Welcome to Romford

[CFuller]

18 December 2013: Harrow Borough vs Romford

After just over seven minutes, Harrow left-back Adam Gross made a mistimed sliding challenge in the area on Tom Beere, who went down to win a penalty for Romford. Nicky Reynolds stepped forward, and with a coolly-taken spot-kick, he put us into a very early 1-0 lead. We were already dreaming of a seventh league win in a row... but that penalty proved to be a false dawn. In the 15th minute, Harrow forward Tashan Adeyinka played an excellent pass to his captain Shaun Lucien, who finished from just inside the penalty area and levelled the game. After that goal, the Reds controlled proceedings, and made life very difficult for us. That said, they found it hard to break through our defence again. Although they managed to take the lead just before half-time, the goal was very much of our own making. It was the 44th minute, and Beere tried to pass the ball back to Rosalino Almeida, but he hit it far too hard and it went beyond the Angolan. Worse still, Connor Dymond was slow to react to the mistake, and he allowed Adeyinka to hoover up the loose ball and place it into the net! At half-time, I was not a very happy bunny.

Harrow's dominance carried on into the second half. The excellent Adeyinka headed just over in the 59th minute, and then had another near-miss in the 70th. Our struggles were so severe that our first chance since that earlier penalty wouldn't come until the 66th-minute mark. It fell to Mark Betteridge, who hadn't scored a senior goal before he headed Callum Crawley's cross towards goal... and a second later, he still hadn't, as the effort went off target. Harrow put the game to bed seven minutes later, as Gross drilled in a powerful low shot to make it 3-1 to the men in red. There would be yet more misery to come for us. In the 80th minute, Beere was barged off the ball on the edge of Harrow's penalty area. The winger was substituted with a bruised rib, and he would face at least a week on the sidelines. We survived a couple of late attacks from Harrow, but the hosts had already dealt the fatal blows, and our six-game winning streak in the Isthmian League came to an end. After getting away with poor performances against Billericay Town and Metropolitan Police, this result was perhaps to be expected.

Harrow Borough - 3 (Lucien 15, Adeyinka 44, Gross 73)

Romford - 1 (Reynolds pen8)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 120 - POSITIONS: Harrow 14th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Allen, Dymond (Betteridge), Guthmy, Beere (Smith), Neville (Weight), Almeida, Burrell, Carroll, Reynolds.

Following our defeat at Harrow, the gap between us and the play-off spots widened from two points to five, though we remained in 6th place.

We quickly had to put that last game behind us, because our next home match was a potential banana skin against Lewes. The Rooks are one of the Isthmian Premier's most reputable clubs (they were in the Conference Premier during the 2008/2009 season), but despite having a strong defence, they were 17th after a poor first half to the campaign.

21 December 2013: Romford vs Lewes

Delando Smith made his full debut for Romford in this fixture, and after just five minutes, the trialist blazed the opening shot over the bar. When Nicky Reynolds was pushed over by Sami El-Abd in the Lewes penalty area eight minutes later, we had a golden chance to take the initiative. And with Nicky taking the spot-kick, the outcome was inevitable - his 20th goal of the season, and a 1-0 lead for us! While our star poacher was enjoying a great start to his afternoon, Lewes's wasn't. Tony Nwachukwu's game was ended by a pulled hamstring in the 29th minute after Smith went in hard on the Rooks striker. In spite of his absence, Lewes ended the first half strongly, and Romford goalkeeper Scott Traveller was fortunate to get his foot to Aaron Wickham's half-volley in the 37th minute. Seconds later, Traveller blocked a close-ranger from Ben Godfrey. Our captain's heroics had just about kept our lead intact.

Lewes took off Wickham at half-time due to an injury late in the first half, and his replacement Peter Willacy wouldn't have much more luck. Just eleven minutes into the half, the midfielder was injured by a strong but fair challenge from fellow teen Brian Neville, who was having a blinder in just his second Boro start! As the visitors' day lurched from bad to worse, we hit them on the counter in the 65th minute. Smith's cross was poorly blocked by Charlie Leach, and after his team-mates failed to clear the danger, Reynolds stepped in to grab an easy second goal! The Rooks had been checkmated - there was no way back for them. Indeed, only a 72nd-minute save from veteran goalkeeper Jason Matthews stopped Nicky from claiming a hat-trick, which would've put the icing on a very sweet Christmas cake.

