albans' fast-paced striker Greg Ngoyi was an early indicator of what was to come from the hosts. In the second minute, Ngoyi fired a free-kick against the Romford wall and then volleyed the rebound off target. Another shot in the 9th minute failed to trouble Kieron Thorp. The Congolese forward was having a tough time against our impressive centre-back George Allen, whose 17th-minute tackle left Ngoyi with a knock that made him even less threatening. Ngoyi's lack of potency in front of goal was replicated by his St Albans team-mates, as Nigel Talbot headed off target after 25 minutes and fired over the bar after 37. In between those two Talbot chances, Allen missed a couple of headed opportunities for us - the first of which was spectacularly tipped over by Saints keeper Bradley Fowler in the 27th minute. The 18-year-old custodian would later deny Nicky Reynolds with a fine catch in the 39th minute. The first half ended on a sour note for us, as Connor Dymond broke his wrist before half-time, and Jake Hesketh suffered a shin injury that he wouldn't recover from in time for the second half.

If St Albans were on top in the opening skirmishes of the first half, we were the dominant force early in the second. Sean Hunt picked out Nicky Reynolds in the middle of the Saints' area on 47 minutes, but Nicky snatched at his chance and missed. Three minutes later, Mark Betteridge's header from Dean O'Halloran's long-distance free-kick was saved and held by Fowler. Later on, St Albans continued to be wasteful with their chances. Jordan Woodley failed to direct a 64th-minute effort goalwards, and a frustrating evening for Ngoyi continued with another poor miss in the 79th minute. This match seemed destined to finish 0-0, just like in our previous meeting at Ship Lane, but then - for the second game in succession - we benefitted from a freak goal! With just five minutes left to play, 18-year-old Romford forward Sydney Samaria crossed from the touchline... and the ball flew over Fowler's head and landed in the net! It was the Namibian's first senior goal, and four minutes later, he nearly followed it up with another. A poor Fowler goal kick gifted us another opportunity, and when O'Halloran's cross found Samaria, the teen fired his shot into the side netting. Conceding another goal would perhaps have been too harsh on St Albans, but we were just about deserving of a 1-0 away victory - just our third in the league this season.

St Albans City - 0

Romford - 1 (Samaria 85)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 158 - POSITIONS: St Albans 23rd, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond (Betteridge), Allen, Guthmy, Vassell, Hesketh (Carroll), Farrell, O'Halloran, Hunt (Samaria), Reynolds.

The small celebrations that we had afterwards were tempered by those first-half injuries to two of our players. Connor Dymond's broken wrist would result in him missing four fixture-packed weeks, and after Jake Hesketh injured his shin, we reluctantly decided to end the midfielder's trial a week early.

Our dramatic win at St Albans, combined with a run of four consecutive defeats for Dulwich Hamlet, took us to within two points of the play-off zone. If we also won our next away match against an off-colour Hastings United side, we would break into the top five for the first time since September.

[CFuller]

14 February 2015: Hastings United vs Romford

Kieron Carroll had an early chance to score against his former club Hastings in the third minute, but his long-range shooting wasn't at his best when he tried his luck from 20 yards out. Five minutes later, Boro keeper Kieron Thorp saved and held onto a headed attempt from Darryn Stamp. The Arrows' evergreen striker had been enjoying a renaissance this season... and he marked the 19th minute with his 19th league goal of the campaign. His low strike towards the far corner was too powerful for Thorp to prevent him from handing Hastings the lead. tried to double his and his team's tallies two minutes later, but on that occasion, his shot went high and wide. Another couple of minutes followed, and Hastings midfielder Joe Broad created another chance for Stamp with a header into the box after intercepting Kamal Guthmy's clearance. Thorp then came to the rescue by punching the ball clear just in time. We were still only one goal behind, but that changed in the 41st minute. This match became the Darryn Stamp show, as the Hastings marksman shrugged off the struggling Mark Betteridge to tap Lewis Taaffe's cross into the net. That was the 20th goal of Stamp's Isthmian Premier season, and we were facing a 2-0 defeat at his hands (or rather his feet).

Hastings were coasting to victory after the first half, and player-manager Sean Ray was keen to add his name to the scoresheet in the second half. Much to our relief, his shooting wasn't as deadly as Stamp's. A 48th-minute effort from Ray was comfortably dealt with by Thorp, and the Arrows boss's next two efforts went well off target. Having failed to add a third goal to his side's lead, Ray took himself off on 72 minutes after suffering a knock. It was Hastings' last substitution, and four minutes later, Taaffe had to come off with bruised ribs, reducing United to ten men. However, it was too late in the piece for us to turn around an abject performance and make the most of our man advantage. Once again, we had paid the price for our failure to create chances, let alone take the few that we did make.

Hastings United - 2 (Stamp 19,41)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 490 - POSITIONS: Hastings 6th, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Betteridge (Hatch), Allen, Guthmy, Vassell, Jones, O'Halloran (Akindayini), Carroll (Samaria), Hunt, Reynolds.

It was the same old story on the road for us. Apart from that fluky win at St Albans City, all of our away performances this year have had something in common - we set up far too few decent scoring opportunities in them. As clichéd as this next phrase is, it really is true. If you don't shoot, you won't score, and you won't win!

The defeat to Hastings was a missed opportunity to climb into the top five, and indeed, the Arrows shot above us in the table. We would have another chance to go 5th if we defeated Faversham Town at home on the following Tuesday, and other results went our way on Wednesday. Considering that we gave away a 2-0 lead against Faversham at the start of the month, I was not exactly optimistic about our chances.

17 February 2015: Romford vs Faversham Town

Faversham were well known for fielding a narrow 4-4-2 diamond, so I told my players to focus play out wide and make the most of the space we'd get there. It certainly worked early in the game, as although Erkan Okay fired over a scoring chance in the 6th minute, the Lilywhites were otherwise starved of possession. Keeping the ball was one thing, but putting it into the onion bag was quite another. After nine minutes, Callum Crawley curled a free-kick just the wrong side of the post. We would not have another chance to take the lead until the 30th minute. Nicky Reynolds threaded the ball through the Sorters defence to Daniel Akindayini, who agonisingly hit the far post... but Nicky reacted quickly and got to the rebound first! The resulting goal gave us a 1-0 lead, which we still had at the break after Ryan Maxwell blasted over a chance to draw level for Faversham on 41 minutes.

Faversham's woes continued in the middle of the second half. Midfielder Okay was far from okay after a 64th-minute clash with Sean Hunt - indeed, he was too badly hurt to carry on. Five minutes later, Romford sub Dean O'Halloran made an excellent run from the right flank, only to follow it up with one of his typical wayward shots. That was our only chance to build on our advantage in a second half that was less exciting than watching cheese mold. Around 25 relatively dramaless minutes later, we could start celebrating an important win. We reached the 50-point mark and moved into the play-off places... but for how long would we be there?

Romford - 1 (Reynolds 30)

Faversham Town - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 153 - POSITIONS: Romford 5th, Faversham 17th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Hatch, Betteridge, Walters, Ademiluyi (O'Halloran), Crawley, Farrell, Hunt (Guthmy), Akindayini (Griffiths), Reynolds.

24 hours later, Dulwich Hamlet's shocking dip in form continued with another defeat, meaning that we were still just about in the top five. Our next task was to consolidate our place there, and warn everyone else that we wouldn't just fizzle out of play-off contention this time around.

[CFuller]

Next on the agenda was another big home game in the Isthmian League Premier Division season - a local derby against rivals Grays Athletic. The Blues won promotion via the Isthmian North play-offs last season, having come close to being relegated to the Essex Senior League 12 months previously! Grays were now sitting safely in mid-table in their first season up, and I expected a stern test from them.

21 February 2015: Romford vs Grays Athletic

Grays striker Ola Sogbanmu had a 20-yard attempt in the 10th minute, and Kieron Thorp finely pushed it away from danger. That was the visitors' first chance in a half that saw them have several. Defender Jamie Bishop nodded the ball wide in the 20th minute, and seven minutes later, Sogbanmu failed to make a clean connection with Jay Folkes' cross to the far post. At the other end, Boro captain Kieron Carroll had another frustrating evening in front of goal. After firing a tame shot straight at Grays keeper James Reading in the 31st minute, he overcompensated ten minutes later by putting too much power into another attempt. Another concern from our point of view was that our wingers were having great difficulty in getting their crosses and passes on target. Kamal Guthmy had a particularly bad day after suffering a knock very early on, and he was substituted at the end of a goalless first half.

We decided to take a few risks in the second half, hoping that they would pay off. Three minutes into the second half, our gambles backfired, and Grays hit us on the break to open the scoring. Mike Jones played a killer cross to Kirk Hudson, who had plenty of space to thread a through-ball to Patrick Drmola, and Grays' leading scorer added another goal to his name. After Zodel Brown fired wide a chance to put the Gravelmen two clear in the 53rd minute, we recomposed and began to fight back. After 62 minutes, levelled the scores... in spectacular fashion! Although Michael Ademiluyi's cross was headed out of the box by Ugo Udoji, Jay Vassell intercepted the clearance and cushioned a header to Daniel Akindayini. Danny then smacked a stunning half-volley over Reading's head and into the net! At 1-1, this was shaping up to be a cracking game, but it wasn't until the final ten minutes that the real drama began.

First, a cross from Romford right-back Danny Newman thundered off the crossbar on 82 minutes. Thorp then pulled off a wondrous acrobatic save to tip away a close-range Sogbanmu header in the 88th minute. Two minutes later, as injury time loomed, Ademiluyi was dispossessed in the Grays penalty area by visiting defender Kane Vincent-Young. The tackle seemed clean enough, but in an enormous stroke of luck for us, the referee awarded a penalty to Romford! When it came to taking the penalty, we got fortunate again. An unusually poor penalty from Nicky Reynolds was saved by Reading, but the ball was parried straight back to Nicky, who didn't make any mistake with the rebound. We had somehow managed to smash and grab a win... or so it seemed. In the third and final minute of injury time, we put too much emphasis on marking the dangerous Drmola, while left-winger Joe Benjamin wasn't being given anywhere near as much attention. When the crowded Drmola passed to Benjamin in the penalty area, the end result was as inevitable as it was frustrating. Grays had equalised in the closing seconds, but while it was gutting to lose out on two points like that, I didn't think we deserved to win anyway.

Romford - 2 (Akindayini 62, Reynolds 90)

Grays Athletic - 2 (Drmola 48, Benjamin 90)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 217 - POSITIONS: Romford 5th, Grays 12th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Hatch (Sparrow), Allen, Walters, Ademiluyi, Jones (Crawley), Vassell, Guthmy (Akindayini), Carroll, Reynolds.

We ended the month with successive games against 16th-placed Bognor Regis Town, and I was confident of taking points from both matches. Although our opponents' defence looked pretty mean, they had the joint-worst attack in the Isthmian Premier. The first of our meetings came at Bognor Regis' Nyewood Lane home.

25 February 2015: Bognor Regis Town vs Romford

After we won four corners inside the first 15 minutes, things looked promising for us. Unfortunately, we couldn't create any chances from those corners, and it was actually Bognor Regis who had the only real scoring opportunities in a dire first half. A 20th-minute Jordan Lawal corner caused plenty of panic in the Romford penalty area, and no fewer than three Rocks players had chances to tap home before Kieron Thorp eventually secured the ball. One of those players - Carel Tiofack - had another chance nine minutes later, but the Irishman pulled his shot well wide.

Five minutes into the second half, Bognor Regis had their best chance yet. Jordan Berry's corner was headed towards goal by Ryan James, and Boro full-back George Walters spectacularly volleyed the ball off the line! Four minutes later, Rocks captain Berry missed the target with a shot of his own. We finally manage to create something decent in the 60th minute, when midfielder Callum Crawley narrowly missed the target from 25 yards out. But having come so close to pulling us ahead, Crawley made a fateful mistake in the 75th minute that resulted in the persistent Rocks finally breaking through. Callum's poor clearance was hoofed back into the Romford half by Lewis Tallack, and Andy Robinson then lofted the ball towards our 'D'. Tiofack outjumped George Allen to reach Robinson's pass and flick it to Jerome Maledon, whose half-volley sent Bognor Regis into the lead. Crawley came within inches of pulling us level in the 81st minute, but just over a minute later, the Rocks added a second goal. Maledon set up the chance for Lawal, who sidestepped Boro substitute Mark Betteridge before drilling into the far corner. From that moment, Bognor Regis controlled possession with consummate ease, and they wouldn't let us back into the match.

Bognor Regis Town - 2 (Maledon 75, Lawal 82)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 214 - POSITIONS: Bognor Regis 16th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Hatch, Allen (Betteridge), Walters, O'Halloran, Farrell, Vassell (Crawley), Hunt, Akindayini, Reynolds (Carroll). BOOKED: Farrell.

I was smarting after that defeat, which knocked us back out of the top five. This wasn't our most abject performance of the season - not by a long shot - but in terms of keeping possession, it was up there with the worst. We squandered an alarming number of passes, and a lot of them came from our own penalty area! It was clear to me that the defenders needed to work on their passing game.

We could not afford to make those same mistakes again in the return game at Ship Lane. Another defeat to Bognor Regis would be a severe blow to our promotion bid.

28 February 2015: Romford vs Bognor Regis Town

Bognor Regis continued where they left off from Nyewood Lane. Jerome Maledon curled a free-kick just wide after only four minutes, and Darren Blewitt did likewise in the 12th minute. Ronnie Hawkins' 21st-minute attempt did not go quite as close, but it was surely only a matter of time before the Rocks opened the scoring. Three minutes later, Carroll gave away possession to Maledon, and before we knew it, we were 1-0 down. Reece Hall flicked Jordan Berry's long ball into the penalty area, and our old nemesis Jeff Hammond half-volleyed it into the net. This was the same Jeff Hammond who bagged a hat-trick against us for Grays Athletic two years ago, and he could well have ended up with another treble before half-time. Hammond had a shot parried by Kieron Thorp in the 36th minute, and five minutes later, he sent another just wide of the target. At half-time, it was looking like we would be suffering back-to-back defeats against Bognor Regis.

We returned for the second half with fresh vigour - the players all knew what they had to do in the closing 45 minutes. Bognor Regis frustrated our attackers for the first half of that second period, but our patience paid off in the 71st minute. Anthony Chapman's low cross found Sean Hunt just outside the six-yard box, and Sean put us back on terms with a close-range shot that went in off the far post! Three minutes after our leveller, Boro winger Michael Ademiluyi skimmed the crossbar with a well-taken free-kick. I later brought on youth striker Matt Griffiths, hoping that he would make the difference. He didn't. Matt unsuccessfully appealed for a penalty after being brought down by Rocks defender Ryan James in the 87th minute, and headed another Chapman cross wide just seconds later. Carroll then tried to make amends for his goal-costing mistake in the first half. In the penultimate minute of normal time, he smacked the crossbar with a shot that would've given us victory. I wasn't too happy with the draw, nor the quality of our shooting, but at least there were some positives to draw on.

Romford - 1 (Hunt 71)

Bognor Regis Town - 1 (Hammond 24)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 198 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Bognor Regis 15th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Betteridge, Allen, Guthmy, Jones, Carroll, Vassell (Farrell), Akindayini (Ademiluyi), Hunt, Reynolds (Griffiths).

A run of three games without victory was not what we needed heading into a crucial phase of the season. With 13 games - just over a quarter of the campaign - to go, we are three points outside the play-off places, and we now have just one game in hand.

We've still got a decent chance of finishing in the play-offs, but all of the seven matches we face in March are potential banana skins. If we're to get that all-important place in the top five, we must earn it the hard way.

[CFuller]

To kick off a potentially nerve-wracking month of football, we had a massively important Ship Lane derby against Thurrock. This one looked like it was too close to call. We'd drawn our last meeting 1-1 in October, we were on exactly the same number of points (52), and Thurrock were only above us by a goal difference of +2, though they had played a game more.

We were officially the 'away' team for this match - not that it really mattered, but if we did come out on top, it would be only our fourth 'away' win of the Isthmian Premier season.

3 March 2015: Thurrock vs Romford

Thurrock had an attempt at goal after just 25 seconds, but Leon Smith didn't send his shot anywhere near the target. We launched our first assault in the 3rd minute, as we ripped through the Fleet with a string of direct passes. Daniel Akindayini played the killer ball to Jay Vassell, who tracked back and then smashed home from all of 25 yards! It was the perfect start for us - Thurrock didn't know what had hit them! They attempted to draw level after 19 minutes, but Smith's free-kick narrowly missed the goal. Three minutes later, we were worrying again after Anthony Chapman went down holding his thigh. Thankfully, he was okay to play on, but while he was receiving treatment on the sidelines, Akindayini dragged wide a shot that could've put us into a two-goal lead. As it was, we headed into the dressing room still leading 1-0, thanks largely to Thurrock's wastefulness in the final third.

Callum Crawley nearly got lucky for the Boro seven minutes into the second half. His free-kick ricocheted off a defender in the Thurrock wall, and Fleet keeper Gareth Deane showed great reactions to catch the rebound. Meanwhile, our backline - marshaled brilliantly by Mark Betteridge - continued to do a good job of keeping Thurrock honest. Josh Hare's 68th-minute header, which went a long way wide, was one of only a few chances that the men in yellow were afforded. Five minutes later, Hare had a nightmare at the other end, as Nicky Reynolds easily beat the defender to Crawley's through-ball. Nicky then tapped home to at last give us a 2-0 lead! It was almost time to relax, but with five minutes to go, Boro goalie Kieron Thorp had his first major scare in the whole game. Thurrock sub Bradley Pegg almost fluked a long-distance strike from out wide into Thorp's net before Kieron tipped it over his bar. We could now get ready to celebrate a crucial victory over our landlords, though Nicky came close to giving us an even bigger win with an injury-time shot that only just missed.

Thurrock - 0

Romford - 2 (Vassell 3, Reynolds 73)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 413 - POSITIONS: Thurrock 8th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman (Sparrow), Hatch, Betteridge, Walters, Farrell, Crawley, Akindayini (Guthmy), Vassell, Hunt (O'Halloran), Reynolds.

That was an extremely satisfying win, especially as it came almost exactly a year to the day that Thurrock steamrollered us 4-0. Now it was us who had the upper hand in the mini-battle to become Ship Lane's top dogs.

The next game in our play-off bid was at home to Whitehawk, who were surprisingly not looking like contenders. The Brighton side were all the way down in 16th place, having had what could only be described as a nightmare season from their perspective.

7 March 2015: Romford vs Whitehawk

Although their league position looked pretty awful on paper, Whitehawk's form had actually improved in recent weeks. The Hawks got off to a flying start, as Tommy Fraser tested Kieron Thorp's resolve with a long-range shot inside the opening minute. By the sixth minute, Whitehawk had soared into the lead. Kamal Guthmy failed to clear Johnny Goddard's byline cross out of the six-yard box, and Sam Gargan pounced on his mistake to make it 1-0. After Whitehawk took the initiative, they looked to take full control of proceedings. Defender Charlie Clough missed the target with an 8th-minute effort, and Ryan Woods powered a shot over the crossbar three minutes later. We didn't get a chance to hit back until the 19th minute, though Nicky Reynolds' header went straight at goalkeeper Josh Baker. Guthmy made another error two minutes later, when his poor back-pass allowed Ben Adams to get behind him and aim a header at goal. Thankfully for Kamal, Thorp spared him further embarrassment with an easy save. It soon began to rain at Ship Lane, and the new weather conditions suited our direct passing game. In the 36th minute, Sean Hunt aimed a cross for Reynolds, but Hawks defender Matt Bevans intercepted the delivery and headed it back to him. Sean tried again, finding the target this time, and Nicky levelled the scores with a poacher's finish! The scoreline was now 1-1, which was how it remained at half-time.

The second half didn't see quite as much action as the first. A well-crafted counter-attack almost produced a second Reynolds goal in the 53rd minute, and it took a superb fingertip save from Baker to deny Nicky. Whitehawk captain Fraser had a couple of chances to restore his side's advantage after 73 and 79 minutes, but dragged the ball beyond the far post each time. Baker came to the Hawks' rescue again with eight minutes remaining, when he tipped over Daniel Akindayini's header from a pinpoint Kieron Carroll cross. If it wasn't for those two crucial second-half saves from the 17-year-old goalkeeper, we might have made it back-to-back wins, but I was satisfied enough with a draw.

Romford - 1 (Reynolds 36)

Whitehawk - 1 (Gargan 6)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 201 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Whitehawk 13th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Hatch (Betteridge), Allen, Guthmy, Farrell (Crawley), Jones, Akindayini, Carroll, Hunt (Ademiluyi), Reynolds.

Then came our biggest game yet, as we finally got round to visiting Concord Rangers - the last remaining team we had yet to face in the Isthmian Premier this season.

The magnitude of this match could not be overestimated. This was the last game in hand we had left on the top five, and ahead of it, we were outside of the play-off spots by exactly three points. Concord themselves were one point behind us... but they had a game in hand on us, so if they won here, they would have a great chance to reach the play-offs at our expense.

[CFuller]

11 March 2015: Concord Rangers vs Romford

It was Concord who got off the ground first in this all-important encounter. After just three minutes, former Romford defender Andrew Burns crossed to his Rangers team-mate Luke l'Anson, whose volley from inside the penalty area hit the post. Four minutes later, the hosts got their noses in front through Welsh striker Rhys Darg, who converted l'Anson's volleyed pass. It was disappointing to see us go behind so early on, but we responded magnificently. In the 11th minute, Kieron Carroll cut inside from the right flank and played a lovely ball to Nicky Reynolds, who scored for the third game in succession with another point-blank finish! The momentum seemed to be shifting towards us, and in the 20th minute, we looked odds-on to make it 2-1. Carroll attempted to send Anthony Chapman through on goal, but Chappers instead ran into Concord defender Cameron Burgess. By the time he got the ball back, he'd lost his impetus, and his shot missed the target. Nine minutes later, Kieron Thorp got his fingers to l'Anson's shot, but Kaine Sheppard converted the rebound for Concord - only for the offside flag to deny him his goal. The Beach Boys had already taken the lead once, and they took it again seven minutes before half-time. Jay Vassell's mistimed tackle on Nicky Cowley offered l'Anson an opportunity to convert from the penalty spot, and the former Billericay Town man did just that. Concord Rangers were 2-1 up at the interval, though we were still very much in the game.

Five minutes after the restart, we weren't merely still in the contest - we'd levelled it. That said, it did take more than a little luck! Daniel Akindayini's cross to the far post was headed against the woodwork by Sean Hunt, and the ball rebounded into the net off the unfortunate Concord keeper Samuel West's back! West recovered quickly enough to push away Reynolds' edge-of-the-area effort four minutes later. At the other end, Rangers had a couple of chances to go in front for the third time. In the 63rd minute, Sheppard fired a 20-yarder that had too much power and not enough accuracy. A better chance fell after 75 minutes to the man who opened the scoring, but Darg skimmed the bottom of the post. When West made another save to deny Reynolds again six minutes later, I was happy to settle for a point... but if I thought the closing moments would be pain-free, I was to be proved very wrong.

After 90 minutes, I learned exactly why injury time was so named, as Romford's players began to drop like flies! Substitute James Hartson was the first to come off after pulling up on the Concord byline in the dying seconds of normal time. Daniel Akindayini was also forced off three minutes later... and two more minutes after that, Sean Hunt twisted his ankle! As a result, we had to finish the match with only EIGHT men! Frankly, it was a miracle that Concord didn't grab a late winner, but after seven minutes of extended injury time, the final whistle finally blew - much to our relief. At least we didn't lose.

Concord Rangers - 2 (Darg 7, l'Anson pen38)

Romford - 2 (Reynolds 11, West og50)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 106 - POSITIONS: Concord Rangers 7th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Betteridge, Allen (Hatch), Walters, Vassell (Farrell), Crawley, Akindayini, Carroll (Hartson), Hunt, Reynolds.