Romford - 2 (Reynolds pen14,65)

Lewes - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 204 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Lewes 20th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Dymond, Allen, Walters, Neville, Almeida (Hatch), Crawley, Smith, Burrell (Guthmy), Reynolds (Hartson).

After Christmas, we hoped to give Romford fans even more festive cheer in our last match of 2013. We went into our trip to Merstham with the belief that we could do the double over the minnows from Surrey. Our 5-0 win against the Moatsiders way back on opening day was a sign of things to come for Merstham, because they had struggled badly since and were third-from-bottom of the Isthmian Premier.

26 December 2013: Merstham vs Romford

Josh Burge's sixth-minute free-kick for Merstham hit the crossbar, and five minutes later, Kieron Carroll's header did likewise after a string of quick attacking passes from his Romford team-mates. The game had started in an even manner, but the rest of the first half would be dominated by one team. That's right - Merstham. Home strikers Jordan Woodley and Dan Simmonds had several chances between them, though they barely threatened Scott Traveller in the Boro goal. We had a couple of late efforts through Nicky Reynolds and Callum Crawley, but both missed the target. At the break, it was plain to see that we were badly underperforming.

We switched from our 4-4-2 formation to 4-5-1 for the second half, but if anything, it made us even less potent on the attacking front! Fortunately, our defence was still proving difficult for the Moatsiders to crack. They went very close to a breakthrough in the 62nd minute before Traveller punched Burge's cross away from the lurking Charlie Ide. On 70 minutes, Traveller blocked Owen Price's effort from just inside the six-yard box. Moments later, Scott Weight came off with a knock and we reverted to 4-4-2 - a decision that would eventually come to haunt me, as we became more disjointed. With three minutes remaining, having delivered punch after punch on Boxing Day, Merstham finally came up with the knockout blow. Simmonds hit a vicious effort from 20 yards, and it flew over the diving Traveller to send the home crowd at Moatside into raptures. That wasn't in the script.

Merstham - 1 (Simmonds 87)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 173 - POSITIONS: Merstham 22nd, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Allen (Betteridge), Hatch, Walters, Smith, Weight (Quinn), Crawley, Oates, Carroll (Farrell), Reynolds.

The Romford players were left bitterly disappointed by that defeat, and rightly so. If you want to challenge for the play-offs, you can't go around losing games against lowly teams like Merstham - we beat them 5-0 in our last meeting, for crying out loud!

Oh, well - that's football. I guess we'll have to go back to the drawing board.

[CFuller]

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.          Whitehawk              23    17    1     5     49    26    +23   52
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2.          Carshalton             25    17    1     7     39    28    +11   52
3.          Concord Rangers        21    13    5     3     37    20    +17   44
4.          Canvey Island          19    13    4     2     52    28    +24   43
5.          Hampton & Richmond     21    13    3     5     39    22    +17   42
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[color="#0000FF"]6.          Romford                21    12    1     8     40    26    +14   37[/color]
7.          Bognor Regis           23    11    4     8     31    27    +4    37
8.          Bury Town              24    10    6     8     30    27    +3    36
9.          Lowestoft              19    10    4     5     35    27    +8    34
10.         Thurrock               21    10    4     7     30    24    +6    34
11.         Enfield Town           22    9     7     6     35    30    +5    34
12.         Wingate & Finchley     23    9     5     9     37    37    0     32
13.         Hastings               21    8     4     9     30    28    +2    28
14.         Maidstone              25    7     6     12    38    48    -10   27
15.         Arlesey                21    8     2     11    25    34    -9    26
16.         Wealdstone             20    8     1     11    31    38    -7    25
17.         Harrow                 23    6     7     10    23    31    -8    25
18.         Witham                 22    5     8     9     25    34    -9    23
19.         Hendon                 25    5     8     12    33    50    -17   23
20.         Lewes                  18    5     6     7     21    26    -5    21
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21.         Cray                   21    5     5     11    19    30    -11   20
22.         Merstham               21    4     6     11    30    40    -10   18
23.         Met Police             23    1     6     16    22    47    -25   9
24.         Billericay             22    0     8     14    12    35    -23   8

[CFuller]

The New Year brought fresh excitement about what could happen to Romford FC over the coming months. We'd shown in the first half of the season that we could more than hold our own in the Isthmian League Premier Division, and another play-off finish was looking like an unlikely though still obtainable target.

Our home form certainly suggested that we could aim for more than just a top-half placing. We'd won ten out of our first eleven league matches at Ship Lane, with Wingate & Finchley being the only opponents to take points from there. However, we were just above the relegation places on away form - our only win outside of Ship Lane came at Billericay Town, and that very nearly didn't happen. That had to change if we were to finish anywhere near the top five.

Therefore, New Year's Day was a good day for us to be at home - though it was not necessarily a good day to be playing Bury Town. The Blues were very high on confidence, having won their last four matches, albeit against struggling teams, and they narrowly beat us at their place in August. Another Bury win would see them overtake us in the table, but that would be a little misleading, as they had already played three games more than us.

Who would come out on top in this one? I reckoned that it was too close to call.

1 January 2014: Romford vs Bury Town

This match saw youth winger Peter Plummer make his senior Romford debut. In the 18th minute, Peter hit a short pass to Callum Crawley, who then scooped a 25-yard strike over the crossbar. Plummer created another chance two minutes later, when he crossed towards the far post, but Nicky Reynolds' header was caught by Bury Town keeper Marcus Garnham. Bury then had a couple of bad misses before normal service resumed and we took the game to our opponents. After 36 minutes, we won a free-kick in a dangerous position. Crawley swung the ball into the middle of the penalty area, and it was then volleyed home... by none other than George Allen! The centre-back's first ever senior goal was enough to give us a 1-0 half-time lead, though Jordan Patrick went very close to equalising for Bury with a free-kick on 43 minutes.

Bury Town had a penalty claim waved away in the 49th minute, as they unsuccessfully argued that Elliot Styles had handled the ball in the box. Shortly after, Bury's former Ipswich Town midfielder Billy Clark took his frustration out on Crawley. Clark made a needless foul on the Romford playmaker, and left Callum with a nasty-looking gash on his leg. Needless to say, CC was too badly hurt to continue. The next half-hour would be scrappy, with few chances, though Aidan Quinn put a 66th-minute shot for Romford just over the bar. Quinn would make a more positive impact five minutes from time. Bury Town had thrown more men forward in an attempt to grab a late equaliser, but it backfired when Aidan's marvellous through-ball reached Styles. The midfielder ran through on goal before scoring in his first Boro game since serving a four-match ban! That increased our lead to 2-0 and secured all three points, but a good day's work would be overshadowed by a very unfortunate injury to Quinn, who tore his hamstring in the 89th minute.

Romford - 2 (Allen 36, Styles 85)

Bury Town - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 165 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Bury Town 9th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Allen, Dymond, Walters, Styles, Plummer (Burrell), Crawley (Neville), Oates, Quinn, Reynolds (Hartson).

That heartbreaking torn hamstring for Aidan Quinn would rule him out for a minimum of three months, meaning that he wouldn't play again until the last few matches of the campaign. As for Callum Crawley, he would miss three weeks with a gashed leg, and he'd also be a significant loss.

We'd continued our excellent home form by beating a team from Suffolk, but would our wretched away form get any better in that same county? We would have to be at the top of our game to beat Lowestoft Town, who had lost just twice at their Crown Meadow ground this season and were on a six-game unbeaten run.

4 January 2014: Lowestoft Town vs Romford

From the start, it was clear that we would have to set up the barricades to get a result. Just over two minutes after kick-off, Robert Eagle's header for Lowestoft hit the crossbar and deflected back into play. The former Norwich City midfielder had another opportunity in the 8th minute, and blazed it over. Another player we had to be aware of was Scott Mitchell, who dictated play from the centre of midfield despite suffering a thigh injury after 13 minutes. In the 18th minute, Mitchell hit a thunderous strike towards goal, and missed only by a few inches. Lowestoft would have plenty more goalscoring opportunities in the first period, and the best of the lot came five minutes from half-time. Joe Clarke hit a powerful effort from long range, and the always-reliable Scott Traveller tipped it over with a fantastic save. At half-time, the Trawlerboys' dominance was clear. I was losing count of exactly how many shots they had in the first half, while in contrast, I couldn't recall us having a half-decent attempt at goal.