None of the three players who came off late on would be fit enough for the next game, but Sean Hunt's injury was by some distance the worst. His twisted ankle would put him out of action for around two months - and possibly the rest of the season.

Our left midfield options were now very limited, so I brought in another player as cover. The man I chose was 24-year-old Harlow Town winger David Pearce, who agreed to join us until the end of the season. David signed just in time to appear on the bench for our next home game against mid-table Maidstone United, who were out of form, having failed to win any of their previous six matches.

14 March 2015: Romford vs Maidstone United

David Pearce didn't have to wait long to make his Romford debut. Six minutes into the match, Kamal Guthmy bruised a rib in a clash with Phil Starkey, and our new loanee came on to replace him. In our last league match against Maidstone, we utterly dominated the first half, and this would be another dominant display - but for our opponents. Our own careless passing regularly gifted possession to the Stones, who were allowed to have numerous shots at goal. Initially, we restricted them to long-range efforts, such as Emmanuel Monthe's 13th-minute effort that went wide. As the half wore on, Maidstone pushed further up, and edged closer to finding the target. On 38 minutes, Monthe sent a powerful strike wide from the edge of the area, and Jack Page's byline header rattled the crossbar a minute later. The Stones' persistence was eventually rewarded after 44 minutes, when Davis Abbey's low, well-placed shot gave them a richly-deserved 1-0 lead. In truth, they should have already killed us off - at half-time, their shots at goal statistic was in double figures, while ours was still a big fat zero. Embarrassing.

Things improved for us in the second half... though not by a great deal. Maidstone didn't look anywhere near as dangerous going forward as they did in the first 45 minutes, and they never came close to doubling their advantage. It took us until the 74th minute to register a shot at goal, but even then, Dean O'Halloran's free-kick was fired into the Stones' wall. The visitors still looked good value for the win, even after Page came off with a sprained wrist with only five minutes remaining. In the closing minutes of normal time, Andrew White and Monthe each missed chances to put Maidstone's victory beyond doubt. We still had a sliver of hope, and in the third and final minute of injury time, we won a corner. This was our final chance to salvage a point. Dean swung it into the box, and found Wayne Hatch, whose header skimmed the underside of the crossbar and went into the net! With his very first senior goal, Wayne had won us a point and stretched our unbeaten run to five games - though I didn't feel much like celebrating.

Romford - 1 (Hatch 90)

Maidstone United - 1 (Abbey 44)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 258 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Maidstone 11th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge (Hatch), Walters, O'Halloran, Farrell, Jones, Guthmy (Pearce), Stroud, Carroll (Reynolds).

Despite failing to win any of our last three games, we were at least keeping the points ticking over, and now there were only two between us and the top five. We just had to keep building up momentum.

[CFuller]

On the Sunday after the draw against Maidstone United, I joined head of youth development Ricki Mackin in assessing the latest crop of candidates for the Under-18s side. The best of the lot was perhaps Jordan Peters - a 15-year-old right-back who already looked like he could challenge for a first-team place. We also signed up goalkeeper Paul Woolley, right-back Rhys Turner, midfielder Christian Turner (no relation), and strikers Colin Ingham and Johnnie McGee.

Jordan aside, I was a little disappointed with this year's youth intake. I asked the chairman Leo Jones again if we could expand our youth recruitment network, so we could attract players from further afield than just Romford. Back in November, Mr Jones said no to this, but this time, he was much more forthcoming with his support - and said yes!

We then had a week's break before travelling to 17th-placed Hendon, who were the only team to have beaten us in a home league game this season. I expected a tough old battle against Gary McCann's green army. What I didn't know was that this particular clash would turn out to be one of the most dramatic of my Romford managership.

21 March 2015: Hendon vs Romford

This match certainly got off to a quick start. We hadn't even touched the ball by the time Aaron Brown hit Hendon's first shot at goal after just 15 seconds - fortunately for us, he didn't come close to finding the net. We had our first chance to open the scoring on 11 minutes, and it was one that James Hartson took. The Welsh striker exchanged passes with Callum Crawley before placing a deftly-executed shot into the net! It was a great start to the match for us, and our direct passing game continued to cause Hendon problems. Nine minutes later, Danny Newman lofted a free-kick into the Greens' penalty area, and Hartson ran onto it... but before he could do anything with it, he was tripped by Mark Cartwright. The referee instantly pointed to the spot, and waved away the hosts' claims that James had dived to win the penalty. Once the dust settled, Nicky Reynolds - who else? - caught the keeper out with a powerful low shot down the middle, and we were leading 2-0! The distraught Dons now had no option other than to attack. In the 32nd minute, Nicky went from attacker to defender, heading away a potentially dangerous corner delivery by Nathan Green. Three minutes later, Green's left-wing cross was headed off the line by Connor Dymond, and there was a sense that Hendon were moving up the gears. Brown split open our backline in the 38th minute with a through-ball to Javlon Campbell, who drilled the ball just inches wide of the post. Hartson then hit the woodwork with a close-range shot that could've given us a three-goal cushion after 41 minutes. In the last minute of normal time, it looked like Hendon had cut our lead to one goal after Campbell headed in from Cartwright's long ball... but the linesman's flag went up for offside. We were hugely relieved, as conceding a goal on the stroke of half-time could well have changed the complexion of the game.

The first half had been fast-paced, and we tried to slow things down at the start of the second half to preserve our energy, not to mention our lead. But just three minutes after kick off, Brian Summerskill flicked a header into our penalty area, and Campbell volleyed it home to pinch a goal back for Hendon. We were now getting a tad edgy, and things would only get more nerve-wracking a couple of minutes later. After James Archer crossed a Dons free-kick into the Boro area, Newman appeared to handle the ball, and the ref pointed to the penalty spot again! It was the same spot that we built a two-goal lead from in the first period, and after 51 minutes, we lost it altogether. Just like Reynolds before him, Dave Diedhiou went down the middle with his spot-kick, and Kieron Thorp couldn't stop him from drawing Hendon level. At that point, I felt like banging my head against the dugout in sheer frustration. Three minutes later, I was doing exactly that! Campbell sent a killer through-ball to Brown, who got past Dymond and then drilled the ball underneath Thorp to complete Hendon's fightback. Less than nine minutes into the second half, a 2-0 lead for us had turned into a 3-2 deficit!! The second half from hell continued in the 59th minute, when Newman picked up a knock. Shortly after he came off two minutes later, Campbell attempted to score a fourth Hendon goal, but Thorp caught his shot and stopped our situation from deteriorating further. Campbell went close again on 67 minutes, as his header from an Aaron Waters cross skimmed the crossbar. The Dons were well on truly on top by that point, but there was no way that I was going to let this continue.

For the final 20 minutes, it was back to the quick, direct passing strategy that had earlier given us a 2-0 advantage. I also brought on Kieron Carroll to be our target man. With six minutes to go, Thorp kicked the ball upfield to his fellow Kieron, and Carroll headed the ball on to Nicky. Seconds later, Reynolds hammered a fierce shot into the net, stunning the home crowd into near silence! It was 3-3, and game on again! Our aim now was to get the ball up to the skipper, and hope he could produce another moment of magic. Six minutes later, in the 89th minute of normal time, Dymond hit a long ball up the right flank, and Carroll just about kept it in play before it crossed the byline. Kieron then played the ball back to his fellow substitute Daniel Akindayini. Danny floated a first-time cross to the far post, and after Summerskill mistimed his header, the ball reached the feet of full Romford debutant David Pearce. The loanee got a sweet connection to the ball with his left foot, and within seconds, we were up on our feet celebrating an incredible winner! It had been a remarkably topsy-turvy game, and after going from 2-0 up to 3-2 down, we had ended up as the victors by 4 goals to 3!! To make the win even sweeter, it moved us up into 4th place - our highest position of the season!

Hendon - 3 (Campbell 48, Diedhiou pen51, Brown 54)

Romford - 4 (Hartson 11, Reynolds pen21,84, Pearce 89)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 111 - POSITIONS: Hendon 18th, Romford 4th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman (Betteridge), Dymond, Hatch, Walters, O'Halloran (Akindayini), Vassell, Crawley, Pearce, Hartson (Carroll), Reynolds. BOOKED: Dymond.

Astonishing - absolutely astonishing. That game was so mentally testing that even thinking about it makes me sweat buckets, but I was so relieved that we came out of it with all three points. If we do go on to qualify for the play-offs, I may look back at this result and say it was the key one.

After having just a couple of days to recover, we were back on the road - and if we thought Hendon away was going to be tough, then we hadn't seen anything yet!

[CFuller]

Lowestoft Town had the joint-best home record in the Isthmian Premier this season, and with eight matches to go, they looked like runaway leaders Harrow Borough's only realistic challengers for the title. The Trawler Boys had also won seven of their last eight fixtures, drawing the other. That was the scale of the challenge that awaited us at Crown Meadow.

24 March 2015: Lowestoft Town vs Romford

Our game plan was to sit back, soak in Lowestoft's attacks, and then try to hit them on the counter. The first chance we had to do that was in the 5th minute, when Ashley Farrell intercepted Scott Mitchell's corner and played a long ball up to Dean O'Halloran. Our tricky Irish winger then went on a magnificent run to the opposite penalty area, but once again, his finish lacked accuracy. Nicky Reynolds pulled another Romford shot wide on 22 minutes, while Lee Smith and Louie Swain each missed chances for Lowestoft within the next five minutes. Reynolds had our best chance yet in the 35th minute, but agonisingly struck the post. We were rueing our luck again nine minutes later, when Daniel Akindayini hit the bar. At half-time, we were narrowly on top in a game that was still goalless, and our hopes were boosted by an injury to the productive Trawler Boys midfielder Mitchell just before the break.

Our defence really came into their own in the second half, when Lowestoft looked more threatening going forward. In the 58th minute, Boro keeper Kieron Thorp held a close-range header from the prolific Swain. Meanwhile, Connor Dymond looked unbeatable at centre-back, as he won almost everything in the air and tirelessly made interception after interception. But in the 74th minute, all of our good work appeared to have gone to waste. The hosts won a contentious penalty after the referee ruled that Ryan Jones had pushed Swain on the edge of the area. It was now up to Bobby Traynor to take the penalty and surely give Lowestoft the lead - but he cracked it against the crossbar, and Connor cleared the ball into touch! Lowestoft increased the pressure in the closing minutes, but Thorp was determined to keep a clean sheet. Kieron pushed away another Swain effort in the 81st minute and held onto a couple of Smith headers later on. Then, as we reached the second minute of injury time, the decisive moment came. Our counter-attacking strategy paid off big time, as Reynolds' through-ball was slotted in by captain Kieron Carroll, whose first goal of the calendar year was enough to give us another dramatic win! Better late than never, eh?

Lowestoft Town - 0

Romford - 1 (Carroll 90)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 623 - POSITIONS: Lowestoft 2nd, Romford 4th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Hatch (Allen), Walters, Jones, Crawley (Carroll), Farrell, O'Halloran (Pearce), Akindayini, Reynolds.

Before that game, James Hartson received a couple of contract offers from Isthmian South high-flyers Lewes and Leatherhead. But despite having a frustrating season hampered by an ankle injury and bad form, James decided to stick things out for us, and stay until at least the end of the campaign.

Finally in March, we had our home game against Concord Rangers - and just like our meeting in Canvey earlier this month, this was being billed as a play-off six-pointer. We now had a two-point lead over Concord, which was one point more than last time, but Rangers still had a game in hand.

28 March 2015: Romford vs Concord Rangers

Concord Rangers knew that victory would massively boost their hopes of play-off qualification, and they took the game to us early on. In just the fourth minute, Rangers right-winger Pat Harding took the ball past Kamal Guthmy before crossing to the far post, where Evandro Delgado's header was deflected into the net off the unfortunate Mark Betteridge. Concord were celebrating taking an early lead, but then the referee ruled the goal out for an apparent foul from Delgado. Concord thought they'd been robbed of a goal, but Delgado found the net again in the 17th minute - and this time, there were no questions about it. 16-year-old Warren Mitchel-King brilliantly dribbled through the Romford defence before playing in Delgado, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner. Delgado put another effort inches wide three minutes later as the Beach Boys sought to wipe us out. In the 33rd minute, Rhys Darg rode Wayne Hatch's challenge in the Romford penalty area and narrowly missed the goal. We started to get into the game three minutes later, when Callum Crawley's low long-ranger was held by Samuel West in the Concord goal. On 41 minutes, Callum intercepted a scrambled clearance from West, and after CC put Reynolds through, Nicky thundered in the equalising goal! The scores were level at 1-1 - but only for 59 seconds, as a stunning 18-yard drive from Danny Davenport quickly restored Concord's lead. Would that be the key moment in the game?

The short answer: no - not by a long chalk. Incredibly, just 15 seconds after the second half kicked off, Romford's David Pearce shot from about 40 yards out on the left wing - and the ball flew into the net with the help of the crossbar! We were level again at 2-2! Concord were stunned, and they could not find another quick reply. When Thorp comfortably held onto Luke l'Anson's header in the 54th minute, and Darg ballooned a shot over the bar ten minutes later, one could tell that the visitors' confidence had been shaken up. I brought on Kieron Carroll to boost our attack midway through the half... and one of his first acts was to give us a 3-2 lead after 67 minutes. Carroll's goal, which came with more than a little help from the upright, was soon followed by another for Romford! Pearce's excellent start to his Boro career continued in the 69th minute, when his cross was fired in from close range by the in-form Reynolds. From 2-1 down at half-time, we had moved 4-2 ahead! This second half couldn't get any better, could it? Oh yes it could! After 80 minutes, Reynolds summoned up enough energy to get past Cameron Burgess and complete his hat-trick by scoring from Carroll's killer ball. The Beach Boys had been soundly beaten, and we could have fun, fun, fun for the rest of the game!

Romford - 5 (Reynolds 41,69,80, Pearce 46, Carroll 67)

Concord Rangers - 2 (Delgado 17, Davenport 42)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 268 - POSITIONS: Romford 4th, Concord Rangers 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Hatch (Allen), Betteridge, Guthmy, Jones (Farrell), Crawley (Carroll), Vassell, O'Halloran, Pearce, Reynolds.

Well, how about that, then? Despite having more than a few scares, we managed to get through the month unbeaten, and we're now odds-on to qualify for the play-offs! The question now is this: can we hold our nerve for the final six games of the season?

[CFuller]

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.          Harrow                 40    22    13    5     67    35    +32   79
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.          Lowestoft              40    23    4     13    62    34    +28   73
3.          Potters Bar            40    19    10    11    70    53    +17   67
[color="#0000FF"]4.          Romford                40    18    13    9     61    49    +12   67[/color]
5.          Dulwich Hamlet         40    19    9     12    55    43    +12   66
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Bury Town              39    17    11    11    48    38    +10   62
7.          Concord Rangers        39    19    5     15    53    46    +7    62
8.          Sutton Utd             40    17    10    13    39    36    +3    61
9.          Thurrock               40    15    13    12    43    41    +2    58
10.         Hastings               40    16    10    14    62    61    +1    58
11.         Maidstone              40    15    9     16    43    46    -3    54
12.         Whitehawk              40    13    15    12    44    53    -9    54
13.         Cray                   38    16    5     17    49    57    -8    53
14.         Bognor Regis           39    12    16    11    39    40    -1    52
15.         Billericay             40    14    8     18    49    59    -10   50
16.         Histon                 39    12    11    16    45    45    0     47
17.         Hendon                 40    13    8     19    60    63    -3    47
18.         Grays                  39    12    11    16    54    64    -10   47
19.         St Neots               40    12    10    18    59    69    -10   46
20.         Witham                 40    11    13    16    39    53    -14   46
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         Faversham              39    12    7     20    49    52    -3    43
22.         Enfield Town           40    10    12    18    43    62    -19   42
23.         St Albans              40    10    10    20    46    50    -4    40
24.         AFC Hornchurch         40    8     9     23    46    76    -30   33

[CFuller]

Our unbeaten run in March was not quite enough to earn me the Manager of the Month award. That instead went to Cray Wanderers' manager, who had magically taken the Wands from the relegation zone to the top half in the space of just eight games. Personal awards didn't matter to me, though, as long as the team was still in the play-off zone at the end of the season.

Concord Rangers won their game in hand at the start of the month, meaning that we went into our end-of-season run-in just two points clear of the 6th-placed Beach Boys. These were the fixtures that would either make or break our season:

4 April: vs St Neots Town (H) - St Neots were 19th, and had won just one away game in 2015

6 April: vs AFC Hornchurch (A) - AFC Hornchurch were 24th, and had won three of their last four matches

11 April: vs Sutton United (A) - Sutton Utd were 8th, and had not won in seven games

18 April: vs Grays Athletic (A) - Grays were 18th, and had lost eight of their last nine matches

25 April: vs Potters Bar Town (H) - Potters Bar were 3rd, and had failed to win in four away games

6 May: vs Dulwich Hamlet (H) - Dulwich Hamlet were 5th, and had lost just once in eight matches

Squad management was likely to be key in the outcomes of our next two games, with just one day's rest in between them. First, we hosted St Neots Town, who were hovering just above the relegation zone.

4 April 2015: Romford vs St Neots Town

James Stevenson flighted a free-kick just wide for St Neots in the first minute, but it was actually us who made the stronger start. A goalmouth scramble in the 5th minute culminated in captain Kieron Carroll poking the ball home for his third goal in as many matches! Our 1-0 lead soon came under threat from St Neots, as Dan Walker missed a chance in the 9th minute before Daniel Subuola's first opportunity was blocked by Connor Dymond three minutes later. We could only hold firm until the 15th minute, when Subuola smashed the Saints' equaliser into the top corner. We tried to reclaim our lost advantage in the 23rd minute, but Dymond's header was cleared off the goal line by Theo Fairweather-Johnson. Four minutes later, Walker fired a low shot directly at Kieron Thorp, and the Boro keeper caught comfortably. On 43 minutes, with half-time looming large, Daniel Akindayini sent a low cross into the St Neots box towards Nicky Reynolds. Saints defender Delroy Gordon got in the way of the delivery, but the ball hit the post, deflected off goalkeeper Tom Halsall's back, and crossed the line! It was another slice of good fortune for us, and we were leading 2-1!

St Neots' shooting in the second half was desperate to say the least, and bordered on lunacy at times! After Walker missed a couple of speculative efforts in the opening two minutes, Gordon found himself one-on-one with Thorp in the 50th minute - and shot straight at Kieron. Moments later, Halsall made a superb fingertip save to stop Ryan Jones from drilling us into a two-goal lead. On 56 minutes, David Pearce jinked his way into the area, and was unlucky to hit the woodwork. The Saints then gave us a major scare in the 64th minute, as Subuola's cross into the Romford box was cleared just in time by Mark Betteridge. St Neots wouldn't worry us again until the third and final minute of injury time. Walker lobbed the ball past the otherwise brilliant Dymond towards Subuola, who looked odds-on to score, but instead found the side netting. We had once again ridden our luck to win for the fourth game in a row. What's more, that result moved us up to 3rd place!

Romford - 2 (Carroll 5, Halsall og43)

St Neots Town - 1 (Subuola 15)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 246 - POSITIONS: Romford 3rd, St Neots 21st

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, Vassell, Jones (Farrell), Akindayini (Ademiluyi), Carroll, Pearce, Reynolds (Hartson).

We were now on a nine-match unbeaten run, and we were confident about taking that streak into double figures when we arrived at Bridge Avenue two days later to play AFC Hornchurch. This was a big Havering derby for us... and even more so as far as our opponents were concerned.

Unfortunately for our dear old friends at Hornchurch, this season has been pretty dreadful. A ten-game losing streak during the winter period saw them plummet to the bottom of the table, and they remained stranded in last place despite a recent upturn in form. Indeed, if we defeated the Urchins, and other results went against them, then their relegation would be confirmed with four rounds to go!

6 April 2015: AFC Hornchurch vs Romford

AFC Hornchurch kept our defence busy in the opening stages. Danny Newman bravely blocked a shot from local youngster Byron Francis as early as the 5th minute. Hornchurch full-back Connor McLaren swung a long-distance effort wide about seven minutes later. Both sides then suffered injury setbacks midway through the half, as Romford striker James Hartson twisted his knee in the 20th minute before Urchins winger Frazer Shaw was also forced off two minutes later. James's replacement Sydney Samaria quickly made an impact, as the Namibian teenager forced an awkward save out of Sam Baxter after 28 minutes. Five minutes later, he went one better - finding the back of the net after Nicky Reynolds spotted him in space! Hornchurch now needed to find a goal to save their Isthmian Premier status, and Francis could have got it two minutes from half-time, but Joel Wilkinson parried the 18-year-old's effort.

Tom Derry scored twice against us when we last played AFC Hornchurch in October, and he came close to equalising for the Urchins after 51 minutes, when his free-kick rattled the crossbar. Seven minutes later, Samaria pulled a shot wide after some fine build-up play from Romford. Hornchurch suffered two more injuries later in the half as their situation became more and more desperate. Captain Chris Piper gashed his leg after running into Ashley Farrell in the 61st minute and was unable to continue, while Derry played on after clashing heads with George Allen in the 78th. The Urchins didn't look like equalising after those blows, and we put them out of their misery after 89 minutes. Dean O'Halloran scored our second goal of the evening - and his second of the season - from a tight angle to finish the game off, and secure three more points for the Boro. Hornchurch did get a goal back through McLaren in injury time, but it didn't matter, because results elsewhere meant that they had been relegated for the second consecutive season.

AFC Hornchurch - 1 (McLaren 90)

Romford - 2 (Samaria 33, O'Halloran 89)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 150 - POSITIONS: AFC Hornchurch 24th, Romford 3rd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman (Betteridge), Hatch, Allen, Guthmy, Ademiluyi, Neville (Farrell), Crawley, O'Halloran, Hartson (Samaria), Reynolds.

That's ten games unbeaten - and five wins in a row - for us! There was now an eight-point gap between us and 6th place, and with just twelve left to fight for, the play-offs were within our reach!

However, our next three games were all away from home. We also had to get through them without James Hartson, who twisted his knee at AFC Hornchurch and was unlikely to return until our last game of the regular season against Dulwich Hamlet.

The first of that run of away fixtures came on 11 April - my 30th birthday - at Gander Green Lane in south London. That was famously the venue where Sutton United sensationally knocked Coventry City out of the FA Cup in 1989. It remains the last time that a non-league side has beaten a top-flight team in the competition. The current Sutton team were 7th in the Isthmian Premier, though they would surely be comfortably in the play-offs if they weren't so goal-shy.

11 April 2015: Sutton United vs Romford

We nearly scored from a counter-attack in only the fourth minute, but Kieron Carroll's attempted half-volley was blocked by young Sutton defender Solomon Sappleton. U's winger James Dance fizzed a shot past the post in the 10th minute - and that was the only decent opportunity the hosts would make for themselves in the first half. Seven minutes later, a dreadful back-pass from Patrice Konan allowed Boro striker Nicky Reynolds to race through on goal, but Nicky's volley was spectacularly turned round the post by Tom Lovelock. The United goalkeeper would make two more crucial saves in the half, as he turned behind Ryan Jones' effort on the half-hour and tipped away Dean O'Halloran's free-kick in the 37th minute. Because of his excellent goalkeeping, the score was still 0-0 at the break.

The impressive Lovelock was finally beaten nine minutes into the second half. However, Connor Dymond's header from a Jones free-kick was immediately chalked off as Connor had unfairly barged into the keeper. Five minutes later, Romford goalie Kieron Thorp made his first save of the day, catching Sam Rents' 20-yard attempt. A better chance came Rents' way on 76 minutes, but after beating Danny Newman to Sappleton's cross, he put his header the wrong side of the post. The game looked like finishing goalless - not a surprising result when you consider that Sutton have neither scored nor conceded many goals this season. This game didn't end goalless, though... because in the last minute of normal time, Carroll poked substitute Sydney Samaria's cross into the net, giving us yet another win! That was our SIXTH in a row!