If the pattern from the first half carried on into the second, then it would surely be only a matter of when Lowestoft broke the deadlock. 'When' came about 12 minutes after the restart. Mitchell hit a long ball upfield to Bobby Traynor, who placed a low half-volley into the far corner. The home team had finally opened the scoring, and sure enough, a second goal would soon follow. After 68 minutes, Traynor knocked the ball past three Romford defenders and into the path of the poorly-marked Jermaine Brown, who made it 2-0 with a comfortable finish. Brown later missed two chances to completely put the game to bed, after which we decided to go for broke, to try and salvage something. We got our break with nine minutes remaining, when Tom Beere intercepted an awful long pass from Lowestoft defender Eric Paton and picked out Nicky Reynolds on the edge of the area. Nicky coolly drilled in a shot from the edge of the area, and we'd pulled back one goal. Could we possibly grab another? We launched a counter-attack in the 88th minute, and Reynolds again found himself in possession. He approached the penalty box, and then had one last crack at goal in an attempt to pinch a late point. The shot sailed wide, and the chance was gone. Lowestoft were deserving winners after outgunning us by 20 shots to 4, but at least we put up a good fight late on. The way that we tried to claw ourselves back from 2-0 down in the final 10 minutes gave me plenty of encouragement, even though we hadn't quite pulled it off.

Lowestoft Town - 2 (Traynor 57, Brown 68)

Romford - 1 (Reynolds 81)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 573 - POSITIONS: Lowestoft 7th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Allen, Dymond (Hatch), Guthmy, Styles, Beere, Weight (Neville), Burrell, Carroll (Hartson), Reynolds.

We had reached the halfway point of our first Isthmian League Premier Division season with 40 points - just four fewer than Concord Rangers in 5th place. However, we had three very difficult home games ahead - we would be facing the top two (Whitehawk and Carshalton Athletic) on successive Saturdays, with 8th-placed Bognor Regis Town coming to Ship Lane in the intervening Wednesday.

Before we could meet that potentially terrifying trio, we had the small matter of an Essex Senior Cup Quarter Final to get through. We came to Tilbury with revenge in mind, as the Dockers put us out of this competition and took four league points off us last season.

This was not the same Tilbury team who struggled to survive in the Isthmian North last season. They'd improved greatly this term and were mid-table, but fortunately for us, they would be without three key players through injury.

7 January 2014: Tilbury vs Romford

Even though it was a cup Quarter Final, I rested most of our key players to keep them fresh for our next league match against Whitehawk. One of the players who came in was goalkeeper Joel Wilkinson, who in the 14th minute caught a header from Tilbury winger Declan Benjamin (no relation to Chris). An otherwise slow start to the match had me wondering if I'd taken the Dockers too lightly. But as the game passed the half-hour point, Chris Benjamin was scythed down by Lloyd Ward. This gave us a free-kick just outside Tilbury's box, and Gary Burrell exquisitely curled it right into the top corner of the net! That gave us a 1-0 lead after 31 minutes. In the 40th minute, Delando Smith lobbed the ball up to Chris, putting the Boro forward clean through on goal. At last, Benji looked set to score his first goal of the season... but then he agonisingly hit the crossbar. Attention soon turned to Romford youngster Brian Neville, who had been injured in the build-up to that attack and was forced to come off. Just before half-time, another of our midfielders' games ended prematurely, as Burrell sadly twisted his knee in injury time.

Chris Benjamin's luck in front of goal wasn't going to improve, but three minutes into the second half, he reinvented himself as a goal creator. His pass to James Hartson in the penalty area was placed into the net by the Welsh teenager, who made it 2-0! Tilbury now had nothing left to lose, so they upped the tempo and put us back under pressure. In the 62nd minute, Harry Cooskley's header hit the crossbar - a sign that we had to stay on our toes. After Hartson spurned a couple of chances to increase our lead to 3-0, Tilbury got themselves a lifeline in the 78th minute. Cooksley's low edge-of-the-area effort was too powerful and too accurate for Wilkinson to get to, and the Dockers had pulled us back to 2-1. But two minutes later, with the game approaching 'squeaky-bum time', a blunder from the Tilbury keeper threw away any chance of his team staying in the competition. Matty Durrant came out of his area to boot away a loose ball, but his clearance was intercepted by Joe Oates, who struck from long range and found the unguarded goal! With that strike, a 3-1 win - and our place in the Semi Finals - was assured.

Tilbury - 1 (Cooksley 78)

Romford - 3 (Burrell 31, Hartson 48, Oates 80)

Essex Senior Cup Quarter Final, Attendance 56

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Betteridge, Hatch, Walters, Neville (Almeida), Smith, Weight (Allen), Burrell (Oates), Benjamin, Hartson. BOOKED: Benjamin, Chapman.

We'd finally broken our Tilbury curse, and our reward was a home game against Colchester United Reserves in next month's Semi Final. The other semi would be between Dagenham & Redbridge Reserves and Canvey Island.

Gary Burrell's twisted knee would see him miss around four weeks of action, and with Messrs Crawley, Harley and Vassell already in the treatment room, our midfield options were becoming fewer and fewer. Fortunately, Brian Neville wasn't hurt too badly, so at least he would be fit for the next game.

It was just as well, then, because the last thing we needed before a run of three difficult home games was an injury crisis.

[berrers]

Good stuff as always, heart breaking defeat to local rivals hornchurch on pens

[CFuller]

Good stuff as always, heart breaking defeat to local rivals hornchurch on pens

It was indeed heartbreaking, especially as we had opportunities to win the shoot-out.

On a brighter note, AFC Hornchurch are currently bottom of the Conference South (they've only won three league games so far), so we could get our chance to exact revenge on them next season!

[CFuller]

In the space of eight days, we would put our impressive home league record on the line with three difficult matches against fellow high-flyers. The first of those visitors were Isthmian Premier leaders Whitehawk. The Hawks had a number of top-quality players including striker Sam Gargan and veteran defender Matt Lawrence, and they'd won five of their last six matches, so I feared the worst when we played them.

11 January 2014: Romford vs Whitehawk

After a promising start in which Connor Dymond sent a 4th-minute header just past the far post, we had to weather the unavoidable Whitehawk storm. Ben Adams had the visitors' first chance, skimming the woodwork after just 12 minutes. Sam Gargan should have put them ahead on 22 minutes, but an excellent cross from Kieron St Aimie was met by a disappointing header from his in-form strike partner. A few minutes later, Australian midfielder Billy Tsovolos - another of the Hawks' key players - was taken off with an elbow injury, and his team-mates took a while to recover from that. We could've made the most of Whitehawk's lean spell in the 36th minute, when Romford frontman Nicky Reynolds received a long Elliot Styles through-ball. After forcing a save out of goalkeeper Sam Pearce, he picked up the rebound and got himself into a position to try another shot. This time, Nicky's accuracy was badly lacking. Three minutes later, the Hawks were back to their best. A brilliant team goal gave them the lead after Michael Malcolm's half-volley was guided into the net by another volley from Gargan. There wasn't a thing Scott Traveller could have done about it.

The second half was not as frenetic as the first, though it would prove more frustrating from our point of view. With Whitehawk's defence looking rock solid, the best that we could hope for was to limit the damage that their attackers made. Traveller parried another Gargan shot in the 63rd minute, and Tom Beere stepped in to block the Hawks striker's follow-up effort. Thanks to an improved defensive display from the likes of Anthony Chapman and Connor Dymond, we did in the end restrict Whitehawk to just one goal. I was comfortable with a narrow defeat... although it could have ended up as a well-earned draw. With eight minutes to go, Beere sped past Ben Greenhalgh to receive Chris Benjamin's defence-splitting pass. His first shot was hit straight at Pearce, and the second was dragged agonisingly wide.