Sutton United - 0

Romford - 1 (Carroll 90)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 242 - POSITIONS: Sutton Utd 8th, Romford 3rd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, O'Halloran, Farrell, Jones (Vassell), Pearce (Samaria), Carroll, Reynolds (Akindayini).

Kieron's late winner carried extra significance, as it further consolidated our hold on 3rd place, and put us on the verge of securing a play-off berth. 6th-placed Bury Town now needed to win all of their four remaining matches to have any chance of overhauling us.

Four days later, Bury Town hosted mid-table Cray Wanderers... and lost 2-1. Our play-off place was safe and secure - with three games to spare!

[Cheesey1975]

well done. great story so far

[CFuller]

well done. great story so far

Good to hear from you again. We're through to the play-offs, but the job's far from done.

[CFuller]

Before I move on to our next couple of games, I've got a bit of youth news for you. We had our youth trials last month, after which we gave contracts to six players, but we always keep the other trialists on for a few more weeks, after which they are usually released. This time round, though, one of those who didn't receive a contract immediately has done enough to earn one.

His name is Nico Ramsey, and he's another 15-year-old local boy. After he scored four goals in the space of three games, Ricki Mackin suggested that he was worth keeping on, and I agreed that he did deserve a youth contract after all. It looks like Nico has plenty of potential, and it would've been a disappointment if we had let him slip through the net.

Back to the senior team now, and even though we were guaranteed a top-five finish, that didn't mean we would take our foot off the gas in our final three games. That's because - as the table shows - we incredibly still had a slight chance of gaining automatic promotion to the Conference South!

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.    Pl    Harrow                 43    23    13    7     70    38    +32   82
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.    Pl    Lowestoft              43    25    5     13    69    38    +31   80
[color="#0000CD"]3.    Pl    Romford                43    21    13    9     66    51    +15   76[/color]
4.          Dulwich Hamlet         43    20    9     14    58    48    +10   69
5.          Potters Bar            43    19    11    13    71    57    +14   68

Admittedly, it wasn't very likely that we would overtake Harrow Borough to become champions. That said, if we kept on winning and Harrow's fortress started to crumble... well, as an old Adidas advertising slogan says, impossible is nothing.

Our number 1 priority, though, was to make sure we finished in the top three, so we would get a home game in the Play-Off Semi Final. Just one more win would be enough - would that win come in our last away game of the regular season against an out-of-form Grays Athletic team?

18 April 2015: Grays Athletic vs Romford

While we had our sights on consolidating a top-three finish, Grays were battling to stay out of the relegation zone. The Gravelmen could easily have scored within the first minute, but Connor Dymond crucially intercepted Jay Folkes' header to stop it from finding Patrick Drmola. Our first shot at goal came two minutes later, and Reynolds struck from too far out to seriously trouble the target. Boro midfielder Callum Crawley tried a long-range shot in the 12th minute, and Grays keeper Nick Jordan parried it to Nicky Reynolds, who was then flagged offside. Marcus Jenkins sent another effort wide for Grays on 23 minutes, and that pretty much summed up their shooting for the rest of the half. The worst of several missed opportunities for the Gravelmen came in the 45th minute, when Ross Lafayette shot straight at Kieron Thorp after going through on goal. To be fair to Lafayette, he was carring a knock. Just like at Sutton United, this match was still goalless after the first 45 minutes.

Lafayette continued to struggle with his injury in the second half, as he fired over the crossbar shortly after the restart. The striker wouldn't carry on for much longer. Jenkins skied another chance high and wide in the 62nd minute. We were doing just enough defensively to restrict Grays to long-range shooting, but in the 70th minute, Thorp palmed Drmola's shot behind to concede a corner. Lafayette's replacement Greg Deer swung the corner to the near post, where Joe Benjamin fired the ball in off the woodwork. After throwing so much at us, Grays had finally got themselves into a richly-deserved lead. That one goal would be all they needed to claim the three points. We had been punished for a lazy display that saw us fire just three shots at goal. As a result, our eleven-match unbeaten run, our six-game winning streak, and our slim title hopes were all over.

Grays Athletic - 1 (Benjamin 70)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 151 - POSITIONS: Grays 20th, Romford 3rd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Allen (Betteridge), Walters, Akindayini (O'Halloran), Vassell, Crawley, Pearce (Hunt), Carroll, Reynolds. BOOKED: Dymond.

That wasn't the most spirited way to lose a long winning run, but if you're going to have an off-day, do it when you've got little to fight for.

Our penultimate game of the league season was at home to Potters Bar Town, who were directly below us in 4th place and had five fewer points than us. That meant even a draw against the Scholars would be enough for us to secure 3rd spot - and a Play-Off Semi Final at Ship Lane.

25 April 2015: Romford vs Potters Bar Town

Potters Bar knew they had to win to have any chance of replacing us in the top three, and one could sense the agony on their defender Matt Drage's face when he headed a corner wide after 15 minutes. Five minutes later, our position looked even stronger, as we scored the first goal. Kieron Carroll tried to play a cheeky backheel to Nicky Reynolds in the Scholars' penalty area, but after the ball came back to him off full-back Sanchez Ming, Kieron powerfully fired it into the net! We had edged into the lead with our first shot of the match! The rest of the first half was rather humdrum, though George Allen hit the post when he tried to double our advantage in the 39th minute.

Some poor passing on our part gifted Potters Bar a couple of opportunities in the second period. The first was through Kyle Perry in the 53rd minute, when Kieron Thorp comfortably caught his low shot. On 67 minutes, Drew Rhodes pounced on a wayward pass from Ryan Jones, but the Scholars substitute's first-time effort went nowhere near the target. Eventually, Potters Bar did manage to break through our defence... in the first minute of injury time. Rhodes beat Danny Newman to get a clean shot at goal, and he placed it into the corner of the net. Although the visitors' late goal had robbed us of victory, it didn't stop us from getting the point we needed to guarantee a 3rd-place finish. We had done enough to earn a home Semi Final, and nothing else really mattered.

Potters Bar Town - 1 (Rhodes 90)

Romford - 1 (Carroll 20)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 300 - POSITIONS: Potters Bar 4th, Romford 3rd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Dymond, Allen, Guthmy, O'Halloran (Ademiluyi), Farrell, Jones (Pearce), Hunt, Carroll, Reynolds (Samaria). BOOKED: O'Halloran.

Though we still have one more league match to negotiate, we can now start preparing for a Play-Off Semi Final - and our next game against 5th-placed Dulwich Hamlet could well be a dress rehearsal for that!

[CFuller]

6 May 2015 was the last day of the Isthmian League Premier Division season - and near enough every game had something riding on it!

At the top, Harrow Borough and Lowestoft Town were squabbling over the title. At the bottom, NINE sides were battling to avoid the three remaining relegation places. And in between, no fewer than six teams were in contention to join us and the runners-up in the end-of-season play-offs.

In contrast to those sides, we could relax on the final day. We were now certain to finish 3rd, and with Saturday's Play-Off Semi Final in mind, I decided to rest our best players and field a largely second-string team against Dulwich Hamlet.

Dulwich were definitely not going to take things easy, though, as they were one of those six play-off chasers. Only a win would guarantee Hamlet a top-five spot. If they did win, they would have a chance of finishing 4th - and in that case, they would be returning to Ship Lane three days later for the Play-Off Semi Final! If Dulwich didn't finish 4th, we would most likely be playing Potters Bar Town in the Semis... or even Concord Rangers if results went miraculously in their favour.

Even though I didn't know exactly who our next opponents would be, I was feeling totally at ease ahead of kick-off. This was my first game since agreeing terms on a new two-year contract, which increased my weekly wage to £450 and secured my Romford future until at least 2017.

6 May 2015: Romford vs Dulwich Hamlet

Dulwich Hamlet had the first chance, but winger Ambrose Gnahore pulled his shot wide in the second minute. After eight minutes, we went up the other end and drew first blood. Unsurprisingly, it was the in-form Kieron Carroll who got our noses in front, as he tapped in David Pearce's drilled cross for close range. Dulwich threatened to hit back almost immediately, with midfielder Alex Dyer striking a long-distance piledriver wide in the 11th minute. Dyer did draw Hamlet level four minutes later... in bizarre fashion! Boro midfielder Jay Vassell's attempted clearance from Danny Edwards' corner struck the Montserrat international and deflected into our net! That setback was soon followed by another. James Hartson's bad luck continued in the 18th minute, when he was injured by visiting defender Dan Strugnell. James was replaced by Sydney Samaria, and a sliding tackle from the young Namibian left Dulwich full-back Charlie Holness with a stubbed toe after 26 minutes. Despite his injury, Holness played on, and his team-mates went back on the attack late in the first half. Dyer blazed another long-ranger high and wide on 35 minutes, while Edwards went close six minutes later with a swerving free-kick. Deep into injury time, Edwards played a superb long ball to Gnahore in our penalty area, and the ex-Chelsea trainee applied a deadly finish. However, Gnahore was caught offside, and we could thank our lucky stars that we weren't behind at half-time.

Dulwich needed a victory to secure a play-off place, and with other scores not yet going their way, they had no option but to carry on attacking in the second half. Mohammed Dikuiza nodded the ball off target in the 52nd minute, and another header from Hamlet's 23-goal man was caught by Joel Wilkinson eight minutes later. On 73 minutes, Wilko pushed away another ambitious Dyer effort before denying substitute Eddie Brown three minutes later. Joel was certainly having a much busier day than his Dulwich counterpart Liam Priestley, who was deputising for the injured former Romford shotstopper Scott Traveller. Priestley's only save of the entire match had come right at the start of the second half, when he tipped over Callum Crawley's free-kick. Dulwich became less desperate towards the end, as results elsewhere improved for them, meaning they could settle for a draw and still reach the play-offs in 5th place. If Hamlet had carried on and grabbed a late winner, they would have come 4th and drawn us in the Semi Final - but considering how much they dominated this game, I was thankful that we'd be facing Potters Bar Town instead!

Romford - 1 (Carroll 8)

Dulwich Hamlet - 1 (Dyer 15)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 340 - POSITIONS: Romford 3rd, Dulwich Hamlet 5th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Hatch (Hornsey), Betteridge, Guthmy, Ademiluyi, Vassell (Fisk), Crawley, Pearce, Carroll, Hartson (Samaria).

James Hartson's first-half injury was a pretty bad one - in fact, he had twisted his knee for the second time in exactly a month! That of course ended any chance of him taking part in the play-offs, and a stop-start season for the Welsh striker was halted after just 24 appearances.

Three days later, we played host to Potters Bar Town in our Play-Off Semi Final. The other Semi saw runners-up Harrow Borough - who were six minutes away from the championship before losing it to Lowestoft Town - take on Dulwich Hamlet.

There was a six-point gap between us and Potters Bar in the league table, but nothing could separate us on the football pitch, as our previous meetings both finished 1-1. This time, something had to give - whether it took 90 minutes, 120, or a penalty shoot-out.

9 May 2015: Romford vs Potters Bar Town

A record crowd of over 750 gathered at Ship Lane, with most of them either hoping for or expecting Romford to win. However, it was Potters Bar who started the brighter of the two teams. Tom Bradbrook had their first chance inside the second minute, but his long-range attempt went wide. On 11 minutes, Scholars captain Liam Hopkins found Ben Adams in space with a clinical long pass, and Adams' subsequent volley flew just over the bar. A minute later, Romford skipper Kieron Carroll nodded a pass to Nicky Reynolds, who took the ball on the bounce and fired a shot towards goal, only for Josh James to push it away. Jay Vassell then tried his luck from around 25 yards out in the 16th minute, though that particular strike sailed well off target. In the 24th minute, a free-kick from Potters Bar midfielder Sergio Menisio was headed away by Carroll, and the captain kicked off a counter-attacking move. Within half a minute, that move culminated in Nicky Reynolds putting Sean Hunt's delivery into the net with a close-range left-footer! The first goal was ours, though we had to be wary of a response from Potters Bar. Kyle Perry missed the target with another long-range attempt by the visitors after 28 minutes. Eight minutes after that, Perry played in Bradbrook, whose shot from the edge of the area went straight at Thorp. The Scholars needed to brush up on their shooting, and with four minutes to go until half-time, Carroll taught them a lesson in how to find the target. Anthony Chapman lofted the ball from our half to Potters Bar's penalty area, where Kieron chested it and fired it into the far end of the net! Now we were leading 2-0, and looking very self-assured, but we needed to keep cool in the second half if we were to finish the job.

Nicky came close to adding a third goal in the 50th minute, as his strike from 20 yards only just cleared the crossbar. Two minutes later, Dean O'Halloran failed to direct a free-kick towards the target. Would they be costly misses? After 54 minutes, Dean was muscled off the ball by Scholars defender Eljay Worrell, who started off a devastating breakaway move for Potters Bar. Right-winger Adams was found criminally unmarked, and from the edge of the penalty box, he blasted the ball home to halve our advantage! How we reacted to conceding that goal was now likely to be crucial. Most of our players handled the situation well... but sadly, not everyone could keep their emotions in check. In the 68th minute, vice-captain Ashley Farrell - a half-time replacement for the disappointing Vassell - hacked down John Bennett with both feet, and after the red mist came the red card! Ashley was now certain to be banned from the Final IF we got there, but a rush of blood to his head had put all of his team-mates under severe pressure. Defending a single-goal lead when you're a man short is never easy.

After 70 minutes, it looked like Aaron Brown was about to go through on goal and have a chance to equalise for Potters Bar, but Romford right-back Chapman came into his own with a superb interception. Though Brown managed to get the ball back, his momentum had gone, and he shot high and wide. Seven minutes later, Chapman had a rare attempt on goal, and unsurprisingly failed to get anywhere near the target. We were looking more and more dangerous from out wide, and with eight minutes remaining, both Boro wingers contributed to the goal that booked our place in the Final. O'Halloran caught out James with a right-wing cross that cannoned off the crossbar, and the Scholars keeper was helpless to stop left-flanker Sean Hunt converting the rebound! Potters Bar could not possibly fight back from this, and now only one more match stood between us and the Conference South!

Romford - 3 (Reynolds 24, Carroll 41, Hunt 82)

Potters Bar Town - 1 (Adams 54)

Isthmian League Premier Division Play-Off Semi Final, Attendance 778

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Allen (Betteridge), Walters, O'Halloran, Vassell (Farrell), Jones, Hunt, Carroll (Akindayini), Reynolds. SENT OFF: Farrell.

This was another sterling performance at Ship Lane, and I was really proud that we had only lost ONE league game there all season, even if it was against relegated Hendon. Understandably, I wanted us to remain at 'home' for the Final... but Harrow Borough had other ideas. The Reds' 2-0 win over Dulwich Hamlet meant that we would have to go to their place and beat them if we were to secure promotion.

Cracking Harrow's rock-hard defence on their own ground would be no mean feat. Whitehawk were the only team to take three points from Earlsmead all season, and when we last went there in January, Harrow basically took us to the cleaners. Even more ominously, we had won precisely none of our last four matches against the other Boro!

But there's a first time for everything, isn't there? ISN'T THERE?

[CFuller]

On 12 May 2013, we recorded the most important win in our recent history. We came back from 2-1 down to beat AFC Sudbury and win promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division.

Exactly two years on, we were in another Play-Off Final - and this time, a place in the Conference South was at stake. To make it up to the sixth tier of English football, we would need to overcome Harrow Borough on their Earlsmead ground.

It would be a magnificent achievement if we won at Earlsmead and went up after just two seasons in the Isthmian Premier. But Harrow had spent 36 consecutive seasons in this division, and they were desperate to finally make it to the Conference South, having come so close to automatic promotion a week earlier.

12 May 2015: Harrow Borough vs Romford

Despite our poor record against Harrow, I had a game plan that I hoped would break through their steely backline. The idea was to withstand Harrow's attacks and hit them on the break with a high-pressing, counter-attacking strategy. That plan went so well that, er, the hosts scored with their first chance. Harrow beat us at our own game in the 18th minute, when Lee Wootton intercepted an attempted long pass from Anthony Chapman, starting a breakaway move that ended with Anton Hakim drilling in the opener. As Earlsmead erupted into a cacophony of cheers, I considered switching to a Plan B. In the 21st minute, Romford keeper Kieron Thorp denied Carl Rook a second goal for Harrow, and a minute later, Ricky Byrne's header narrowly missed the target. When left-winger Kamal Guthmy suffered a knock in the Harrow penalty area on 27 minutes, I decided it was the right time to switch to my alternative plan. As the injured Kamal was replaced by Sean Hunt, I switched formation from 4-4-2 to an attacking 4-2-3-1, hoping that it would put the home team's defence under further pressure. What it actually did was open up our backline even more. In the 32nd minute, Craig Wright's lobbed pass sent Rook one-on-one with Thorp, but Kieron kept us in it by catching a close-range header from the striker. Three minutes later, a mistake from Thorp could have put us 2-0 behind, as he spilled the ball when attempting to take it off Rook's feet. Fortunately, George Walters was at hand to boot the loose ball clear. Shortly after that, our top scorer Nicky Reynolds tried to create a chance from nothing by running at the Harrow defence, but when the time came to shoot, he comfortably missed the target. With that, we went into the break needing to overcome a single-goal deficit. We did exactly that in the 2013 Play-Off Final, but was a repeat even on the cards?

The atmosphere in the Romford dressing room during half-time wasn't exactly a positive one. Some of the players already seemed resigned to another yet defeat at Earlsmead, and I had to remind them exactly what this occasion was all about. We had to stay strong and keep believing that we could fight back - no matter how strong the opposition were. While we stood 45 minutes from disaster, we were also potentially 45 minutes away from glory.

As we returned for the second period, we looked more determined than we had done all night. Likewise, Harrow were really pumped up, and keen to pull themselves even further clear. Less than a minute after the restart, Thorp had to pull off one of his best saves of the season to palm Matthew Thompson's strike over the crossbar. It would have taken an even more spectacular stoppage to keep Harrow's next shot out of the net in the 55th minute. Dymond was caught out of position by Hakim, who powerfully half-volleyed Wright's pass in for his and the Reds' second goal. At 2-0 down, promotion was slipping from our fingers. Six minutes later, our digits turned into butter. Chapman stopped Thompson's cross into the six-yard box from reaching Barry Dix, but he was helpless to deny Rook, who blasted home the rebound. It was now 3-0, and practically game over. The biggest match of the season had turned into a nightmare for all of us - especially Dymond, who was hauled off minutes later following arguably his most torrid display in a blue and yellow shirt. Another Romford hero who was having a shocker was Reynolds, who never looked like adding to his 25-goal season tally. In the 73rd minute, he headed over the bar from substitute Wayne Hatch's long delivery into the Harrow box. He did get a couple of shots on target, but Gareth Hoad saved them both in the 76th and 81st minutes. A miserable night for Romford was completed in the last minute of normal time, when the Reds delivered the final blow. It was the magnificent Rook who had the final say, as he scored again to join his team-mate Hakim on two goals and give his side a 4-0 win. While the other Boro were saying Harrow to the Conference South, we were kissing goodbye to promotion for at least another season.

Harrow Borough - 4 (Hakim 18,55, Rook 61,90)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division Play-Off Final, Attendance 926

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond (Hatch), Betteridge, Walters, O'Halloran (Akindayini), Vassell, Crawley, Guthmy (Hunt), Carroll, Reynolds. BOOKED: Vassell.

That really hurt. We had been well and truly outclassed, but the defeat was so severe that we were completely devastated after the final whistle. Grown men and young lads in their late teens were in floods of tears in the dressing room. There were hardly any positives to take out of this - only that we at least won't have to play Harrow again next season!

I personally was speechless - so much so that my assistant Tony Reid had to give a consoling team talk in my place. I just couldn't believe it that we had saved our worst day at the office for the final and most important game of the season. Nearly nine months of incredible effort had been rendered practically meaningless.

It's almost enough to make a teetotal man like myself turn to drink.

[CFuller]

Although the humiliating result at Harrow Borough left me feeling very downbeat, you'll be relieved to know that I decided in the end to stay off the booze. Instead, I spent good couple of hours sat silently in my bedroom before going to sleep.

By the time I woke up the next morning, I'd accepted the situation for what it was, and resigned myself to another 12 months managing in the Isthmian League Premier Division. Though I wasn't exactly delighted, there was no question of quitting. After all, I had only just signed a new two-year contract, and I was now determined to get us into the Conference South by the time that deal expired.

I was definitely staying, then, but after returning to work, I had my first major row with chairman Leo Jones.

I had hoped that we could use some of the money Mr Jones had invested into the club to improve our training facilities, which were so run-down that even Sunday League footballers would refuse to train on them. But even though we had nearly £100,000 in the bank, Mr Jones said we "couldn't afford it". I then asked if we could improve the youth team's facilities instead, and he threw the same rejection at me.

I could hardly understand Mr Jones' reasoning. All that I could think of was that he perhaps wanted us to be more self-sufficient, and less reliant on his monthly cash injections. But surely every non-league club with as much money as us would want to put it to good use before it all got gobbled up by the tax man or wasted scouting trips to Scotland!

Later that day, I had something else to be disappointed about. None of our players were named in the Isthmian Premier Team of the Season, and none came particularly close to winning either the Golden Gloves or the Golden Boot. I was nominated for Manager of the Season again, only to miss out on the top three once more. We didn't even win the Bluefin Fair Play award as we had done in the last two campaigns!

There would be some better news later on in the month. Nicky Reynolds wasted little time in agreeing a new contract for next season, while Connor Dymond joined him as our top earner on £200 a week. I also forgave Ashley Farrell for his red card in the Play-Off Semi Final, and handed the young midfielder his first senior contract.

As for David Pearce, the left-winger returned to Harlow Town after a loan spell that started incredibly brightly before he faded into mediocrity. Although we wouldn't be signing David permanently, we would always be grateful to him for the part he played in our incredible March comebacks against Hendon and Concord Rangers.

Assistant manager Tony Reid and the rest of my backroom staff also agreed to stay on for another campaign - one that I really hoped would end much more gloriously than this. Our promotion bid for 2015/2016 was already underway.

[CFuller]

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.    C     Lowestoft              46    27    6     13    74    41    +33   87
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.    P     Harrow                 46    24    14    8     78    43    +35   86
[color="#0000FF"]3.          Romford                46    21    15    10    68    54    +14   78[/color]
4.          Potters Bar            46    20    12    14    76    61    +15   72
5.          Dulwich Hamlet         46    20    11    15    60    53    +7    71
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Concord Rangers        46    21    7     18    61    56    +5    70
7.          Bury Town              46    18    14    14    57    49    +8    68
8.          Sutton Utd             46    19    11    16    46    44    +2    68
9.          Bognor Regis           46    17    16    13    49    44    +5    67
10.         Hastings               46    19    10    17    71    70    +1    67
11.         Whitehawk              46    17    15    14    54    60    -6    66
12.         Cray                   46    20    5     21    58    70    -12   65
13.         Thurrock               46    16    14    16    48    51    -3    62
14.         Billericay             46    17    10    19    59    66    -7    61
15.         Maidstone              46    16    9     21    48    59    -11   57
16.         St Neots               46    15    11    20    71    76    -5    56
17.         St Albans              46    15    10    21    56    54    +2    55
18.         Faversham              46    16    7     23    62    61    +1    55
19.         Enfield Town           46    14    13    19    53    66    -13   55
20.         Histon                 46    14    12    20    59    60    -1    54
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Hendon                 46    15    9     22    69    77    -8    54
22.   R     Grays                  46    14    12    20    59    76    -17   54
23.   R     Witham                 46    13    14    19    44    61    -17   53
24.   R     AFC Hornchurch         46    10    11    25    55    83    -28   41

[CFuller]

GOALKEEPERS               APPS    CON  CLN  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Kieron Thorp              42      57   12   0    68%  -    -    0    0    6.82
Joel Wilkinson            19      19   7    0    76%  -    -    0    0    6.81

OUTFIELD PLAYERS          APPS    GLS  AST  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Michael Ademiluyi         12 (17) 0    1    0    75%  1.87 0%   0    0    6.69
Daniel Akindayini         30 (12) 9    9    1    78%  1.68 37%  1    0    6.99
George Allen              27 (9)  2    0    2    62%  2.03 50%  1    0    6.82
Mark Betteridge           36 (12) 5    1    6    64%  1.53 47%  1    0    6.95
Kieron Carroll            39 (12) 20   6    2    79%  1.98 48%  3    0    7.05
Anthony Chapman           31 (2)  1    4    1    77%  2.93 25%  1    0    6.98
Callum Crawley            33 (8)  2    7    0    82%  2.65 17%  0    0    6.88
Connor Dymond             40 (3)  3    0    8    61%  1.60 83%  4    0    7.31
Ashley Farrell            33 (11) 0    6    0    74%  3.25 25%  2    1    6.82
Bobby Fisk                2 (2)   1    0    0    72%  2.23 75%  0    0    7.20
Matt Griffiths            0 (2)   0    0    0    88%  -    0%   0    0    6.70
Kamal Guthmy              34 (5)  3    1    0    74%  2.68 71%  2    0    6.87
Jason Harley              1 (1)   1    0    0    83%  1.67 100% 0    0    7.45
James Hartson             11 (13) 5    5    0    80%  1.53 55%  0    0    6.93
Wayne Hatch               19 (17) 1    0    0    59%  2.35 25%  0    0    6.80
Jake Hesketh              2 (1)   0    0    0    85%  3.18 0%   0    0    6.66
Craig Hornsey             0 (2)   0    0    0    58%  -    -    0    0    6.65
Sean Hunt                 28 (6)  5    9    2    74%  1.80 45%  1    1    6.93
Ryan Jones                24 (3)  0    5    1    81%  3.36 60%  0    0    6.91
Greg Knock                1 (3)   0    0    0    57%  1.93 0%   0    0    6.93
Brian Neville             15 (4)  2    0    0    78%  3.68 67%  0    0    6.81
Danny Newman              26      0    0    1    80%  2.45 0%   0    0    7.00
Greg Oates                3       0    1    0    76%  1.33 -    0    0    7.07
Joe Oates                 14 (5)  2    3    1    75%  1.96 41%  0    0    6.96
Dean O'Halloran           30 (7)  2    13   1    75%  2.18 24%  3    0    6.82
David Pearce              6 (3)   2    3    0    71%  3.11 43%  0    0    6.88
Peter Plummer             0 (3)   0    0    0    57%  0.00 -    0    0    6.60
Nicky Reynolds            44 (5)  25   10   8    80%  2.19 51%  0    0    7.24
Sydney Samaria            3 (6)   2    2    0    78%  1.96 38%  1    0    6.90
Allan Sparrow             0 (2)   0    0    0    60%  0.00 -    0    0    6.95
Gerald Stroud             1 (1)   0    0    0    72%  1.33 0%   0    0    6.30
Jay Vassell               31 (4)  4    3    1    78%  4.34 47%  6    0    6.89
George Walters            34 (1)  0    1    1    78%  3.32 0%   1    0    6.85

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

[CFuller]

June was a quiet month for us - certainly as far as incomings were concerned. I had no plans to make wholesale changes to the squad that came so close to winning promotion last season, and my reasoning behind this was two-fold.

Firstly, we had the youngest squad in the Isthmian League Premier Division, and most of our players were still improving. If such an inexperienced side could go all the way to the Play-Off Final, imagine how far we could progress after the lads have had another campaign under their belts.

This is not to say we don't need to strengthen in any department - far from it, in fact. We are still lacking a good attack-minded central midfielder, and that was perhaps the main reason why we couldn't create as many scoring opportunities as I'd hoped for last season.

Without being disrespectful to our current goalkeepers, a new number 1 is also on my wish list. Kieron Thorp has brought nothing like the stability that we had when Scott Traveller was our goalie, and I'm still yet to be convinced that Joel Wilkinson will ever be confident enough to hold down a starting place.

Apart from in those two areas of the pitch, I don't see myself making any significant signings, as I don't want to upset the balance of a promising young team with plenty of potential.

Secondly, even if I wanted to make loads of big signings, I couldn't. My weekly wage budget was increased only slightly to a little over £1,000 per week, making it still the smallest budget of its kind in the division.

On the up side, the chairman did for the first time give me a transfer budget - of £2,000. That might be able to buy a strand of Neymar's hair, but I very much doubt we could sign anyone of any real worth with that kind of money.

Despite my reluctance to sign too many players, I did bring one in this month. He was a skilful 17-year-old left-winger called Nick Fenwick, and he had been available on a free transfer after being released from Leyton Orient's youth team.

Meanwhile, defensive midfielder Brian Neville signed a new senior contract - eventually. We argued for weeks about what his weekly salary would be, and in the end, I backed down and agreed to his demands... a week before his youth deal was set to expire.

James Hartson would also be staying at Ship Lane - but not with us. He accepted an offer to join our landlords Thurrock, and I wouldn't stand in the way of him getting regular football elsewhere, even if it was for our rivals. In 43 appearances for Romford, James scored just 11 goals, but he suffered so many injuries that he couldn't realise his full potential. That's a shame.

We also parted company with seven other players. Michael Ademiluyi, Callum Crawley and Kieron Thorp were all released, along with youth-teamers Lee Goodwin, Peter Plummer, Sydney Samaria and Nick Yorke.

A couple of those departees were named in the Romford supporters' best XI for 2014/2015, which read: Kieron Thorp, Anthony Chapman, Connor Dymond, Mark Betteridge, Kamal Guthmy, Daniel Akindayini, Jay Vassell, Callum Crawley, Sean Hunt, Nicky Reynolds, Kieron Carroll.

For the third year in a row, Nicky Reynolds was chosen as the Fans' Player of the Year, even though his 25-goal tally didn't quite stack up to his hauls from the previous two seasons. If I'm honest, I would have chosen Connor Dymond as my Player of the Year because of his brave and often brilliant performances in the centre of our defence, but the fans obviously adore Nicky, so I won't disagree with them.

As the month came to a close, we received the fixture list for the new 2015/2016 season. For us, the big kick-off would come at Isthmian Premier new-boys Aveley on 22 August, while our first home fixture would be against St Albans City three days later.

The two Ship Lane derbies against Thurrock were scheduled for 17 October ('home') and 1 March ('away'), and the final game of the season was set to be at home to Faversham Town on 30 April.

Over the next ten months, we will be building a promotion challenge that will hopefully take us one step further than last term. Our third season as a Isthmian Premier club is now on the horizon - but will it be third time lucky?

[CFuller]

Premier League

The 'Big Four' were all battling it out for the Premier League title in 2014/2015, but once again, it was Manchester City who prevailed. A 3-0 win over Stoke City on the final day saw Roberto Mancini's men pip Arsenal to the title on goal difference, and become the first team to win four consecutive English league championships. The Gunners finished second again thanks to some terrific midfield displays from PFA Player of the Year Jack Wilshere. Arsene Wenger's long reign as manager ended with a ten-year major trophy drought still ongoing, although they did at least win the Community Shield against City.

After losing manager Rafa Benítez to Real Madrid in the summer, Chelsea turned to former Atlético Madrid boss Diego Simeone. In their first season under the Argentine's management, the Blues finished 3rd, despite leading for much of the second half of the campaign. Manchester United dropped out of the top three for the first time in the Premier League era, though José Mourinho kept United fans on side by overcoming Liverpool to win a record 13th FA Cup for the Red Devils.

Newcastle United's resurgence gathered pace as summer signing Carlos Tevez helped them to retain the League Cup, and also finish a very creditable 5th. Newly-rich Fulham came 6th after being taken over by Latvian business tycoon Dmitrijs Morozs, who spent over £27million on new players and appointed David Moyes as manager. Just below them were Norwich City, for whom Costa Rica forward Celso Borges won the Golden Boot with 22 goals.

Another hard-fought battle against relegation ended in heartbreak for Sunderland, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and - after seven years in the top flight - Stoke City. Southampton were actually odds-on to go down as late as March. Then Alan Curbishley abandoned Wolves to replace the axed Mauricio Pochettino, and the Saints marched to safety on the final day at the expense of Curbishley's former employers.

Top Four: Manchester City (1st, 79 pts), Arsenal (2nd, 79 pts), Chelsea (3rd, 75 pts), Manchester United (4th, 74 pts).

Relegated: Stoke City (18th, 35 pts), Wolverhampton Wanderers (19th, 34 pts), Sunderland (20th, 33 pts).

Championship

Nottingham Forest comfortably returned to the Premier League at the first attempt. Darren Ferguson's charges finished ten points ahead of Bolton Wanderers, for whom it was third time lucky as they too won automatic promotion from the Championship.

In the Play-Offs, it was a tale of two penalty shoot-outs for Peterborough United. They overcame Leeds United on spot-kicks and booked a Final meeting with West Bromwich Albion, who had knocked Blackpool out. But following a 2-2 draw at Wembley, Peterborough's luck changed, and it was West Brom - and their 31-goal hero Jelle Vossen - who went up instead after a 4-3 shoot-out win.

Having come up from League One in the previous season, Bristol City and Derby County both narrowly missed out on the Play-Offs. The future looks bright for those teams, but perhaps not Queens Park Rangers, who entered administration in December and suffered a 10-point deduction that dropped them into the bottom half.

Two Yorkshire teams were relegated after particularly bad seasons. Rock-bottom Doncaster Rovers had a 22-game winless streak in between victories over Middlesbrough, who went from the UEFA Cup Final to League One in just nine years. The other relegated side were Brentford, who continued to struggle with a lack of managerial stability.

Promoted: Nottingham Forest (1st, 94 pts), Bolton Wanderers (2nd, 84 pts), West Bromwich Albion (4th, 80 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Leeds United (3rd, 83 pts), Blackpool (5th, 75 pts), Peterborough United (6th, 73 pts).

Relegated: Brentford (22nd, 47 pts), Middlesbrough (23rd, 40 pts), Doncaster Rovers (24th, 29 pts).

League One

With 31 wins and exactly 100 points, Tranmere Rovers were the undisputed kings of League One. They were joined in making an instant return to the Championship by Birmingham City, who halted their decline and pipped AFC Bournemouth to second place by just a single point.

Bournemouth cracked under pressure in the Play-Offs as they lost to 6th-placed Swindon Town, while Sheffield United only needed one goal to beat Charlton Athletic. A solitary goal also decided the Wembley Final in the Blades' favour, as Ryan Flynn scored early in the second half to delight the red half of Sheffield.

Gillingham, Walsall and Scunthorpe United all failed in their attempts to retain their League One status for more than just one season. The other promoted side - Morecambe - came very close to going down as well. However, they crucially won on the final day, and Milton Keynes Dons were relegated to League Two instead.

Promoted: Tranmere Rovers (1st, 100 pts), Birmingham City (2nd, 83 pts), Sheffield United (5th, 74 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: AFC Bournemouth (3rd, 82 pts), Charlton Athletic (4th, 82 pts), Swindon Town (6th, 71 pts).

Relegated: Milton Keynes Dons (21st, 47 pts), Scunthorpe United (22nd, 46 pts), Walsall (23rd, 44 pts), Gillingham (24th, 42 pts).

League Two

Only five points separated the top six in League Two after what was an epic fight for promotion. In the end, Shrewsbury Town took the title, top scorers Hartlepool United came second, and Northampton Town made up for last year's Play-Off disappointment by going up automatically.

The Play-Off Semi Finals could hardly have been more contrasting, as Port Vale demolished Wrexham, while Fleetwood Town required extra-time to see off Rochdale. But the Final actually went Fleetwood's way, as David Ball's first-half goal at Wembley put the Cod Army back in League One.

Southend United's 95-year spell in the Football League ended after a terrible season spent almost entirely at the bottom of the table. Aldershot Town weren't much better, and they too would have to prepare for life in the Conference Premier.

Promoted: Shrewsbury Town (1st, 78 pts), Hartlepool United (2nd, 76 pts), Northampton Town (3rd, 75 pts), Fleetwood Town (4th, 73 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Wrexham (5th, 73 pts), Port Vale (6th, 73 pts), Rochdale (7th, 71 pts).

Relegated: Aldershot Town (23rd, 47 pts), Southend United (24th, 40 pts).

Conference Premier

At long last, Luton Town's six-season exile from the Football League was brought to an end after Lawrie Sanchez's hatters narrowly beat Cambridge United to the Conference Premier title.

Cambridge's own wait to return to League football goes on, though, after they were beaten in the Play-Off Semi FInal by Mansfield Town. The Stags faced Accrington Stanley, who eliminated Stockport County, in the Final - and won 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to secure promotion.

Not many people were surprised to see FC Halifax Town, Hayes & Yeading United and Braintree Town relegated. In contrast, Barnet suffering back-to-back relegations was a real shock, as new manager Scott Parker couldn't save them from the Conference South.

Promoted: Luton Town (1st, 90 pts), Mansfield Town (5th, 78 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Cambridge United (2nd, 88 pts), Accrington Stanley (3rd, 86 pts), Stockport County (4th, 80 pts).

Relegated: Barnet (21st, 53 pts), Braintree Town (22nd, 45 pts), Hayes & Yeading United (23rd, 39 pts), FC Halifax Town (24th, 35 pts).

Conference North

Promoted: Alfreton Town (1st, 84 pts), Southport (2nd, 74 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Altrincham (3rd, 71 pts), Worcester City (4th, 68 pts), Matlock Town (5th, 66 pts).

Relegated: Colwyn Bay (20th, 38 pts), Solihull Moors (21st, 27 pts), Banbury United (22nd, 24 pts).

Conference South

Promoted: Boreham Wood (1st, 84 pts), Newport County (2nd, 77 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Havant & Waterlooville (3rd, 76 pts), Dartford (4th, 72 pts), Bromley (5th, 70 pts).

Relegated: Welling United (20th, 39 pts), Margate (21st, 39 pts), Carshalton Athletic (22nd, 34 pts).

Regional Premier Divisions

Promoted from Northern Premier League Premier: Ilkeston (1st), Hednesford Town (3rd).

Promoted from Isthmian League Premier: Lowestoft Town (1st), Harrow Borough (2nd).

Promoted from Southern League Premier: Dorchester Town (1st), Hampton & Richmond Borough (5th).

[CFuller]

Major Transfers

• The biggest transfer in the Premier League this season was without a doubt Manchester United's club-record £45.5million purchase of Brazil superstar Neymar from Santos. The flamboyant forward lived up to the billing, with 13 goals and 11 assists to his name after a hugely-promising first season at Old Trafford.
  
• Diego Simeone's Chelsea had plenty of money to spend as usual. They used most of the £23million that Bayern Munich paid them for right-back César Azpilicueta to replace him with Simeone's Argentine compatriot Matias Ezequiel Schelotto, who cost £17.25million from Inter Milan. They also spent £21.5million on Manchester United defender Jonny Evans and £12.75million on Newcastle United midfielder Yohan Cabaye.
  
• Liverpool spent over £20million to bring no fewer than FOUR Tottenham Hotspur players to the club! Martin Olsson, Ola Toivonen, Michael Dawson and finally Tom Huddlestone all swapped White Hart Lane for Anfield, and apart from Dawson, they made hardly any impact on the first-team! No wonder that manager Brendan Rodgers lost his job at the end of the season...
  
• Manchester City burnt an awful lot of Emirati dirhams over the summer. They parted with £15.5million to sign Liverpool striker Fabio Borini, who made 29 league appearances for City - all of them from the bench! An even greater waste of money was the £14million they paid for Claudio Yacob, as the former West Bromwich Albion anchor man didn't get a single minute of Premier League action for the champions!
  
• While Neymar was unpacking his suitcases in Manchester, Barcelona forked out £36million to sign another Brazilian striker. Leandro Damiao transpired to be a fantastic acquisition from Internacional, as he averaged about a goal every other game for Barca.
  
• City made the most significant signing of a quiet January transfer window, as they snapped up Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke for £15.5million. The Belgian would make just eight appearances for his new club, though he did score three goals.
  

Managerial Movements

• Rafa Benítez got his dream job as Real Madrid manager in July, and the much-maligned former Liverpool and Chelsea boss succeeded in bringing the La Liga title back to the Santiago Bernabeu. Benítez wasn't the only Spanish coach to leave south London and return home in the summer, as Roberto Martínez walked out on Fulham shortly before their Latvian takeover and took charge of Sevilla. He was sacked at the end of the season.
  
• Tottenham Hotspur's inconsistent start to the campaign resulted in a premature end to the André Villas-Boas 'project'. His successor at White Hart Lane was Michael Laudrup, and the Dane was replaced at Swansea City by club-hopping veteran Martin O'Neill. The Ulsterman's former club West Ham United then looked to club icon Paolo Di Canio, who left Blackpool to take over at the Boleyn Ground.
  
• High-flying Watford were stunned on Boxing Day, when manager Gianfranco Zola suddenly quit to take over at Roma! It was a wise move for Zola, as he led Roma to their first Serie A scudetto since 2001, and Watford slumped from European outsiders to relegation battlers under the reins of ex-Stoke City boss Tony Pulis. Stoke would go on to be relegated, despite the best efforts of Pulis's replacement Ian Holloway.
  
• Later in the season, Brian McDermott swapped Sunderland for Everton, who had axed Steve Clarke, and Gus Poyet took the Mackems reins. Then, with eight games to go, Alan Curbishley made a risky move in leaving 15th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers for the Premier League's bottom team Southampton. It turned out to be a masterstroke, as Curbishley pulled off the great escape at St Mary's, and Wolves were relegated after failing to win a game under new gaffer Billy Davies.
  
• There was uproar in Eindhoven during the autumn after Martin Jol quit PSV... so he could take the vacant manager's job at rivals Ajax! PSV would have the last laugh, though, as they successfully defended the Eredivisie title after pipping Jol's Ajax by three points. And who was the man who brought the Boeren their latest championship? It was none other than Danny Blind - a former Ajax hero!
  
• The Ajax job became vacant in the first place because Robert Maaskant had left Amsterdam to become AC Milan's new manager. But Massimiliano Allegri's replacement couldn't save the Rossoneri's flagging season, as Milan only finished 8th in Serie A. They had fallen just short of retaining the scudetto a year earlier.
  

Other Major Stories

• There was a shock in the UEFA Champions League Final, as Porto - who didn't even win the Portuguese Primeira Liga - came away from Cardiff with the biggest trophy in European football! After holding Barcelona to a goalless draw in the Final, Porto came through an epic penalty shoot-out, winning 7-6 after nine kicks each! Substitute midfielder André Castro converted the decisive penalty for Vitor Pereira's men, who won the European Cup for the third time in their history.
  
• Alan Pardew's first year as England manager didn't go too smoothly. The Three Lions lost to Croatia in just Pardew's second game as coach. They then stumbled through the 2016 European Championship qualifiers, during which they went 2-1 down in Liechtenstein and were fortunate to narrowly win 3-2!
  
• Two former England centurions retired at the end of the season, both at the age of 34. Steven Gerrard brought an end to his Liverpool career after 17 seasons in the Anfield first-team, and Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole bowed out having made exactly 400 league appearances.
  
• There could be a new force to be reckoned with in Spain. Granada followed up successive 6th-place finishes by breaking into the top three, thus ensuring that they will compete in the Champions League. Just a decade ago, they were playing in the Tercera División - Spanish football's fourth tier!
  
• Another dramatic championship race in Germany ended with Josep Guardiola's Bayern Munich regaining the Bundesliga crown from Borussia Dortmund, who came 3rd. Meanwhile, Wolfsburg - who were champions as recently as 2009 - were relegated after finishing dead last!
  
• Celtic won the Scottish Premier League (surprise, surprise) for a fourth straight year after beating runners-up St Mirren by 20 points. They will be rejoined in the SPL next season by Old Firm rivals Rangers, who inevitably made it a hat-trick of promotions, though not without a few hiccups in Division 1.
  

[CFuller]

Cup Winners

FA Cup: Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool (aet).

League Cup: Newcastle United 1-0 Manchester City.

Community Shield: Arsenal 1-1 Manchester City (4-3 penalties).

Football League Trophy: Oldham Athletic 0-0 Stevenage (4-3 penalties).

UEFA Champions League: Porto 0-0 Barcelona (7-6 penalties) - at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

UEFA Europa League: Valencia 1-0 Lille - at Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna.

UEFA Super Cup: Bayern Munich 3-1 Ajax - at Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff.

FIFA Club World Championship: Bayern Munich 3-1 Santos - at Stade du Prince Moulay Abdallah, Rabat.

Major European Leagues

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

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

German Bundesliga: Bayern Munich (1st), Schalke 04 (2nd), Borussia Dortmund (3rd).

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

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

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

Scottish Premier League: Celtic (1st), St Mirren (2nd), Heart of Midlothian (3rd).

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

Award Winners

PFA Player of the Year: Jack Wilshere (Arsenal).

PFA Young Player of the Year: Eden Hazard (Chelsea).

FWA Footballer of the Year: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City).

Premier League Manager of the Season: David Moyes (Fulham).

PFA Premier League Team of the Year: Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle United), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle United), Leighton Baines (Manchester City), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Oscar (Chelsea), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Luis Suárez (Liverpool), Celso Borges (Norwich City).

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

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

European Golden Shoe: Robert Lewandowski (Paris Saint-Germain).

UEFA Best Player in Europe: Lionel Messi (Barcelona).

FIFA/FIFPro World XI: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Adil Rami (Valencia), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Juan Mata (Chelsea), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal).

[CFuller]

As the sun rose on what would be my fourth season in charge of Romford FC, there was a sense of quiet optimism at the training ground. Back in 2013/2014, we finished 8th in the Isthmian League Premier Division. 12 months later, we followed that up with a 3rd-place finish, and a crushing Play-Off Final defeat. We now believed that we could continue the upward trajectory, and claim a spot in the Conference South.

The change in attitude compared to three years ago, when I first took the manager's job, was massive. Back then, we were a mediocre club in the Isthmian League Division 1 North - more than happy to merely survive in mid-table under Paul Martin. 'Unambitious' might as well have been our club slogan in the years before I arrived.

Now, we were an established force in the division directly above, and among the favourites to win promotion again.

As I watched the players during their first week back in training, I had plenty of reason to be confident about our chances of going up this season. I thought that we'd be able to get by with a few additions to a squad that same so close to taking that important next step back in May, so a quiet summer on the transfer front would have suited me fine. In fact, I got more than I bargained for.

My decision to release Kieron Thorp always meant that we would need to bring in a new goalkeeper, and I wasted no time in finding one. Roscoe Fryatt may sound like an American law firm, but the 18-year-old might well be our regular shotstopper for many years to come. A former Luton Town player, Ros will at least provide strong competition for Joel Wilkinson if he doesn't take the number 1 jersey straight away.

I had always wanted to sign a keeper and a central midfielder before the new season - but a new striker was certainly not on my wish list. Then a 19-year-old lad by the name of Duncan Greenwood became available.

I remembered stumbling across that name last season, as I read that he was one of several teenage substitutes used by Queens Park Rangers in a League Cup game. When I heard that Duncan was looking for a new club after the hard-up Hoops had cut him loose, I was very interested. And when word spread that another non-league club had offered him a contract, I had to act quickly.

There was an anxious week-long wait before Duncan made his decision - and signed a 12-month contract with us worth £90 per week. At 6ft 5in, the big target man (who was born in Bristol but grew up mostly in Newcastle) will tower over a lot of opposition defenders and surely get us plenty of goals this season!

After Ros and Dunc joined Nick Fenwick as new arrivals at Romford, attention turned to those who could possibly be leaving. A number of our first-teamers received offers from other clubs. While defender George Allen contemplated a possible move to Thatcham Town, winger Sean Hunt flatly turned down approaches from both AFC Hornchurch and Cheshunt... but one of our regulars decided that it was time for a new challenge.

I was rather saddened when left-back George Walters told me that he was leaving Romford to sign a more lucrative contract with Thamesmead Town. George had been a part of my team since the early days of my reign, and despite a shaky start, he gradually improved and went on to make 88 appearances in three years.

Walters' departure freed up a place at left-back, and I already had a replacement in mind. Jason Collins was recently released from the same Leyton Orient youth team as our earlier signing Fenwick, and I took the 17-year-old on trial with a view to a permanent transfer.

The first chance to try out Jason and our other new argonauts came on Bastille Day, when we made the short journey to Ilford. The Foxes have been stuck in the Essex Senior League since their relegation from the Isthmian North in 2013.

14 July 2015: Ilford vs Romford

We got off to a nervous start, and Roscoe Fryatt had to make a fine save to keep out Dorryl Proffitt's low shot in the fifth minute. In the 11th minute, a shot from one of our other debutants - big Duncan Greenwood - sailed inches wide of the Ilford goal. Shortly afterwards, Boro full-back Kamal Guthmy was muscled off the ball by Foxes midfielder Nathaniel Howell, who lobbed over the crossbar. After a worrying first quarter of an hour, things gradually got better for us, as Ilford's goalkeeper Jordan Raymond picked up a knock and looked vulnerable. We took full advantage in the 37th minute. Jason Harley - who was making his comeback after missing practically the whole of last season with a cruciate ligament injury - broke through the defence and centred the ball to Daniel Akindayini. Danny's subsequent shot was too powerful for the limping Raymond to reach, and we led by 1 goal to nil. Had Duncan been more accurate with a header four minutes later, we might have been in a more comfortable position at half-time.

Captain Kieron Carroll came on after the break, and his 53rd-minute header forced a save out of Ilford's replacement keeper Steven Kaffo. Midway through what was otherwise looking like a dire second half, another half-time substitute - Sean Hunt - was forced to come off through injury. Ilford looked a bit more dangerous after Hunt's departure, and in the 76th minute, Curtis Carlile's close-range header for the hosts was caught by Roscoe Fryatt. Our other keeper Joel Wilkinson got a piece of the action six minutes later, when he saved a free-kick from Leo Craggs. 'Close but no cigar' was how one could best describe Ilford's efforts, as the minnows fell short despite a brave performance. Carroll and Nicky Reynolds each missed late chances to grab a second goal for us before young Bobby Fisk clinically converted from Kieron's through-ball in injury time. Our pre-season had kicked off with a solid 2-0 win.

Ilford - 0

Romford - 2 (Akindayini 37, Fisk 90)

Friendly, Attendance 33

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt (Wilkinson), Chapman (Newman), Hatch (Dymond), Allen (Betteridge), Guthmy (Stroud), Harley (O'Halloran), Neville (Fisk), Vassell (Farrell), Fenwick (Hunt (Collins)), Greenwood (Carroll), Akindayini (Reynolds). BOOKED: Vassell.

George Allen was particularly impressive in that first game, as the centre-back thrived with the captain's armband and was spot-on with his tackling. George's pre-season had started very promisingly, and I was relieved when he rejected Thatcham Town's offer, though why he would even think about leaving us for a lower-division club nearly 100 miles away I do not know!

Ilford were tougher opponents than we had anticipated, and we faced an even bigger test next up. Not only would we have to contend with Barnet, who have dropped from League Two to the Conference South in just two seasons, but we would also have to cope with the sweltering heat at Ship Lane.

18 July 2015: Romford vs Barnet

To be honest, we were always going to find it tough against a team that was full of professionals and managed by former England midfielder Scott Parker. Barnet defender Zak Mills' long throws caused us plenty of problems, and in the 19th minute, Connor Dymond had to head one of them over his own crossbar to stop Tobi Alabi from nodding home. Three minutes later, Dymond cracked under the increasing pressure, as he hauled down Craig Beattie in the penalty area. The resulting Barnet penalty was powered in by ex-Middlesbrough midfielder Josh Walker. Midway through the first half, the Bees were 1-0 up. Alabi looked odds-on to score a second goal for Barnet in the 28th minute after being played in by ex-Scotland international Beattie, but the youngster somehow put his shot wide. That was a massive reprieve for us, and four minutes later, we were most certainly back in the game. A quick counter-attacking move was clinically finished off by Nicky Reynolds, who lofted the ball over the approaching Graham Stack and into the net! We had drawn level, and the score remained 1-1 at half-time after Josh Walker missed a couple of late chances for the Bees.

Barnet's hold on the game tightened in the second half, and they went back in front around six minutes after the restart. Gibraltarian midfielder Liam Walker rode a challenge from Danny Newman and then set up Alabi, who this time gobbled up this chance, drilling it into the corner. Ashley Farrell tried to pull us back level in the 57th minute, but his audacious strike went high and wide. After 64 minutes, our substitute winger Nick Fenwick damaged his elbow whilst challenging Barnet defender Reece Millington and had to be taken off. Barnet assumed total control three minutes later by racing into a 3-1 lead. Mills sent another long-range throw into the penalty area, and Harry Crawford launched a header towards goal. Crawford's effort was blocked by Dymond, but the Irishman got to the rebound and hammered it into the net. There was no way back for us after that, though youth striker Gerald Stroud could have grabbed a second Boro goal in the 80th minute. His shot went straight into Stack's hands.

Romford - 1 (Reynolds 32)

Barnet - 3 (J Walker pen23, Alabi 51, Crawford 67)

Friendly, Attendance 174

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson (Fryatt), Newman (Chapman), Dymond (Hatch), Betteridge (Allen), Collins (Guthmy), Jones (Neville), Vassell (Carroll), Farrell (Fisk), O'Halloran (Harley), Akindayini (Fenwick (Greenwood)), Reynolds (Stroud). BOOKED: Betteridge.

Nick Fenwick's elbow injury meant that he was likely to miss the rest of pre-season. We would need some extra cover at left-wing in the meantime. To that end, I took former Waltham Abbey winger Musa Manneh on trial while Nick recovered from his injury.

Pre-season continued with a return to Hendon - the scene of an incredible match in March that saw us go 2-0 up and then 3-2 down before eventually winning 4-3. The impact of that result on the Dons was so severe that they went on a bad run of form and ended up being relegated from the Isthmian Premier to the Isthmian North. Even though Hendon were now the underdogs, I still expected them to put up another fight.

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[CFuller]

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[CFuller]

22 July 2015: Hendon vs Romford

After less than two minutes, Bobby Fisk's long ball into the Hendon box was met by a poor clearance from defender Sam Egerton-Wilson. Nicky Reynolds was gifted a chance to put us ahead, but he nodded the ball wide. Three minutes later, Nicky broke clear of the Dons defence and volleyed inches past the post. It would be a case of third time lucky for Reynolds, who in the 6th minute played a one-two with Kieron Carroll and fired home to make it 1-0 Romford! Hendon hit back just seven minutes later with an equalising goal from the experienced John Frendo. On 22 minutes, Reynolds needlessly squandered possession and allowed the Greens an opportunity to take the lead, but former Hitchin Town man Frendo hit the side netting. This was turning into a Jekyll and Hyde performance from Nicky, who could've restored our advantage four minutes before half-time, only to blast the ball over the crossbar.

Following a close first half, we controlled the early stages of the second. Jay Vassell missed the target with a 47th-minute free-kick, while we tested Hendon's resolve with a number of corners. However, the Dons defended very bravely, and we didn't come close to restoring our lead until the 70th minute. 16-year-old Nico Ramsey - who had just come on for Reynolds - hit a pinpoint through-ball to attacking full-back Kamal Guthmy, who snatched at his shot and put it wide. Young Nico made another chance nine minutes later - and this time, Dean O'Halloran took it. The Irish winger cut inside to receive Ramsey's pass, and then dribbled into the penalty area before applying the finish. We had gone 2-1 ahead, and with Hendon's self-belief fading, we went for the kill. On 89 minutes, trialist Musa Manneh floated a cross into the box, and Nico capped off an impressive senior debut by shinning the ball across the line to give us a 3-1 victory!

Hendon - 1 (Frendo 13)

Romford - 3 (Reynolds 6, O'Halloran 79, Ramsey 89)

Friendly, Attendance 33

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt (Wilkinson), Chapman (Newman), Hatch (Dymond), Betteridge (Allen), Collins (Guthmy), Harley (O'Halloran), Fisk (Farrell), Jones (Vassell), Hunt (Manneh), Carroll (Greenwood), Reynolds (Ramsey). BOOKED: Collins.

The day after that win, we received two pieces of good news. Left-back Jason Collins agreed to sign a £60-a-week contract to stay with us permanently, while 19-year-old former Millwall midfielder Ben Thompson arrived for a month-long trial.

Our next friendly, against Chatham Town of the Kent Football League, was a particularly poignant one. Former Boro captain Daryl Bourgeois - who now skippers the Chats - played against us for the first time since his departure two years ago.

25 July 2015: Chatham Town vs Romford

The game started slowly, and it took a fair while for our superiority to become obvious. Duncan Greenwood fired our first shot over the crossbar after 'only' 22 minutes. Nine minutes later, Boro debutant Ben Thompson crafted together a brilliant attacking move before finishing it off himself to give us the lead. Thompson passed to Musa Manneh and then made his way into the penalty area, where he would connect with Jason Collins' through-ball and tap it in! After 36 minutes, some terrible marking from Chatham contributed to our second goal. Anthony Chapman's cross to the far post was fired home by Kieron Carroll, who was given far too much space by the Chats. At 2-0 up, we looked comfortable, but keeper Joel Wilkinson had to pull off a fine save in the 40th minute to stop Owen Bown from pegging a goal back with a free-kick.

Our dominance carried on into the second half. Daniel Akindayini narrowly missed a chance to further increase our lead in the 53rd minute. Six minutes later, Greenwood's header was caught down low by Chats keeper Tim Roberts, and Big Dunc's wait for his first Romford goal continued. Chatham came close to making it 2-1 after 67 minutes, when Boro old boy Daryl Bourgeois saw his header cleared off the line by Kamal Guthmy. Other than that, Chatham never really looked like getting back into the game. Our Australian midfielder Ryan Jones put them to bed with a fantastic low drive into the corner three minutes from time. A couple of minutes later, Romford youngster Nico Ramsey had a penalty claim waved away, but a 3-0 win was comfortable enough for me.

Chatham Town - 0

Romford - 3 (Thompson 31, Carroll 36, Jones 87)

Friendly, Attendance 34

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson (Fryatt), Chapman (Sparrow), Dymond (Betteridge), Allen (Hornsey), Collins (Guthmy), O'Halloran (Redhead), Farrell (Neville), Thompson (Jones), Manneh (Hunt), Greenwood (Ramsey), Carroll (Akindayini). BOOKED: Carroll, Manneh.

Confidence was high after those last two wins, so how would we fare when Conference South stalwarts Chelmsford City came to Ship Lane?

28 July 2015: Romford vs Chelmsford City

Nicky Reynolds had a shot on target after just three minutes, when a low save from Robert Beckwith denied him an early goal. That was a sign of things to come, as we belied our lower-league status to dominate the first half. Kieron Carroll put a header wide in the 9th minute, and swung a free-kick just off target in the 17th. On 27 minutes, a defensive clearance from Connor Dymond cut through the Chelmsford backline, and after Nicky rushed onto it, our usually clinical striker missed the target. The Clarets defence was opened up again after 40 minutes, when Carroll hit a long lob up to Reynolds. If it wasn't for another brave stoppage from Beckwith, we would have at last gone a goal up. Going into the second half, we were outgunning Chelmsford on all but the most important statistic.

Chelmsford improved in the second half, although the accuracy of their shooting left a lot to be desired. Their player-assistant manager David Rainford drilled a shot beyond the far post in the 50th minute. Sam Cutler was similarly off target with a free-kick three minutes later. Ryan Jones had our best chance of the game after 67 minutes, when the Aussie cracked a shot against the corner of the woodwork. Five minutes after that, Rainford's headed clearance from a Sean Hunt cross only went as far as Jones, who passed the ball back into the penalty area. Ryan's pass found Carroll, who slotted the ball into the corner of the net! We were finally leading - and with not much longer to go! But Chelmsford were soon attacking with force, and we had to hang on for our lives. In the 82nd minute, Clarets full-back Aiden Palmer's cross hit the far post, and Joel Wilkinson brilliantly palmed it off the line! We weren't out of the woods yet, though, and Jason Collins needed to make a superb sliding challenge to stop Anthony Cook from tapping in the rebound! Two minutes later, Wilkinson saved Rainford's long-range effort, which would be Chelmsford's last chance. We held on for an impressive victory, but it wasn't without cost. Brian Neville twisted his ankle late on and was ruled out for around six weeks.

Romford - 1 (Carroll 72)

Chelmsford City - 0

Friendly, Attendance 61

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt (Wilkinson), Newman (Chapman), Dymond (Hatch), Betteridge (Allen), Guthmy (Collins), O'Halloran (Harley), Vassell (Neville), Jones (Thompson), Manneh (Hunt), Carroll (Greenwood), Reynolds (Akindayini). BOOKED: Dymond.

That's four wins from five friendlies - an impressive record that gives us plenty of confidence to take into the new season. We still have two more to play in August, and the first of them is sure to be a real challenge.

[CFuller]

We'd already seen off a team from the Conference South, so we were confident that we could give Conference Premier side Woking a test when they visited Ship Lane. The Cardinals, who finished 16th in their division last season, had a number of former Arsenal and Chelsea youth products in their ranks, so there was no doubting that they boasted the more talented team. The question was, though - how big was the ability gap?

1 August 2015: Romford vs Woking

The answer to that question was very - Woking needed just two minutes to establish a lead. Taylor Miles played a long ball past Jason Collins to ex-Chelsea midfielder Lee Sawyer, whose cross was turned in by his new Woking team-mate Jamal Lowe. Not the best of starts, it had to be said. We had another reason to be fearful in the 8th minute, when Ashley Farrell hurt himself while heading away Dominic Green's corner. Woking found the net again after 20 minutes, as Michael Uwezu volleyed Sawyer's cross into the net. Fortunately for us, the goal was disallowed, because the Cardinals striker had committed the sin of being offside. As the first half neared a conclusion, Woking looked increasingly likely to double their lead to two goals. Sawyer's free-kick in the 42nd minute skimmed the crossbar. Two minutes later, former West Ham United youth Miles' shot was kept out by Roscoe Fryatt. At the break, we could thank our lucky stars that we were only losing 1-0.

Lowe took less than two minutes to score in the first half, and that was pretty much how the second period started as well. Again, it was Sawyer who provided the assist for Lowe, who found the bottom corner and gave Woking a 2-0 cushion after 47 minutes. Then the floodgates opened. By the 55th minute, Woking were 3-0 to the good. Lowe decided that his hat-trick could wait, and he instead set up a goal for 17-year-old Elliot Coombes. By that stage, we were switching between all sorts of different strategies, but nothing was working against Woking. It wasn't until the 63rd minute that we had a meaningful shot at goal, and Daniel Akindayini missed the target by miles. On 70 minutes, a defensive nightmare turned into farce. The Romford players suddenly rushed forward in unison, thinking that Akindayini had been fouled after trying to head the ball back to Farrell. Play went on, though, and Danny's header drifted past Ashley to a clean-through Lowe! The Cardinals man couldn't believe his luck as he scored a bizarre fourth goal for Woking and completed his hat-trick! With the visitors now leading 4-0 and looking far from satisfied, it seemed that all we'd get from this match was a towel-whipping and a load of bruised egos. Nicky Reynolds did at least give us something to cheer about in the 78th minute, with a breakaway goal that reduced the arrears to 4-1. But a couple of minutes later, Anthony Chapman completed a miserable afternoon for us with a schoolboy error that gifted Woking their fifth strike. Chappers' weak pass to Ryan Jones was intercepted by Green, and the winger then played the ball to Coombes, whose subsequent drilled cross was turned in from point-blank range by Ben Williamson. Thankfully, that was the end of the scoring. The final whistle couldn't come quickly enough for us.

Romford - 1 (Reynolds 78)

Woking - 5 (Lowe 2,47,70, Coombes 55, Williamson 80)

Friendly, Attendance 85

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt (Wilkinson), Newman (Chapman), Hatch (Dymond), Allen (Betteridge), Collins (Guthmy), Harley (O'Halloran), Farrell (Jones), Thompson (Vassell), Hunt (Manneh), Greenwood (Carroll), Akindayini (Reynolds).

5-1 defeats always hurt, even in friendlies. I was absolutely fuming at some of my players - particularly Connor Dymond, who gave possession away like chocolates, and Anthony Chapman, who'd put in possibly the worst individual performance I'd ever seen as Romford manager.

Connor, Chappers and those other first-teamers who went missing were all left out of the squad for our next friendly. I used the trip to Erith & Belvedere as an opportunity to look at some of our youth players and other senior players who hadn't yet proved themselves this pre-season.

4 August 2015: Erith & Belvedere vs Romford

As early as the third minute, Duncan Greenwood controlled an excellent through-ball from young Nico Ramsey and fired it into the net! It was a very quick opener for Romford, and Big Dunc's first goal in a Boro shirt could have been followed by his second just four minutes later. Unfortunately, he failed to get a clean connection to Musa Manneh's pass, and his volley limped the wrong side of the post. Manneh then had the ball taken off him by Dixie Molyneux in the ninth minute. Moments later, Muniru Mensah's long ball for Erith was smashed into the Boro net by left-winger Aaron Stenning. The Deres had equalised, but we were hopeful of resuming normal service as soon as possible. In the 16th minute, Kamal Guthmy's left-wing cross smacked the crossbar, and two minutes later, Ramsey hit the bottom of the post with a strike from just outside the area. Dean O'Halloran did find the net from close range on 29 minutes, but he had already been flagged offside. Nine minutes later, the third goal of the game did come - but it was Erith & Belvedere who took a 2-1 lead. Manneh was again outmuscled by Molyneux, and that kicked off an attacking move that saw Lawrence Dennis's cross finished by Ali Al-Fazzani. Musa had twice gifted goals to Erith, and now that the minnows were leading, I decided that enough was enough. Manneh was taken off almost straight away, and replaced by Sean Hunt. The change didn't help much, though, as the only chance we had to level the scores before half-time was a hopeless long-ranger from Jay Vassell with two minutes left.

We attacked with more determination in the second half, but Erith to their credit defended bravely. Greenwood was denied his second goal on 55 minutes, when Deres keeper Lindon Robson parried his edge-of-the-area effort. Midway through the half, Gerald Stroud had not one but two cases of very bad luck. The youth striker hit the crossbar in the 69th minute, and then the post four minutes later when he was clean through! We had been denied by the frame of the goal no fewer than four times in this match! With that kind of luck, and the impressive centre-back Luke O'Neill winning practically everything in the air for Erith, I had to concede that the end result was not going to be a good one. We lost against a team from the Kent Football League. Oh Dere.

Erith & Belvedere - 2 (Stenning 9, Al-Fazzani 36)

Romford - 1 (Greenwood 3)

Friendly, Attendance 32

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson (Woolley), Sparrow (Peters), Hatch (Hornsey), Betteridge (Allen), Guthmy (Collins), O'Halloran (Redhead), Vassell (Fisk), Thompson (Jones), Manneh (Hunt), Greenwood (Ingham), Ramsey (Stroud). BOOKED: Manneh.

The late, great Erith comedienne Linda Smith once said of her hometown, "It's not twinned with anywhere, but it does have a suicide pact with Dagenham." As we left Erith and headed back home, it would be fair to say that some of the lads were feeling a little suicidal. Losing to a team two divisions below you is never a barrel of laughs.

I wasn't having any suicidal tendencies, but I could tell from what I had seen that we weren't quite ready to start the season. The Erith game was originally scheduled to be our last friendly, but I thought that we needed another match to work on our tactics and our passing game. Therefore, I arranged at short notice for us to host Isthmian North side Tilbury at Ship Lane a week later.

Musa Manneh would not be involved against Tilbury, as he ended his trial with us to sign for Royston Town. To be brutally honest, we didn't need Musa anyway, because Nick Fenwick had since fully recovered from his elbow injury.

11 August 2015: Romford vs Tilbury

We made an uninspiring start to our final friendly of pre-season, as we didn't get a shot on target until the 14th minute. Jay Vassell flicked the ball to Sean Hunt, whose diving header was caught just in time by Tilbury keeper Ashlee Jones. Boro captain Kieron Carroll was narrowly off target a couple of minutes later. The Dockers then came close to shocking us in the 24th minute, with Jack Morris's fierce strike missing by only a few inches. Another scare came eight minutes later, when Danny Newman tripped Morris on the edge of the area. Tilbury cried for a penalty, but they instead got a free-kick just outside the area. Chace O'Neill smashed the set-piece into the wall before Carroll cleared. By half-time, we were still deadlocked at home to lowly opponents. This was nothing remotely like a vintage Romford performance.

Both sides showed more attacking intent after the break. Jason Harley put a shot wide for the Boro in the 47th minute. Six minutes later, at the other end, Roscoe Fryatt comfortably caught a long-distance free-kick from Ryan Balfour. After Romford midfielder Ben Thompson blasted the ball miles wide on the hour mark, the game went into a lull. With five minutes to go, it was still goalless. Then Harley ran into the Tilbury penalty area, and after Dockers defender Harri Hawkins stuck a leg out, Jason went to ground. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, from which Nicky Reynolds powered a penalty into the corner of the net! We'd taken the lead very late on, and we could have extended it in the 88th minute, but Harley's attempt from a Nick Fenwick cross was parried out of play by the Tilbury goalie. Despite that, one admittedly fortunate goal was still enough to end pre-season on a high note.

Romford - 1 (Reynolds pen85)

Tilbury - 0

Friendly, Attendance 61

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt, Newman (Peters), Dymond (Hatch), Betteridge (Allen), Collins (Guthmy), Farrell (Reynolds), Jones (Thompson), Vassell (Fisk), Akindayini (Harley), Hunt (Fenwick), Carroll (Greenwood). BOOKED: Newman.

How would I sum up pre-season? Not bad - it could've been better. We won five games and lost three times, but we scored in every game, and that was certainly a big positive. I could now say that we were as ready as we could be for the season ahead.

In the end, I decided not to offer a contract to trialist midfielder Ben Thompson, and he left the club after our last friendly. Meanwhile, in-demand winger Sean Hunt received another offer - this time from East Thurrock United - and he turned that one down.

There were no further incomings or outgoings before the start of our third season in the Isthmian League Premier Division. I truly believed that we had our strongest squad yet.

[CFuller]

(All ages correct as of 1 August 2015)

GOALKEEPERS

Roscoe Fryatt (age 18, English)

Roscoe is a confident young goalkeeper who organises the defence well, but he is not particularly agile.

Joel Wilkinson (age 19, English)

Backup goalkeeper Joel is growing in confidence and stature all the time and has great reflexes.

Paul Woolley (age 16, English)

Paul is rated highly by the youth coaches and could eventually become our number 1 in a couple of years.

DEFENDERS

George Allen (age 21, English)

George has improved a fair bit this year and is now a more consistent performer at centre-back.

Mark Betteridge (age 18, English)

For someone who is still very young, Mark is a solid central defender who often times his tackles well.

Anthony Chapman (age 19, English)

Anthony has great bulldog spirit that allows him to overperform, but his concentration can waver.

Jason Collins (age 18, English)

From what I've seen so far, Jason has the attitude and ability to be a superb left wing-back for us.

Connor Dymond (age 20, English)

Connor can always be relied on to make crucial interceptions, but he tends to give the ball away needlessly.

Kamal Guthmy (age 20, English)

Left-back Kamal is a fine tackler who is not afraid to go upfield and help his team-mates out on the attack.

Wayne Hatch (age 19, English)

Wayne is not yet a regular starter, and may never be unless he improves on the mental side of things.

Craig Hornsey (age 17, English)

Craig is naturally a right-back, but I'm hoping that he'll be of better use as a feisty centre-half.

Danny Newman (age 19, English)

Quick right-back Danny has been pestering me for a pay rise all summer, and he'll have to earn it on the pitch.

Jordan Peters (age 16, English)

Jordan is a hard-grafting right-back who could figure in the first-team sooner rather than later.

Allan Sparrow (age 17, English)

Allan regularly captains the youth team and is making good progress, particularly with his fitness.

Rhys Turner (age 16, English)

Rhys is a very ambitious full-back who is hoping to impress for the Under-18s this season.

MIDFIELDERS

Ashley Farrell (age 18, English)

Vice-captain Ashley has nerves of steel, but the ball-winning midfielder is banned for our first two matches.

Nick Fenwick (age 18, English)

Nick is a short and skilful winger with good dribbling ability, so he could be a player to keep an eye on.

Bobby Fisk (age 17, English)

Defensive midfielder Bobby quietly goes about his duties and has a promising future with Romford.

Jason Harley (age 18, English)

Jason has just recovered from a serious knee injury and may take a while to get back up to speed again.

Sean Hunt (age 24, English)

Sean's talent as a winger is obvious, but he's disappointed me so far and needs to up his performances.

Ryan Jones (age 24, Australian)

The accuracy of Ryan's passing is a real asset and I can see him having a good second season here.

Brian Neville (age 18, English)

Brian just about warranted a new contract this summer and must work harder to become a regular starter.

Dean O'Halloran (age 19, Irish)

Quick winger Dean was an assist machine when he first arrived, but now he struggles with his composure.

Pat Redhead (age 17, English)

Pat's development at right-wing has sadly been hindered after he tore his hamstring earlier this month.

Christian Turner (age 15, English)

Our youngest player, Christian is another defensive midfielder with a decent future ahead of him.

Jay Vassell (age 19, English)

Jay has made great strides in the last 12 months and is equally at home whether defending or attacking.

FORWARDS

Daniel Akindayini (age 19, English)

Speedy inside-forward Daniel scored nine goals and created nine last season - but I expect more this term.

Kieron Carroll (age 19, English)

Kieron has retained the captaincy, and is now more selfish in front of goal, but that may be a good thing.

Duncan Greenwood (age 19, English)

I was delighted when we signed Duncan, whose 6ft 5in frame should frighten plenty of defenders.

Matt Griffiths (age 17, English)

Matt has a decent goalscoring record for the Under-18s, though his shooting accuracy is rather poor.

Colin Ingham (age 16, English)

I have high hopes for Colin - a tall target man who will hopefully appear for the senior team soon.

Johnnie McGee (age 16, English)

I love Johnnie's name and I love his attitude, which should help him to become a future first-teamer.

Nico Ramsey (age 16, English)

Nico impressed me in pre-season, as he likes to create goals rather than just score them.

Nicky Reynolds (age 27, English)

Boro stalwart Nicky is the last of my originals, and he continues to score with great regularity.

Gerald Stroud (age 17, English)

I'm hoping that Gerald can eventually take his clinical finishing in the youth league to the Isthmian Premier.

BACKROOM STAFF

Manager: Christopher Fuller

Assistant Manager: Tony Reid

Coaches: Mitch Fellows, Sammy Winston

Head of Youth Development: Ricki Mackin

Physio: John Kelly

Scout: Dean Standen

[Crackers786]

hope u can push for promotion this season.

I got Sammy Winston playing for my team in tier 11. soild backup for my young forward who scores the goals lol

[CFuller]

hope u can push for promotion this season.

I got Sammy Winston playing for my team in tier 11. soild backup for my young forward who scores the goals lol

You may recall from very early on in the story that I actually took Sammy Winston on trial. He didn't make the grade for me as a player, but he has excellent attributes for an attacking coach.

At non-league level, it really helps if you can bring in coaches on non-contract terms. That's what I managed to do with Winston, Fellows and Mackin.

[CFuller]

It's never easy to make pre-season predictions for a league as competitive as the Isthmian League Premier Division, where anyone really can beat anyone. There were, though, a number of teams that I marked out alongside us as serious promotion challengers.

The three teams relegated from the Conference South - Carshalton Athletic, Margate and Welling United - were always likely to be among the contenders. Dulwich Hamlet and Potters Bar Town could figure after reaching last season's play-offs, while Bury Town have also been tipped to do well after their strong end to the previous campaign. But I actually make us second favourites to go up behind Whitehawk, who surely will put things right after last term's underachievements.

Our first opponents of the season, Aveley, did not stand out as possible title winners. They would nevertheless be gunning for automatic promotions after lifting the Isthmian North championship a little over three months ago.

The opening-day trip to Mill Field was likely to be a nervous one for a couple of reasons. The first was because, when we last went there in 2013, we squandered a 2-0 half-time lead and drew 2-2. The second was because, ever since I took charge, we had always lost our first away league game of a season.

22 August 2015: Aveley vs Romford

Aveley had the first chance of the game through Patrick Drmola after three minutes, but the former Grays Athletic striker's header was cleared by George Allen. Three minutes later, Ryan Jones snatched at a chance to give us an early lead. After nine minutes, Dean O'Halloran burst down the right wing and crossed into the Millers' penalty area, where captain Kieron Carroll headed wide. The match had started promisingly from our point of view, and things would get better in the 22nd minute. Sean Hunt dribbled from just inside the Aveley half to the edge of the area, and then slotted the ball into the far corner! First blood was ours, but Aveley went on the counter-attack just seconds after the restart. Jay Folkes got past Boro full-back Jason Collins to receive Alex Parsons' pass and go one-on-one with Roscoe Fryatt, but the Romford keeper came out on top and beat the ball away just in time. Roscoe also caught a 31st-minute header from Folkes, who like Drmola was turning out for Grays last term. On 38 minutes, Anthony Chapman nearly created a lucky second goal for us. His attempted volleyed cross to Nicky Reynolds was caught in the nick of time by Millers goalie Andre Foster. Aveley skipper Kynan Isaac scuffed a close-range effort wide a minute later, and we remained in a 1-0 lead after the first half.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Folkes wasted a fantastic chance to equalise for Aveley, as he headed clean over the bar from Kane Vincent-Young's cross. The importance of that miss was underlined when, in the 49th minute, Reynolds nodded home from Jones's delivery and sent us two goals clear! It was looking like the perfect start to the season for us! Eight minutes later, though, came the first sign of a Millers resurgence. Chapman's attempted clearance was headed back towards the Romford area by Ross Neil. Parsons got on the end of the ball, and half-volleyed past Fryatt. Aveley had pulled a goal back, and what was a confident Romford performance suddenly became much more nervous. Up front, Nicky looked particularly on edge, as he uncharacteristically started to rush into his shots. After missing the target from distance in the 57th minute, Reynolds went through on goal two minutes later, and shot straight at Foster. On 65 minutes, Fryatt got his fingertips to another Folkes header, and a last-ditch tackle from Collins stopped the Aveley winger getting another shot in. Despite some brave defending, the tide was turning against us. Five minutes later, Drmola played a killer ball to Parsons, and the ex-Hendon midfielder drilled in his second goal of the afternoon. Now it was 2-2 - and everything was set for a tense final 20 minutes.

Left-back Collins had done well defensively on his Romford debut, and in the 75th minute, he came within inches of getting a surprise goal that would've restored our advantage. In the 84th, Bobby Fisk attempted a piledriver, which the teenage midfielder blazed over. Hunt broke through the Aveley backline a minute later, but Millers defender Greg Butler got back in time to block Sean's shot. Then, with three minutes to go, Aveley crafted a counter-attack in a late bid to snatch victory. Drmola hit a direct low pass beyond Collins to Folkes, who then drilled a cross into the six-yard box. It was there where Alex Parsons broke Romford hearts with a simple tap-in to complete his hat-trick - and a stunning comeback from the hosts! We were 2-0 up, but somehow we'd come away from our opening game without a single point!

Aveley - 3 (Parsons 55,70,87)

Romford - 2 (Hunt 22, Reynolds 49)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 268 - POSITIONS: Aveley 3rd, Romford 17th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt, Chapman (Betteridge), Dymond, Allen, Collins, O'Halloran, Vassell (Fisk), Jones, Hunt, Carroll (Greenwood), Reynolds.

I could hardly believe what I had just witnessed. We chucked away a 2-0 lead and lost 3-2! It wasn't the first time we'd done that, but the fact that we had choked on the very first day of the season was extremely frustrating.

We contemplated what went wrong for the next couple of days, and then turned our attentions to Tuesday's home fixture against St Albans City. Our visitors from Hertfordshire narrowly avoided relegation last season and drew their opening game of this. If we couldn't beat them, it would be a major blow to our chances of promotion, even at this early stage of the campaign.

25 August 2015: Romford vs St Albans City

From the outset, it looked to me like we were still hurting from our last result. Nicky Reynolds had a chance inside the first half-minute but pulled it dreadfully wide after being crowded out by St Albans defenders. The Saints' early shooting was arguably just as sinful. Lee Chappell's free-kick in the 9th minute went narrowly past the far post, and Rohdell Gordon went significantly less close from 25 yards a couple of minutes later. In the 14th minute, Boro keeper Joel Wilkinson pushed away a more threatening effort from St Albans winger Jerome Federico. A couple more half-chances from Reynolds and debutant Nick Fenwick then went begging for us before a bad start to the season turned even sourer. Mark Betteridge headed away a long Chappell throw in the 34th minute, but shortly afterwards, St Albans created another attack. Former Hendon man Javlon Campbell played a through-ball past Mark and into the path of Jordan Woodley, who continued his impressive form from last season with a clinical finish. St Albans were now in front and looking fairly comfortable. We needed a quick reply, and we got a chance in the 43rd minute after Liam Thomas fouled Jason Harley in the Saints' penalty box. Nicky now had to score from 12 yards - something which he had done numerous times before - to equalise. He stepped back, and then ran towards the ball before blasting it against the crossbar! A big opportunity had been thrown away, and at half-time, we were facing the prospect of dropping into the relegation zone with back-to-back defeats.

I demanded a marked improvement in the second half, and the players definitely listened to what I said! In the 47th minute, Harley swung a corner to Betteridge, who found a gap in a crowd of defenders and put the ball through it! 1-1! Three minutes later, Duncan Greenwood - who came on at half-time for the ineffective Kieron Carroll - was put through on goal by Jay Vassell and should've sent us into the lead. Unfortunately, he did a Reynolds and hit the bar from about the same distance that Nicky missed his penalty. Seven minutes later, Big Dunc received another through-ball from Harley. This time, he kept his shot low and placed it into the net! All of a sudden, we were flowing and St Albans were failing! On the hour, just three minutes after we went ahead, Fenwick played a cross into the Saints box, and Vassell hammered it home to increase our lead from 2-1 to 3-1! It was turning into a dream second half for most of us. Sadly, it was not the case for Reynolds, who in the 62nd minute fired a chance for a fourth Romford goal against the side netting. Nicky was substituted a few minutes later to end a bad day at the office for him. After playing more conservatively for the rest of the second half, we held firm and secured a crucial win, though not without a late scare. In the 82nd minute, an awful pass from Greenwood was intercepted by Chappell, and the St Albans captain created another chance for Woodley, who struck the bar.

Romford - 3 (Betteridge 47, Greenwood 57, Vassell 60)

St Albans City - 1 (Woodley 35)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 189 - POSITIONS: Romford 10th, St Albans 18th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Hatch, Betteridge, Collins (Guthmy), Harley, Fisk, Vassell, Fenwick, Carroll (Greenwood), Reynolds (Akindayini). BOOKED: Newman.

Victory at Ship Lane meant that my first four seasons at Romford had all begun by following the same pattern, with us winning our first home league game and losing our first league match on the road. This time, though, things had started much more dramatically - and the tension was sure to grow as we entered the last few days of August.

[CFuller]

We would finish August with two away games in the space of 48 hours. The first of them was at Potters Bar Town, who we beat in last year's Play-Off Semi Final. The Scholars had kicked off this campaign with a win and a draw, but they had failed to beat us in our last five meetings, so I was hopeful of taking away at least a point.

29 August 2015: Potters Bar Town vs Romford

My hopes were raised after just six minutes. Dean O'Halloran blasted a free-kick from 35 yards out, and it struck the underside of the crossbar before being deflected in off Potters Bar keeper Josh James's palms! It was quite simply a stunning goal, and we were already on the front foot. In the 12th minute, Kieron Carroll tested James with a low shot, which the goalie caught, but Kieron also stubbed defender George McCluskey's toe in the process. As a result, Potters Bar were forced into an early substitution. We continued to put the Scholars under pressure during the first half, but James was proving a tough goalkeeper to beat. James rushed out to push away Nicky Reynolds' 17th-minute effort. After 34 minutes, the Scholars goalie used his left foot to block a shot taken by Nicky from the edge of the area. Potters Bar were being outclassed, though they did have a chance to equalise just before half-time. James McCluskey (no relation to George) fired it deep into the stands.

Scholars forward Aaron Scott had a go from distance in the 56th minute, and didn't come close to finding the net. Four minutes later, Scott laid Elliott Cox's cross off to Ben Adams in the middle of the Boro penalty area. Just as Adams was preparing to shoot, Romford centre-half Mark Betteridge made a perfectly-timed sliding tackle on him. Adams did get a shot in on 66 minutes, but Joel Wilkinson made a routine stop, and the midfielder later blazed another effort over. In the 72nd minute, Duncan Greenwood - who had earlier replaced Reynolds - intercepted a wayward throw from James. Duncan then played in captain Carroll, who slotted past the embarrassed keeper and doubled our lead! From that point, we coasted to a 2-0 win that lofted us into the play-off places, although we had to play the final nine minutes with a man less following an injury to Ashley Farrell.

Potters Bar Town - 0

Romford - 2 (O'Halloran 6, Carroll 72)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 106 - POSITIONS: Potters Bar 12th, Romford 5th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman (Hatch), Dymond, Betteridge, Guthmy, Jones (Fisk), Farrell, O'Halloran, Carroll, Hunt, Reynolds (Greenwood).

Two days later, for the summer Bank Holiday, we headed to the popular seaside town of Margate in Kent. Our hosts had just returned to the Isthmian Premier following a couple of seasons in the Conference South. Margate started off this campaign with a blistering 5-2 home win over Dulwich Hamlet, and after drawing their next two games, they sat in 8th.

31 August 2015: Margate vs Romford

In the fourth minute, Margate midfielder Danny Lawson headed Jason Harley's corner away to Jack Simmons, who dribbled from his own half to the Romford penalty area. I expected Simmons - who scored a hat-trick against Dulwich Hamlet - to open the scoring there and then. Instead, he scooped the ball over the crossbar. Boro striker Duncan Greenwood almost got lucky in the 11th minute, when his cross hit the post and went out of play. Six minutes later, the hosts had a little bit of good fortune. Jason Collins' wayward throw-in gifted the ball to Margate, after a string of first-time passes, Alfie Coates smashed in their opening goal. That could have opened the floodgates for the Gate, who soon had three scoring chances in as many minutes. Ryan Dolby put a free-kick inches wide in the 21st minute, Roger Russell was denied by Roscoe Fryatt in the 22nd, and Ryan Cooper's header went close in the 23rd. Margate could have gone further clear, and we were let off the hook. On 38 minutes, we won a corner after Collins' deep cross was tipped out of play by keeper Joseph Lumley. Harley swung the corner into the middle of the penalty area, where the giant Greenwood flicked a header past Lumley and gave us a barely-deserved equaliser. It certainly pays to have a 6ft 5in monster in your attack!

Almost exactly two minutes into the second half, Simmons smacked the bar from around 30 yards out. Seconds later, the on-loan Colchester United striker thought that he should've won a penalty after apparently being barged into by Anthony Chapman, but the ref thought nothing of it. A rare chance for us to go 2-1 up went begging in the 64th minute, when Harley's shot from long range missed by miles. Two minutes later, Fryatt tried to make a straightforward pass to Chapman, but he overhit the delivery and found Dolby instead! Margate's left-winger cut out the pass, stormed past Wayne Hatch to go clean through, and incisively shot into the far end of the net. The Gate were leading again, and barely half a minute after the restart, Dolby had his eye on the goal once more. He got on the end of a long pass from Coates, moved into the area, and tried to cut another shot into the far corner. This time round, he put it millimetres wide. But just as it looked like Margate were going to take control, we got thrown a lifeline with 20 minutes to go. Harley went down under a challenge from Ron Barton in the Margate area, and the referee gave us a penalty! Substitute Nicky Reynolds now had a great chance to draw us level at 2-2. Nicky was eager to make up for missing his last spot-kick against St Albans City, and on this occasion, he took his time before calmly firing it low past Lumley. It was our second equaliser of the day, and a poor miss from Stefan Payne in the 87th minute meant that we wouldn't need a third to claim a point.

Margate - 2 (Coates 17, Dolby 66)

Romford - 2 (Greenwood 39, Reynolds pen70)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 259 - POSITIONS: Margate 8th, Romford 5th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt, Chapman, Hatch (Dymond), Allen, Collins, Harley, Fisk, Vassell (Hunt), Fenwick, Greenwood (Reynolds), Akindayini. BOOKED: Greenwood, Vassell.

After the first four games of the new season, we were still in the top five - just where I expected us to be come the end of it. On the evidence of our early performances, there is certainly nothing wrong with our scoring power, though we perhaps need a bit of defensive tweaking.

[CFuller]

With nine goals to show from our opening four matches, one might have expected us to be leading the Isthmian Premier on that particular statistic. However, that honour actually went to the surprise league leaders - and the latest team to come to Ship Lane.

For the last three seasons, Cray Wanderers have been rather goal-shy, but this campaign could not have started any more differently for them! They had scored no fewer than ten goals - half of them through the impressive Joey Butlin - on the way to winning four consecutive matches! Now it was up to us to try and end Cray's 100% start, and with home advantage, the odds were just about in our favour.

5 September 2015: Romford vs Cray Wanderers

The match got off to a rather fiesty start. After nine minutes, Cray winger Tamer Tuna was hurt in a far from tame challenge by Anthony Chapman, though he was able to play on. Two minutes later, captain Kieron Carroll put a header over the bar for Romford, shortly before Mitch Harding pulled wide the visitors' first opportunity to strike. Chapman had another clash with Tuna in the 20th minute, and this time, the Boro right-back came off second-best. Anthony suffered a thigh strain and was replaced by George Allen, with Connor Dymond shifting to right-back. Opposite full-back Kamal Guthmy was also left needing injury treatment on 29 minutes before he carried on. With our defence not at full strength, Cray looked increasingly likely to take the lead. In the 32nd minute, Joey Butlin blocked a clearance from Allen, and then got behind the Romford centre-half to aim a header at goal, which Joel Wilkinson caught to my relief. A busy day for the physios continued in the 35th minute, when Cray midfielder Steven Wainwright picked up a knock. Then, on the stroke of half-time, Dymond made a firm challenge on Tuna... and like Chappers before him, he ended up on the floor clutching his thigh. Connor couldn't possibly play on, and Jason Harley was brought on as a makeshift right-back.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half, there were thankfully no more injuries - and not much in the way of action. Then we won a corner in the 65th minute. Dean O'Halloran's delivery was intercepted by Cray's experienced defender Garry Richards, whose clearance deflected off his team-mate Ryan Case. Carroll then reacted quickly to turn the loose ball into the net! With that opening goal, we had the lead... for less than three minutes. The Wands weaved together a quick counter-attacking move, and Martel Powell drilled a cross into the six-yard box. Romford goalkeeper Joel Wilkinson looked as if he had it covered, but he was too slow to pick up the ball, and Butlin toe-poked it into the net! Cray had got themselves back in the game, and the drama continued shortly after the restart. A mistake-strewn display from Allen continued, as George held down Butlin in the box, gifting the visitors an opportunity to go 2-1 ahead after 71 minutes. Will Bor fired in an excellent penalty, and the Wands had magically turned the match around! Considering how poorly we were playing, there was no realistic prospect of us launching a comeback of our own, and Cray comfortably saw the game out. Their perfect start was still intact, but my unbeaten record against the Bromley-based side certainly wasn't.

Romford - 1 (Carroll 65)

Cray Wanderers - 2 (Butlin 68, Bor pen71)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 227 - POSITIONS: Romford 11th, Cray 1st

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman (Allen), Dymond (Harley), Betteridge, Guthmy, Neville, Vassell, Farrell (Greenwood), O'Halloran, Hunt, Carroll.

To be honest, I feared the worst when we lost two of our regular defenders in the first half. Anthony Chapman and Connor Dymond would both be out for the next three weeks with thigh strains.

We had one of those weeks to stew over that loss before we returned to action with another home game versus newly-relegated Carshalton Athletic. The Robins had started terribly with two defeats that sent them straight into the drop zone, but they were moving back up the table after winning their last two matches back-to-back.

12 September 2015: Romford vs Carshalton Athletic

Teenage striker Germaine Ofori had a chance for Carshalton after just six minutes, but he headed off target. A minute later, Nicky Reynolds ran at the Robins defence to give himself an opportunity, and then scooped his shot over. Nicky took the game to Carshalton again on 25 minutes, and this time, he patiently waited for his strike partner Kieron Carroll to get in position. When the time came, Reynolds' pass was duly slotted home by Kieron, and the captain had his third goal of the season! More importantly, we were in the lead! Carshalton attempted to hit back late in the first half, but their shooting was not particularly threatening to our advantage. Robins skipper Declan Benjamin skied a 35th-minute effort high and wide, and two minutes later, Dwayne Coultress hit a shot that wasn't much better.

Carshalton had struggled in the first half, and their frustrations continued early into the second, with Coultress having to come off hurt shortly after the restart. In the 55th minute, Michael Kamara missed by a massive distance for Carshalton, but the Robins would gradually get closer to breaking through. Five minutes later, midfielder Chris Cumming-Bart struck the crossbar with an audacious effort, and Roscoe Fryatt had to tip the ball over to stop it from deflecting into the net. Fryatt then caught a half-volley from David Cowley in the 67th minute, and we appeared to have weathered that particular Carshalton storm. Dean O'Halloran nearly got us a second goal with a long-range free-kick on 72 minutes, and young Robins keeper Jason Byrne did very well to push it over his bar. Six minutes later, having come close to consolidating our lead, we lost it altogether. An excellent corner from Cowley was headed past Fryatt by the Congolese defender Mike Cestor. It was gutting to miss out on a morale-boosting home win for the second game in succession, and with two more points slipping through our fingers, we dropped to 13th place.

Romford - 1 (Carroll 25)

Carshalton Athletic - 1 (Cestor 78)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 192 - POSITIONS: Romford 13th, Carshalton 15th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt, Newman, Hatch (Allen), Betteridge, Collins, O'Halloran, Farrell, Jones, Hunt (Fenwick), Carroll (Greenwood), Reynolds.

Already this season, we had lost the lead in three matches - and in two of those, we went on to actually lose the game. Had we been a bit more watertight defensively, we would have comfortably been in the play-off places. As it was, we sat in the lower part of mid-table.

We needed to get back in the winners' circle quickly, and our next chance came when we entertained Hastings United, who were also in mid-table. In fact, Hastings had exactly the same record as us, and they were only above us in the league table because their name happened to come first alphabetically.

Our right-back options for this match were somewhat limited. Chapman and Dymond were of course injured, and Danny Newman was still recovering from a tiring game against Carshalton. That meant 16-year-old Jordan Peters - a highly-rated member of the youth team - was chosen to make his competitive debut.

15 September 2015: Hastings United vs Romford

Jason Harley and Duncan Greenwood both had chances to put us in the lead early on. After just four minutes, Harley got on the end of a Jay Vassell free-kick, but his shot was blocked by a Hastings defender. Ten minutes later, Vassell sent a pass to Greenwood, whose effort didn't get anywhere near Jordan Clement in the Arrows' goal. Daniel Akindayini then put a free-kick just wide in the 16th minute. When Danny got the chance to take another free-kick a minute later, he curled it to Harley on the edge of the six-yard box, and Jason hit a superb finish! That made it 1-0 to Romford, and new boy Jordan Peters could've created a second Boro goal after 26 minutes. The right-back's cross found Kieron Carroll, who fired beyond the far post. Then, in a scene that was becoming all too familiar, a mistake resulted in us being pulled back to level pegging. Roscoe Fryatt made a total hash of a long goal kick, sending it straight to Kirk Hudson, who ran towards goal before unleashing a shot that hit the crossbar. Wayne Hatch and Mark Betteridge both rushed towards the ball, but Hudson got there first and tapped home to equalise after 29 minutes. Parity would last just four minutes, though, because another Peters cross was placed into the Hastings net by Duncan Greenwood, and we were leading again! We were still 2-1 up at half-time, although United midfielder Paul Dempsey came close to making it 2-2 with a free-kick in the 44th minute.

The Arrows came at us early in the second half. On 55 minutes, Boro full-back Kamal Guthmy made a brilliant intervention to stop Michael Everitt's drilled cross from being tapped in by Zac Attwood. Substitute Paul McDonnell put an opportunity wide for the hosts two minutes later, and another couple of minutes after that, Conner Fitzpatrick's header was caught by a diving save from Fryatt. In the 62nd minute, Carroll headed away a Hastings corner, but only to Everitt, who crossed it back into the area. From there, McDonnell flicked a header to Attwood in the six-yard box, and somehow, the Hastings stalwart managed to shin it wide. We launched a major assault of our own in the 68th minute. Carroll stormed through the centre of the Hastings backline and just had to tap the ball in the corner to make it 3-1... but he cut his shot inches past the post. Five minutes later, Clement brilliantly tipped out another Akindayini free-kick. That won us a corner, but Harley's delivery was headed out of danger by Jamie Lamb. The Arrows attacked again in the 79th minute, when Attwood burst through on goal. He was set to go one-on-one with Fryatt until George Allen came from nowhere to nick the ball off him and hoof it away... temporarily. Matt Jones booted the clearance back to Attwood, who aimed a shot that was caught by Fryatt. Two minutes later, Hastings had a free-kick on the edge of our area. Attwood elected to take the set-piece, and powered it right into the corner of Ros's goal. Bam! The game was level again. Harley had a great opportunity to put us ahead once more in the 84th minute after Carroll found him in space. Alas, Clement pushed Jason's shot away, and Arrows defender Glyn Meade beat him to the loose ball. A thrilling match eventually ended in a 2-2 draw, and I couldn't help but feel that we could've taken a better result away from the Pilot Field.

Hastings United - 2 (Hudson 29, Attwood 81)

Romford - 2 (Harley 17, Greenwood 33)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 406 - POSITIONS: Hastings 11th, Romford 12th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt, Peters, Hatch (Allen), Betteridge, Guthmy, Vassell (Farrell), Neville, Harley, Carroll, Akindayini (O'Halloran), Greenwood.

Seriously? Now we had been pegged back not once but twice in a match! This couldn't purely be finishing-line nerves. I honestly felt now that we had serious issues in our defence, and the longer they went unaddressed, the worse things would get.

[CFuller]

After going four Isthmian Premier matches without winning, we took a break from the frustrations of league football and looked ahead to our FA Cup Qualifying Round 1 match. We were drawn against Farsley, who were based in the Northern Premier League Division 1 North. Fortunately for us, it was the Villagers who had to make a 200-mile journey from West Yorkshire to Ship Lane.

As fragile as our state of mind was, and as reluctant as I was to put the players under any further pressure, this was a match I felt we really needed to win. Failure to finish Farsley off at home was not an option, because otherwise we'd either be out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle... or we would have to catch the next flight to Leeds.

19 September 2015: Romford vs Farsley

It was very hot at Ship Lane, so we decided to conserve our energy in the first half by keeping the ball as much as possible. We did have an early chance in the 5th minute, but George Allen's header was caught by Farsley keeper Nick Liversedge. A minute later, a header at the other end from visiting striker Nick Wellecomme was flicked welcomely wide. In the 22nd minute, Boro winger Sean Hunt made an excellent solo run at the Farsley goal, only to miscue his shot at the critical moment. We came very close again seven minutes later, when Nicky Reynolds' diving header was kept out by Liversedge's fingertips. By the end of a far from exciting first half, we were very much on top, even though the scoreline was still 0-0. While we were looking fresh, the Villagers were starting to get fatigued, and they had already lost winger Arran Dowie to injury in the 37th minute.

We returned for the second half all guns blazing, as we tried to take full advantage of the Yorkshire side's tiredness. Dean O'Halloran missed horribly from long distance on 52 minutes, but he had a better chance seven minutes later, when he picked up Nick Fenwick's cross and smashed it against the post. In the 63rd minute, Fenwick surged down the left wing, leaving full-back Jamie Gibson for dead as he crossed into the six-yard box. Harrison Blakey blocked the delivery, but the ball fell towards Reynolds, and Nicky scored a poacher's finish! Three minutes later, Fenwick set up another goal for Reynolds, who powered home to increase our advantage to 2-0! Farsley were pretty much toast from that point. The accuracy of their shooting was so far off that they had no reply to the double salvo from Nicky, who would've had a hat-trick had Liversedge not parried his 75th-minute effort. The only piece of remotely bad news for us was that Ashley Farrell picked up a knock two minutes earlier and couldn't finish the game.

Romford - 2 (Reynolds 63,66)

Farsley - 0

FA Cup Qualifying Round 1, Attendance 293

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt, Newman, Hatch, Allen, Collins, Jones, Farrell (Ramsey), O'Halloran (Harley), Vassell (Fenwick), Hunt, Reynolds.

Now that was more like it! We had eased through with no fuss, and that meant there was no need to make a long journey north - neither for a replay nor the next round. Instead, we'd be making a short trip to London in October, to play either Clapton or Wingate & Finchley in Qualifying Round 2.

Before then, we had to get our flagging Isthmian Premier campaign back on track. After seven matches, three teams had already pulled well clear - Bognor Regis Town still had a perfect score of 21 points, while Cray Wanderers and Lewes had only dropped two apiece. The race for the other play-off places was exceedingly tight, as just three points separated the teams in 5th and 18th.

We were in 12th spot, and our next home fixture would come against Bury Town, who were two places below us on goal difference. Big things were expected of Bury this season after they finished strongly last term, but Clinton Morrison's troops have since returned to their inconsistent ways. I hoped this would be one of their off-days.

22 September 2015: Romford vs Bury Town

Like in the last match, I started with a patient approach, but Bury Town came out with a more attacking strategy than I'd anticipated. Jack Randall's diving header in the sixth minute was caught by Boro keeper Roscoe Fryatt, who was not troubled by an attempt from Thomas Strain two minutes later. Nicky Reynolds had our first chance in the 12th minute, but it was all too comfortably caught by Bury captain Rob Peet. With the visitors taking control, I ordered the other players to push up and play more attack-minded football. After 26 minutes, that strategy change backfired. Randall stormed past Jason Collins, and his right-wing cross into the box was converted from the other end by Taylor Nathaniel. Now we really needed to attack. Daniel Akindayini certainly wasn't afraid to shoot, as he had a couple of chances within minutes of Bury Town taking the lead, but neither of them went close to the target. In the 32nd minute, Jason Harley's long ball to Reynolds was met by a horribly miscued clearance from Liam Murray, allowing Nicky a clear-cut chance. Somehow, though, he ballooned his shot over the bar! The Romford fans became increasingly disgruntled, and they booed us off at half-time. Was another home defeat on the cards?

We gave the supporters something to cheer in the second minute of the second half. Nicky's through-ball reached Kieron Carroll, and the skipper's fine form continued with a well-struck finish. But a little over two minutes later, our equaliser was rendered moot. Bury Town quickly put us back under strain, and indeed, it was Strain who restored their advantage with an unstoppable close-range volley from Reiss Awuah's cross. Any confidence we had at that point gradually ebbed away, as did our chances of taking even one point, let alone three. The only time we had something resembling a chance to equalise came with only a minute or so left, and Carroll's attempted long ball to substitute Duncan Greenwood in the box went nowhere near its target.

Romford - 1 (Carroll 47)

Bury Town - 2 (Nathaniel 26, Strain 50)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 107 - POSITIONS: Romford 14th, Bury Town 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt, Hornsey, Hatch (Allen), Betteridge, Collins, Neville, Fisk, Harley, Carroll, Akindayini (Fenwick), Reynolds (Greenwood). BOOKED: Carroll.

That match gave me a couple more reasons to be fearful. One of them was our shooting - obviously we had no problems getting on the scoresheet at least once, but we generally struggled for accuracy when through on goal. To use the Bury Town game as an example, we had eight shots at goal, and only two were on target.

Another was the fact that we had now lost twice as many home league games this season as we did last season. We'd played just four Isthmian Premier fixtures at Ship Lane... and lost two of them to sides that I would hardly describe as title challengers.

[CFuller]

I already had enough on my plate as it was when Joel Wilkinson confronted me, and demanded that he be our first-choice goalkeeper. To be fair, he had a point. Joel had conceded three goals in three matches to date this season, while Roscoe Fryatt had conceded 10 in six games. With Roscoe making a disappointing start to his Romford career, I agreed to give Joel an extended run in the first-team, and the opportunity to establish himself as our best goalkeeper.

We remained at Ship Lane for our next match against fellow mid-tablers Billericay Town, who were trying to inflict as much pain on our fans as both Cray Wanderers and Bury Town did earlier on in the month. Another home loss would leave us closer to the danger of relegation than our pre-season target of the play-offs, so this time, we quite simply had to win.

26 September 2015: Romford vs Billericay Town

When it comes to playing Billericay, our opponents usually score the first goal before we fight back to draw or even win. This match started rather differently. After almost exactly three minutes, Ryan Jones passed to Kamal Guthmy, who cut inside from the left flank and drilled in the opening goal for Romford! That early goal gave us a massive confidence boost, and we went from strength to strength. In the 11th minute, Nick Fenwick gave Ricay keeper Dave Watson a serious test with a swerving free-kick. Billericay had their first chance a couple of minutes later, though Boro goalie Joel Wilkinson easily caught Greg Pearson's shot. With just over half an hour gone, Guthmy - who scored our first goal - nicked the ball off Billericay striker Rob Bredbury, and started a counter-attack that would culminate in our second. Nicky Reynolds of all people got a byline cross into the box, and on the receiving end of his delivery was Kieron Carroll, whose header made it 2-0! The visitors could not yet be written off, though, and Pearson's 35th-minute strike drew a difficult save out of Wilkinson. In the 41st, Pearson nodded home Arthur Russell's cross and thought he'd pegged a goal back for Billericay, only for the offside flag to deny him. With Paddy Atkinson's boys finishing the first half strongly, we needed to hold firm in the second to avoid another Aveley.

I brought on Duncan Greenwood to replace Reynolds at half-time, in the hope that his aerial presence would further unsettle Billericay's defence. In fact, it was with his right foot that Duncan scored our third goal of the day less than three minutes after his introduction! Carroll had assisted him on that occasion, and he did so again in the 52nd minute, but Greenwood's left-footed volley was parried by Watson. Three minutes later, Ricay's Chris Henderson volleyed into the Romford box, and Pearson got on the other end of it to find the net for a second time... but he was also flagged offside for a second time. Pearson and Billericay were perhaps beginning to feel like the world was against them, and they were cursing their luck again in the 62nd minute, when Henderson hit the post from a tight angle. With every passing minute, our 3-0 lead became more secure - we just had to be sensible, and not give Billericay any further chances to get back into contention. Danny Newman didn't listen to my message, though. He nobbled Henderson just outside the penalty area in the 71st minute, conceding a free-kick and earning himself a caution. Dan Sweeney flicked the set piece up to Pearson, who thundered the ball into the net with ease. But incredibly, he was caught offside for a third time! Pearson had scored a hat-trick of disallowed goals! By now, even I couldn't blame Billericay for thinking that we had a twelfth man in the form of the referee, but to be honest, we didn't need any corrupt officiating to win this match. We outclassed Billericay in pretty much every department, and most of our shots were finding the target, which was a far cry from recent showings. A 3-0 win in the end was a great result, though Greenwood had a couple of late chances to make things even sweeter.

Romford - 3 (Guthmy 3, Carroll 31, Greenwood 48)

Billericay Town - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 130 - POSITIONS: Romford 11th, Billericay 17th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Allen, Betteridge, Guthmy, Harley, Farrell, Jones (Vassell), Fenwick (Hunt), Carroll, Reynolds (Greenwood). BOOKED: Newman.

After going five league matches without winning, it was such a relief to finally take away all three points - and I was also delighted that we did so in such convincing fashion.

Could we keep the momentum going in our next away match against league leaders Bognor Regis Town? The facts suggested not. The Rocks started off with an eight-game winning streak that only ended in their most recent match, when they lost at Aveley, and they'd still conceded just one solitary goal at Nyewood Lane.

Also, I HATE going to Bognor Regis - for football reasons or otherwise.

30 September 2015: Bognor Regis Town vs Romford

Bognor Regis goalkeeper Tom McNeil gifted us a chance after less than 20 seconds, when his throw was intercepted by Duncan Greenwood. Big Dunc then played a one-two with Kieron Carroll before having a shot at a gaping goal, but it came too close to McNeil, who tipped it away. That was a golden chance, but it was also a reason to be very encouraged. In the fifth minute, Greenwood connected with Dean O'Halloran's corner and flicked it to George Allen, who headed home from the far end of the goal. We were 1-0 up at the home of the Isthmian Premier leaders! Greenwood was dictating the first half, and in the 20th minute, he hit a spectacular volley that was brilliantly caught by McNeil. Bognor Regis had their first real chance seven minutes, as Lewis Osbourne forced a save - albeit a comfortable one - from Joel Wilkinson in the Romford goal. Although the Rocks weren't being totally outclassed, we finished the first half almost as quickly as we started it. On 39 minutes, a mistake from Bognor Regis defender Ryan James allowed Kieron to rush through on goal, but he put the ball into the side netting.

Bognor Regis looked a bit more threatening when play resumed in the second half, as Reece Loudon put a 54th-minute free-kick narrowly off target. As time went on, though, our lead looked more secure, as the Rocks couldn't get enough of the ball to put it under threat. In the 61st minute, Carroll spurned a great chance to double our advantage. The underperforming skipper was later replaced by Nicky Reynolds, who broke clear on 79 minutes, only for McNeil to come forward and parry the ball from Nicky's feet. One last opportunity to grab a second goal came in injury time. Nick Fenwick charged down Jack Handford's cross, and the quick winger ran from the Boro half to the corner of the Rocks' penalty area. Unfortunately, Greenwood couldn't quite reach his cross, but one solitary goal was more than enough to see off an underperforming Bognor Regis team.

Bognor Regis Town - 0

Romford - 1 (Allen 5)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 358 - POSITIONS: Bognor Regis 1st, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman (Dymond), Allen, Betteridge, Guthmy, O'Halloran, Farrell, Jones (Hunt), Fenwick, Greenwood, Carroll (Reynolds).

I LOVE going to Bognor Regis!

Back-to-back wins have lifted us up to 6th place in the table, and although we aren't playing like play-off chasers just yet, the signs are looking positive for us once again.

[CFuller]

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.          Bognor Regis           10    8     0     2     17    6     +11   24
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2.          Cray                   9     7     2     0     16    5     +11   23
3.          Lewes                  8     7     1     0     15    5     +10   22
4.          Bury Town              10    5     3     2     11    9     +2    18
5.          Hastings               10    4     4     2     16    12    +4    16
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[color="#0000FF"]6.          Romford                10    4     3     3     18    13    +5    15[/color]
7.          Enfield Town           9     4     3     2     10    5     +5    15
8.          Histon                 9     5     0     4     13    14    -1    15
9.          Carshalton             10    4     2     4     12    10    +2    14
10.         Margate                9     2     7     0     18    13    +5    13
11.         Dulwich Hamlet         9     4     1     4     18    18    0     13
12.         Aveley                 10    4     1     5     10    17    -7    13
13.         Potters Bar            10    2     6     2     13    9     +4    12
14.         Concord Rangers        9     2     5     2     14    12    +2    11
15.         Faversham              10    2     5     3     12    10    +2    11
16.         Thurrock               9     1     7     1     10    12    -2    10
17.         Sutton Utd             9     2     4     3     4     10    -6    10
18.         Maidstone              10    1     6     3     6     9     -3    9
19.         Merstham               9     2     3     4     7     11    -4    9
20.         Billericay             9     3     0     6     12    18    -6    9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         St Albans              10    1     3     6     11    22    -11   6
22.         Whitehawk              9     1     2     6     6     11    -5    5
23.         Brentwood              8     0     4     4     7     13    -6    4
24.         Welling                9     0     2     7     9     21    -12   2

[CFuller]

That fantastic win at Bognor Regis Town put our Isthmian League Premier Division campaign back on the rails, but the first Saturday of October meant that it was FA Cup time once again. Our Qualifying Round 2 match was at Wingate & Finchley, who had seen off Clapton in a replay during the previous round.

Although Wingate were the winners in our last couple of meetings, they were now playing in the Isthmian North, having suffered relegation from the Southern Premier last season. I had an impeccable record when it came to reaching Qualifying Round 3 of the FA Cup, but would the Blues put that in jeopardy?

3 October 2015: Wingate & Finchley vs Romford

We sought to take the game to the hosts early on. Nicky Reynolds and Kieron Carroll both missed horribly in the 5th and 7th minutes respectively, but Nicky fared slightly better with his next opportunity. A lovely through-ball from Ryan Jones on 18 minutes sent Reynolds through before Wingate & Finchley keeper Ben McFarlane-Barnes brilliantly parried his shot away. Three minutes later, a cross from Boro winger Jason Harley deflected off Blues centre-back Ajet Shehu and onto the far post! Carroll should've buried it there and then, but he missed the ball, and W&F's other central defender Hicham Opara frantically cleared it! After their close shave, the hosts had a couple of chances to take a shock lead before the break. They didn't get particularly close, though, as Max Webb swerved a shot wide in the 28th minute, and Callum Day scooped over the bar just before the whistle.

After a goalless first half, we at last broke the deadlock less than a minute into the second period. A well-taken corner from Harley was headed into the net by the in-form George Allen, and we had the upper hand... though not for very long. Three minutes later, Connor Dymond intercepted a cross from Webb, but his clearance went to Wingate & Finchley winger Reece Hall, who flicked a header for captain Louis Clark to tap in from close range. Having levelled the scores, Clark then had the chance to create a potential upset, but his free-kick struck the bar on 53 minutes. He would rue that miss five minutes later, when another Harley corner undid his team's hard work. W&F failed to clear their lines, and Jason got the ball back before crossing to Allen, whose volley struck both posts before crossing the line! George was an unlikely two-goal hero, but there was nothing unlikely about us leading 2-1. We consolidated our advantage in the 64th minute, when Reynolds made it 3-1 with a landmark goal. Nicky got on the end of a terrible goal kick from McFarlane-Barnes, and then played a one-two with Carroll before firing in his 100th Romford goal under my management! Day narrowly missed a chance to put the hosts back in contention shortly after the restart, and Wingate & Finchley's hopes would soon have their hopes snuffed out. Boro substitute Daniel Akindayini capped off a wonderful dribble with a deadly finish to make it 4-1 after 68 minutes! We were cruising into the next round... and the punishment wasn't over for our hosts just yet. Reynolds seemed hell bent on scoring what would be his second goal of the day and our fifth. After going very close in the 79th minute, he missed an easy shot at a gaping goalmouth a minute later. Nicky eventually got what he wanted in the last minute of normal time, when he tucked in Sean Hunt's cross to put the icing on our cake.

Wingate & Finchley - 1 (Clark 49)

Romford - 5 (Allen 46,58, Reynolds 64,90, Akindayini 68)

FA Cup Qualifying Round 2, Attendance 185

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond, Allen, Collins (Guthmy), Harley, Neville, Jones (Vassell), Hunt, Carroll (Akindayini), Reynolds.

That was some second half performance! Our reward for it was progression to FA Cup Qualifying Round 3 for a fourth season in a row... and this time, we wouldn't have to play a Conference South side. Instead, we were handed an away trip to another Isthmian Premier team - either Cray Wanderers or Whitehawk.

We found out exactly who we would be facing four days later, when the replay between those two sides took place. Cray won 2-0, so for the second consecutive year, we'd be playing our Qualifying Round 3 tie at Hayes Lane in Bromley.

That particular fixture was scheduled after our first match in this season's FA Trophy, which would be our last if hosts Lewes continued their impressive form. The Sussex side were 3rd and unbeaten in the Isthmian Premier, and thus were heavy favourites to win this Qualifying Round 1 encounter.

14 October 2015: Lewes vs Romford

It looked from the start as if both sides were scared of losing at such an early stage in the FA Trophy. With so much tension, neither team played particularly well in the first half. Lewes saw a couple of shots blocked, while we had by far the best chance to take the lead. That came in the 34th minute, when Nicky Reynolds brilliantly ran past the Lewes defence before agonisingly hitting the far post. The half-time score was - surprise, surprise - 0-0.

We settled down a bit in the second half. On 51 minutes, Nicky dispossessed Lewes full-back Luke Bottomer before drilling a cross that Lewes goalkeeper Daren Hawkes spilled out of play. Although Dean O'Halloran's resulting corner was headed out of the six-yard box by Rooks midfielder Joe Broad, Jay Vassell got on the other end of his clearance and volleyed into the net! That moment of magic could have been the crucial moment in a poor game... but Lewes thought differently. After 67 minutes, the hosts put us under pressure with their first meaningful attack of the night. Shortly after Jay lost possession to the Rooks, Lewes striker James Stevens headed to his partner Alassan Ann on the edge of the penalty area. Ann then levelled the scores with a stunning strike right into the corner. Three minutes later, he turned the match completely on its head. Connor Dymond managed to get Bottomer's cross away from Stevens, but not Ann, who lashed in a deadly finish. Two quickfire goals had made it 2-1 to Lewes, and after dominating possession in the final 20 minutes, the Rooks made it through to a Qualifying Round 2 match against Guernsey. We had fallen at the very first hurdle.

Lewes - 2 (Ann 67,70)

Romford - 1 (Vassell 51)

FA Trophy Qualifying Round 1, Attendance 183

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Dymond (Betteridge), Allen, Guthmy, O'Halloran (Harley), Farrell, Vassell, Hunt, Carroll, Reynolds (Akindayini).

It was obviously disappointing to bow out of the FA Trophy so early on, but another win in the FA Cup would more than make up for that. Three days later, we visited Cray Wanderers as we tried to reach Qualifying Round 4 - something we hadn't quite achieved in any of my previous three seasons.

17 October 2015: Cray Wanderers vs Romford

This Qualifying Round 3 encounter couldn't have got off to a better start from our perspective. With just five minutes on the clock, two of our in-form players linked up to create the first goal. Jason Harley's cross was powered into the net by Nicky Reynolds, and already the Isthmian Premier high-flyers were stunned! In the 17th minute, clinical Nick set up a chance for his namesake Fenwick, but the young winger didn't quite have Reynolds' shooting accuracy. Steven Wainwright then scuffed an effort wide for Cray four minutes later. The Wands seemed a little anxious, and we exploited their nervousness with a second goal in the 39th minute. Brian Neville closed down Will Bor's attempted long ball and laid it off to Kieron Carroll, who found Harley on the right wing. Jason then hit a long ball through the Cray defence for Reynolds, who broke into the penalty area before firing past Daniel Bygrave! 2-0 to Romford, and we could sense the next round!

Cray, though, were sensing a second-half fightback. Wainwright looked almost certain to score with a half-volley in the 49th minute until Joel Wilkinson somehow kicked it away mid-air with his left foot! Wainwright picked up a knock four minutes later and was swiftly replaced. With some fresh legs on the field, the Wands attacked again in the 60th minute. Martel Powell's cross was volleyed in from close range by the ever-deadly Joey Butlin, and our lead was cut down to 2-1. Five minutes later, our situation became more worrying. Half-time substitute Jay Vassell was slide-tackled by Cray midfielder Mitch Harding, who had only just been booked and was lucky not to receive a second yellow card. Sadly, Jay's previous bad luck with injuries returned, and he was taken off with a gashed leg - an injury that would subsequently rule him out for three weeks. With no other central midfielders left to bring on, I decided to put Duncan Greenwood in that position, purely because of his strength and teamwork. By this point, Cray were looking the more assured team, and we were on edge. Reynolds could've settled our nerves by making it 3-1 after 67 minutes, but after displaying excellent dribbling skills, he was denied at the last moment by Bygrave's fingertips. The Wands launched another assault seven minutes later. Luis Cumber got the ball into the box, where Butlin smashed in another volley, and Hayes Lane erupted. Cray Wanderers had come from 2-0 down to level at 2-2, and everything suggested they would complete the comeback in the final 15 minutes. Not for the first time, I was fearing a repeat of our collapse at Aveley.

Reynolds and Butlin were on two goals apiece, and a close-fought match would eventually be decided by a hat-trick from one of them. In the 75th minute, Butlin got his head to Harding's delivery, but this particular effort was too weak to test Wilkinson, who caught comfortably. Five minutes later, Cumber hit a terrible long pass that went straight to Fenwick, and the teenager approached the Cray area before laying the ball off to Reynolds. This was Nicky's opportunity to secure his treble, and surely a 3-2 victory for us. It was one that he seized - his shot went in off the underside of the crossbar, and we celebrated as if the game was over! It wasn't quite finished, though, and Butlin had another shot just outside our penalty area in the third minute of injury time. If it went in, we would be forced into a replay at Ship Lane. As it transpired, the ball flew deep into the stands. A minute or so later, the final whistle blew, confirming our place in Qualifying Round 4 of the FA Cup!

Cray Wanderers - 2 (Butlin 60,74)

Romford - 3 (Reynolds 5,39,80)

FA Cup Qualifying Round 3, Attendance 435

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge, Collins (Guthmy), Jones (Vassell (Greenwood)), Neville, Harley, Carroll, Fenwick, Reynolds. BOOKED: Jones.

After three failed attempts, we had finally made it to Qualifying Round 4, and we were just one round away from a possible date with the professionals! Before we could join the Football League sides in the pot for Round 1, we would have to get through another away match... against Isthmian South outfit Burgess Hill Town.

Our final FA Cup qualifier would take place on 31 October 2015 - a date that had the potential to go down in Romford FC history.

[CFuller]

The next match on our schedule was our fourth away cup game in a row, and our fifth in total. It was against our former Isthmian North rivals Thamesmead Town in Round 2 of the Isthmian League Cup.

21 October 2015: Thamesmead Town vs Romford

Thamesmead had the perfect start, as after just 47 seconds, Ricky Miller capped off an excellent team move with a fantastic finish. Despite going behind very early, we would only have to wait a short while for our first chance to equalise. George Allen's header from Dean O'Halloran's corner in the third minute was well held by Mead keeper Tom Beadle. After 17 minutes, a cross from O'Halloran was met by another header, this time from big striker Duncan Greenwood, but it went into the side netting. Fred Onyedinma could've put Thamesmead 2-0 up a couple of minutes later, but his shot hit team-mate Luke Law in the face before Allen cleared the loose ball! Our frustrations continued in the 24th minute, when Wayne Hatch and Sean Hunt had shots blocked by Thamesmead defenders within seconds of each other. We would eventually break through after 35 minutes. O'Halloran put in another dangerous corner, and Allen rather fortuitously poked the ball into the net off home midfielder Brett Jordan. That levelled the scores, but six minutes later, a sloppy pass from Hunt allowed Mead a chance to retake the lead. The hosts hit us on the counter-attack through Law, whose 30-yard strike found the net with the help of the crossbar! It felt sickening, and it meant we went into the break trailing by 2 goals to 1.

Mark Betteridge came on to replace our woeful left-back Kamal Guthmy at half-time. Nine minutes into his match, Mark attempted to score from 25 yards, but Beadle read his shot like a book and caught it comfortably. Another half-time substitute would make his mark for Romford in the 56th minute. Bobby Fisk played a pass to O'Halloran, who dribbled into the penalty area, sidestepped Thamesmead full-back Ayberk Karagol, and then caught Beadle off guard with a vicious strike! The Irish wing wizard gave us our second equaliser, but we were fortunate not to concede a third goal within minutes of making it 2-2. Mead winger Peter Searle hit the woodwork in the 59th minute, and a minute later, Onyedinma missed with an awful shot that should've at least tested Roscoe Fryatt. At the other end, O'Halloran's usually terrible finishing returned with a couple of woeful efforts after 68 and 72 minutes. Thamesmead then suffered a major blow in the 74th minute, when their last substitute Nico Harris picked up an injury. Having been forced to go down to ten men, Thamesmead opted to play defensively for the rest of the match and hold out for a penalty shoot-out. Not even the late introduction of the in-form Nicky Reynolds could give us a decisive goal inside the 90 minutes, so the tie came down to spot-kicks.

Nicky kicked off the shoot-out with a typically clinical strike, and Jordan then thundered home Thamesmead's first penalty. That set the tone for the rest of the shoot-out, as spot-kick after spot-kick was converted by players from both teams. After five attempts each, it was perfectly poised at 5-5. Then came sudden death. Hatch continued our perfect run with a powerful kick, and Searle did likewise for Thamesmead before Farrell made it 7-6 to Romford. Matt Finlay then stepped up for the Mead - and he screwed his shot past Fryatt's right-hand post! We were through!

Thamesmead Town - 2 (Miller 1, Law 41)

Romford - 2 (Allen 35, O'Halloran 56)

[Romford win 7-6 on penalties]

Isthmian League Cup Round 2, Attendance 87

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT: (Romford players listed in blue) Reynolds 0-1, Jordan 1-1, Akindayini 1-2, Karagol 2-2, Hunt 2-3, Onyedinma 3-3, Newman 3-4, Hall 4-4, Betteridge 4-5, Hartlebury 5-5, Hatch 5-6, Searle 6-6, Farrell 6-7, Finlay missed.

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Fryatt, Newman, Hatch, Allen, Guthmy (Betteridge), Hunt, Farrell, O'Halloran, Jones (Fisk), Akindayini, Greenwood (Reynolds).

That was dramatic, but it was nothing compared to what our Round 3 opponents had to go through. The match between Concord Rangers and Lewes also finished 2-2 and went to a penalty shoot-out that, after no fewer than 36 spot-kicks, finished 18-17 in favour of Lewes! That meant we would be going back to the Dripping Pan next month.

After our latest cup win, we returned to league action with successive home games. We really needed to pick up maximum points from them to keep up with the other teams in or around the top five. First off, we hosted Sutton United, whose manager Terry Fleming was under pressure after a run of poor form that saw the U's slip to 17th place.

24 October 2015: Romford vs Sutton United

We had a major scare after 14 minutes, when Sutton winger Sam Rents' corner to the far post was headed back to the near post by Teddy Ngoy. United's makeshift striker Patrick Flenley should've nodded the ball home, but he somehow headed it across goal, and Jason Harley cleared it behind for another corner that was less frightening. In the 24th minute, Flenley - who is actually a defender but was playing up front because Sutton didn't have any fit strikers - hit a vicious shot at goal and missed by only a few inches. We then had a chance five minutes later, when Kieron Carroll's long-range effort was saved by Tom Lovelock. Otherwise, it was a pretty dire first half, and it ended goalless.

Ryan Jones tried a shot from 30 yards in the 48th minute, and the Romford central midfielder missed by a long chalk. When his Sutton counterpart Charlie Fowler attempted to score from that distance eight minutes later, the ball rocketed into the corner of Joel Wilkinson's goal. The visitors were 1-0 up, and another home defeat looked on the cards for us. The U's could have actually doubled their lead on 76 minutes, but Joel comfortably caught from Rents' half-volley. Four minutes later, we were spared the ignominy of a third league loss at Ship Lane in just six games. After Rents hit a terrible pass on the halfway line, Brian Neville intercepted it and passed to Ryan in the centre circle. Jones then lobbed a through-ball to Carroll, who got past Lovelock and tapped into the net to give us a late equaliser! The match finished level at 1-1, but it didn't end well for Ryan, who came off with exhaustion just before the final whistle.

Romford - 1 (Carroll 80)

Sutton United - 1 (Fowler 56)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 189 - POSITIONS: Romford 10th, Sutton Utd 16th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge (Allen), Collins, Harley (O'Halloran), Farrell (Neville), Jones, Fenwick, Carroll, Reynolds. BOOKED: Collins.

That was another case of two home points dropped rather than one gained, so it was massively important that we took all three when we faced our Ship Lane rivals Thurrock. For what it was worth, we had 'home advantage' in this derby. It was very wet and windy in Aveley, and both teams were likely to find the conditions tough.

[CFuller]

28 October 2015: Romford vs Thurrock

Following an unsurprisingly scrappy start to the match, we were the first team to settle down and trouble the opposition goalkeeper. After 22 minutes, Nicky Reynolds saw his header caught by Thurrock keeper Gareth Deane, who a minute later tipped over Brian Neville's long-distance strike. Dean O'Halloran crossed the resulting corner to George Allen, whose close-range shot was stopped by Deane's fingertips, but the ball then deflected into the net off Fleet striker Zach Khlaf's knee! We had taken a rather fortunate lead, but almost exactly a minute later, Khlaf put the ball into our net. Luckily, from our point of view, the goal was ruled out as Khlaf was offside. The drama continued moments later, when Neville's cross hit the crossbar and fell to Daniel Akindayini. Danny passed to full-back Kamal Guthmy, who curled the ball into the six-yard box for Reynolds to volley it in! After 25 minutes, it was 2-0 to the Boro! We had a great opportunity to cement our lead three minutes later with a third goal. Nicky did incredibly well to keep Akindayini's long ball from passing the byline, and he crossed to Kieron Carroll, who put his header past the far post. Thurrock could have then got themselves back in the match with four first-half minutes to go. James Hartson - a former Boro boy now representing the Ship Lane landlords - cut a low shot just inches wide, and we still led his new team 2-0 heading into the second half.

As the weather became gustier, both teams found it more difficult to keep hold of the ball, let alone attempt any meaningful shots. That was characterised in the 54th minute, when an effort from Thurrock midfielder Tom Vickers almost flew out of the stands. By the 64th minute, it was so windy that the game felt more like a live-action remake of The Hurricanes than a competitive football match. When Connor Dymond's clearance was headed out of play by Vickers, referee Tom Blackford decided that enough was enough. It was nearly impossible to play in such high winds, so he ordered both teams to walk back to their dressing rooms, which we did - with great difficulty.

We sat quietly in the home dressing room for about 10 minutes, wondering whether the match would resume. Then Mr Blackford entered the room, and informed us that he was calling the game off, as the gales weren't going to end anytime soon. With the game now abandoned, we wondered if the result would stand. After a quick call to the Isthmian League secretary, I was told that it would stand if Thurrock agreed - and they did, reluctantly. We were very relieved to say the least. Our fixture list was congested enough as it was without the need to shoehorn in another game.

Romford - 2 (Khlaf og23, Reynolds 25)

Thurrock - 0

[Abandoned after 64 minutes due to high winds - result stands]

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 356 - POSITIONS: Romford 8th, Thurrock 13th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Dymond, Allen, Guthmy, Farrell, Neville, O'Halloran, Carroll, Akindayini, Reynolds.

It was a disappointment that we could not complete that game, but we'd still come out of it with all three points - and it could well have turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The abandonment meant that our players would be in better condition for our crucial FA Cup Qualifying Round 4 game on Halloween.

Our trip to Burgess Hill Town represented a fantastic chance to reach Round 1 of the FA Cup for the first time since our reformation. However, we weren't playing a tinpot team - Burgess Hill were unbeaten in Isthmian League Division 1 South, and the West Sussex side had knocked out Conference South big boys Farnborough in the previous round.

31 October 2015: Burgess Hill Town vs Romford

Burgess Hill suffered a blow after less than three minutes, when a rash challenge from Bobby Fisk left their midfielder John Payne with a torn hamstring. In the 7th minute, Fisk intercepted a poor challenge from the hosts' left-back Tyrone Sterling and volleyed into the side netting. That was followed three minutes later by a milestone moment for our other central midfielder Ashley Farrell, who gave us the lead with his first competitive goal! Ashley's incisive low strike into the far corner put us in control, and we steadily moved up the gears from there. Winger Nick Fenwick played a cutting pass to captain Kieron Carroll in the 24th minute, but Kieron couldn't quite keep his shot on target. Five minutes later, Connor Dymond's header from Jason Harley's corner went the wrong side of the post by inches. We then continued to knock the ball effortlessly around the Hillians' half before taking a 2-0 lead after 33 minutes. Right-winger Jason Harley moved into the centre and knocked the ball past two Burgess Hill defenders to find Nicky Reynolds, who ran onto the ball and finished with ease! It looked like we were coasting into Round 1... but in the first minute of injury time, Burgess Hill threw a spanner in the works. Joel Wilkinson got his fingertips to a header from defender Sean Grace, but he could only help the ball to Danny Allen-Page, who flicked it over the line from Wilko's right-hand post. Was the game beginning to slip away from us?

The short answer was no. It wasn't until the 70th minute that Burgess Hill had any kind of shot on goal in the second half. Even then, Sean Highdale's strike was too high and wide to resemble anything like an equaliser. Three minutes later, we launched another attack, from which we restored our two-goal advantage. Harley slid to connect with Carroll's cross into the centre of the Hillians area, though the ball was heading off target until Kieron came forward to tap it into the net. At 3-1 up, only a spectacular collapse would deny us a place in the draw for the First Round proper - and that did not happen. Burgess Hill had a number of late half-chances, but when substitute Matt Thomson curled wide with six minutes to go, the Hillians were finished. We took things easy for the closing stages, and when the referee blew for full-time, our celebrations got underway. Round 1, here we come!

Burgess Hill Town - 1 (Allen-Page 45)

Romford - 3 (Farrell 10, Reynolds 33, Carroll 73)

FA Cup Qualifying Round 4, Attendance 365

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond, Allen, Collins, Fisk, Farrell (Neville), Harley, Carroll (Greenwood), Fenwick (Akindayini), Reynolds. BOOKED: Carroll, Farrell, Allen.

We did it, baby! We were into Round 1 of the FA Cup for the first time, joining a host of established Football League sides at that stage of the competition. The following afternoon, we discovered if we would be sharing a pitch with one of them.

[CFuller]

The Thurrock game is probably going to need some explaining.

In the 64th minute, the ball went out of play for what should have been a throw-in. However, nothing happened at all for the next half-hour - not even the substitution that I had set up beforehand. There were no more highlights until the final whistle.

Noting that the weather had been described as 'Gusty', I wondered what would have happened in real life had an Isthmian League match been abandoned due to adverse weather. I consulted the Isthmian League rules, and then arrived at a storyline that I felt was as realistic as possible. (In real life, it's more likely that the match would have been replayed, but that sort of scenario does not happen in Football Manager - at least not as far as I know.)

I hope that's cleared things up for anyone who's wondering what happened.

[CFuller]

After toasting our historic victory from the night before, we gathered at the clubhouse to watch the draw for Round 1 of the FA Cup live on the BBC. We all knew that there was a good chance of us being pitted against a team from League One or League Two, and that would be a real money-spinner for us - especially if we were drawn at home.

It wasn't until well over halfway through the draw that our ball was picked out of the bowl. Overseeing the draw was a strapping young man who just a few years ago was best known for hosting children's TV programmes. He called out, "Number 57, Romford."

We'd been given a home tie. I, along with the players, sat anxiously as the next ball came out. Then the presenter said, "...and Romford will play Number 35, Portsmouth!" Cue mass hysteria in the clubhouse.

Well, we couldn't have wished for a much more lucrative draw than that! Portsmouth were famously the FA Cup winners in 2008, when we were still in the Essex Senior League, and they had reached the Final as recently as 2010. They were also, of course, in the Premier League before suffering three relegations in the space of four seasons between 2010 and 2013. Though they weren't a major force anymore, the thought of Pompey coming to Ship Lane made me feel as giddy as a kid who was about to meet Father Christmas!

Then reality hit home. We had just six days to prepare for the biggest game of our lives.

Before then, we also had to play an Essex Senior Cup match at Braintree Town Reserves, which now paled into insignificance compared to what was on the horizon. Two seasons ago, we knocked Braintree out of this competition on the way to the Final, but that was in Round 4. This time, we would have to beat them again just to get past Round 3.

3 November 2015: Braintree Town Reserves vs Romford

Ashley Miller fired narrowly wide for Braintree in the 4th minute, just before our own Daniel Akindayini had a shot blocked by Town defender Dan Bennett. Akindayini had a penalty claim waved away in the 17th minute, when he claimed to have been barged off the ball by full-back Ian Taylor. Less than two minutes later, Iron keeper Ty Duguid sent a long goal kick into our half, and Pete Hughes flicked it towards Ashley Miller. The ex-Gillingham man then found Jake Reed in plenty of space, and the striker's clinical finish took Braintree from goal kick to goal in around ten seconds! It also left us needing to find a quick equaliser - and we got it three minutes later. Dean O'Halloran swung a wonderful corner into the box, from which Mark Betteridge looped a header into the net! We were level at 1-1, but Braintree responded positively to losing their lead. On 25 minutes, Boro goalkeeper Joel Wilkinson pushed away a fierce strike from Miller, who forced another save out of Wilko six minutes later. Romford midfielder Ryan Jones showed great tenacity after 36 minutes to dispossess Braintree captain Khari Oriogun, and his sliding tackle knocked the ball towards Danny Newman, who passed to Akindayini. Danny in turn fed the ball through to Duncan Greenwood, whose powerful low strike made it 2-1 to the Boro! We could have lost our advantage four minutes later, though. Romford centre-back Wayne Hatch could only head Robert Sloan's left-wing cross as far as Oriogun, whose shot from a tight angle missed by inches. As a result of that near-miss, we remained 2-1 ahead at half-time.

Less than two minutes after the restart, Greenwood found Akindayini with a through-ball, but defender Kelvin Baker got back to clear the ball before Danny could knock it past Duguid. Akindayini then created a chance in the 52nd minute for Ryan Jones, who headed his free-kick just off target. Nine minutes later, Wilkinson hit a long ball up to Sean Hunt just inside the Braintree half. Sean promptly went on an amazing solo run into the box before turning past two Iron defenders and cutting the ball into the net! That fantastic goal from Hunt moved us two goals clear, and Akindayini could've finished the job in the 65th minute, but he nodded over from Kamal Guthmy's deep cross. Duguid got his fingers to a 73rd-minute Greenwood shot from just inside the penalty box, and that fourth Boro goal would not be forthcoming. Braintree did get close to scoring a second of their own when, with two minutes to go, Sloan's long-range free-kick hit the crossbar. Though the Iron battled bravely, we did enough to reach Round 4.

Braintree Town Reserves - 1 (Reed 19)

Romford - 3 (Betteridge 22, Greenwood 36, Hunt 61)

Essex Senior Cup Round 3, Attendance 22

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Hatch (Allen), Betteridge, Guthmy, O'Halloran, Farrell, Jones (Neville), Hunt, Greenwood, Akindayini (Reynolds). BOOKED: Hunt.

The prize we got for making it through to Round 4 was a home tie against Colchester United Reserves - another team that we knocked out on the way to the 2014 Final.

The following day, I started a fan recruitment drive at Romford Market, hoping to attract some new supporters for our next game - the big one, at home to Portsmouth in Round 1 of the FA Cup. It seemed to work, as well over 750 turned up on Saturday afternoon to cheer us on.

I didn't believe that many of our supporters, new and old, gave us much chance against John Coleman's Pompey side, who were 16th in League Two and widely expected to turn us over. I personally didn't have much hope of a major giant-killing, either. My aim was just to keep the scoreline respectable, and maybe even nick a goal or two. Even if we didn't win, I would be happy with something along those lines... but this was the FA Cup, where fairytales really could come true.

7 November 2015: Romford vs Portsmouth

One of our largest ever home crowds gathered at Ship Lane, hoping that we could keep Portsmouth quiet for as long as possible. Alas, Pompey drew first blood in less than five minutes. Keith Buckley's cross deflected off Boro left-back Jason Collins and towards Gary O'Neill, who then set up the opening goal for left-winger Callum Kennedy. It was not the best of starts for Joel Wilkinson in the Romford goal, but he settled down and brilliantly caught Jed Wallace's free-kick in the 10th minute. Well, I say that he settled down, but the nerves returned two minutes later. The visitors launched a quick counter-attack after Anthony Chapman's weak throw into the Pompey area was cleared by Dan Butler. Within moments, Republic of Ireland Under-19s striker O'Neil put a cross into our own box from the left wing, and Wilkinson could only help it into the net. Pompey now led 2-0, and they should have made it 3-0 by the 15th minute. Butler's cross rebounded off Chapman's backside and towards George Francomb, who had his first shot blocked by Collins before he fired the second against the post! Romford fans were now fearing a heavy defeat, and it was clear to me that our counter-attacking strategy was not working. After taking a more conservative approach, we looked much more comfortable on the ball. We even managed to create a shot on goal three minutes later. Sean Hunt drilled the ball across the Pompey goalmouth before Jason Harley tucked it away to give himself a moment to savour - and us a way back into the match! At 2-1, it was game on again, and Portsmouth were looking a bit more nervous. When Jay Vassell's 33rd-minute free-kick drew a save out of goalkeeper Richard O'Donnell, we felt hopeful that we could equalise. That feeling didn't last. On 38 minutes, Butler exchanged passes with Kennedy and then laid the ball off to Wallace, who came to the edge of our penalty area before firing into Wilko's left-hand corner. Portsmouth were getting away from us again, and a 3-1 deficit could've become even worse later on. With just a few seconds to go before half-time, Kennedy sprinted past the unusually abject Connor Dymond and stung Wilkinson's palms with a fierce effort.

I brought on my big gun for the second half - and guns don't come much bigger than Duncan Greenwood. After less than three minutes, Greenwood volleyed in from Harley's header, and the arrears were down to just one goal. But just as we were getting our hopes up again, Pompey restored their two-goal cushion once more. A mishit back-pass from Greenwood to Neville in the 53rd minute proved to be a critical mistake, as Portsmouth launched a counter-attack that ended with another deadly low finish from Wallace. Pompey then brought on Wes Fletcher as a substitute for Kennedy. Fletcher had a great chance to make it 5-2 in the 58th minute, but Joel parried his shot and Hunt then cleared. For the next 20 minutes, Portsmouth were restricted to long-range efforts, and neither Angelos Tsiaklis nor Fletcher could find the target. It was still 4-2 as we headed into the last 10 minutes. I knew that if we could summon enough energy to grab a third goal, we'd have a good chance to level the match and force a replay with another. The seventh goal of an exciting game was scored after 82 minutes - but it was the one that finally ended our dreams. Butler's corner was headed home by Fletcher, despite Kamal Guthmy's best efforts to clear it off the line. With that goal, Portsmouth secured a 5-2 win and a place in Round 2. We had done very well to score two goals against Football League opposition, but the three-division gap had told and our FA Cup journey was over.

Romford - 2 (Harley 18, Greenwood 48)

Portsmouth - 5 (Kennedy 5, O'Neill 12, Wallace 38,53, Fletcher 82)

FA Cup Round 1, Attendance 776

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond (Betteridge), Allen, Collins (Guthmy), Harley, Neville, Vassell, Hunt, Carroll (Greenwood), Reynolds. BOOKED: Hunt.

Once again, the FA Cup had done wonders for our bank balance. We drew club-record gate receipts of nearly £12,000 from the Portsmouth match. Along with the £30,000 in prize money we got from making it through the previous four qualifying rounds, that helped our balance to smash past the £125,000 mark!

Our financial status was becoming more secure, but all that extra money wouldn't mean much if we were still an Isthmian League Premier Division club by this time next year. It was now time to turn our focus back to the race for promotion.

[oche balboa]

Unlucky mate

Still a good cup run and all that money

[CFuller]

Unlucky mate

Still a good cup run and all that money

Yeah, the money always helps. I never really thought we could beat Portsmouth, and once we went 2-0 down, the writing was on the wall.