Romford - 0

Whitehawk - 1 (Gargan 37)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 197 - POSITIONS: Romford 8th, Whitehawk 1st

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Betteridge (Allen), Dymond, Walters, Styles (Neville), Beere, Almeida, Oates, Carroll (Benjamin), Reynolds.

Delando Smith's trial period with us ended after that defeat. He'd done a decent job whenever he was required, but he was only ever going to be short-term cover for the injured Jason Harley.

Out of these three back-to-back home games, the second was the one in which I was most hopeful of us getting a win. That said, Bognor Regis Town were directly above us in 7th place and had a solid defence, so they certainly could not be written off.

14 January 2014: Romford vs Bognor Regis Town

Worryingly, it was Bognor Regis who had the brighter start. We wasted possession too often early in the opening stages, and that allowed the Rocks' top scorer Dave Tarpey to have a couple of opportunities to score. Fortunately, his shooting in the 9th and 22nd minutes was not as accurate as it had been earlier this season. Ryan James went just wide for Bognor Regis after 26 minutes, and from the resulting goal kick, we set up our first attack of the game. The move ended with Joe Oates trying to curl the ball into the far corner, but his shot deflected off Nicky Reynolds' head and diverted to the near bottom corner, catching Bognor Regis keeper Danny Knowles off his guard! We'd taken the lead in fortunate circumstances, but there was nothing lucky about Reynolds' second goal in the 33rd minute. It was set up by an excellent cross from Robert Appiah, which Nicky nodded beyond Knowles to double his money and ours. After surviving a number of Bognor Regis corners, we won one of our own in the 42nd minute. It was swung towards the near post by Peter Plummer, and George Allen headed home to send us into the break with a very comfortable 3-0 lead!

Well, I say that a 3-0 lead is very comfortable, but of course, we've blown one of those before. Ten minutes into the second half, Reece Hall's cross was deflected into the Boro net by the unfortunate Mark Betteridge, and I feared that Bognor Regis would repeat what Needham Market did against us last term. Three minutes later, James miscued a shot that would've reduced our advantage further. Our response to conceding that own goal was positive, and Oates could've made it 4-1 in the 61st minute. Unfortunately, he hit Kieron Carroll's drilled cross against the side netting. Carroll then clashed with Knowles on 69 minutes, and the Rocks keeper came off worse. Bognor Regis had used all of their subs by then, so Tarpey went between the sticks, and with a one-man deficit, they couldn't find a way back into contention. Carroll did beat Tarpey with a close-range shot in injury time, but his goal was chalked off for offside. Nevertheless, we were still happy with a 3-1 win, which saw us move back above Bognor Regis and into 6th spot.

Romford - 3 (Reynolds 27,33, Allen 42)

Bognor Regis Town - 1 (Betteridge og55)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 182 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Bognor Regis 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Betteridge, Allen (Hatch), Styles, Plummer, Neville, Weight, Oates (Almeida), Carroll, Reynolds (Hartson).

Our last nine matches had followed a distinct pattern: we'd won, lost, won, lost, won, lost, won, lost, and won. Surely, then, we would expect to be beaten in our next home game against Carshalton Athletic. At the start of the season, Carshalton were expected to battle against relegation, but they had defied those predictions and were in 2nd place.

18 January 2014: Romford vs Carshalton Athletic

A healthy crowd of over 200 watched this match, but the first half was certainly not a spectacle. Both sides struggled to create chances early on, and the half ended with the goalkeepers coming out on top. Romford's Scott Traveller brilliantly palmed behind a Michael Everitt free-kick in the 39th minute, and that was the closest either team came to breaking the deadlock.

The match came to life four minutes into the second half. Joe Oates' effort for Romford was tipped over the bar by Carshalton's German keeper Nick Hamann. Oates swung in the resulting corner, which took a deflection before falling to Mark Betteridge at the far post, and Mark volleyed in his first ever senior goal - well, his first senior goal at the right end! After a dire first half, the Boro fans finally had something to cheer about! Two minutes later, though, Rosalino Almeida carelessly lost possession in the Romford penalty area. He was slide-tackled by Mitch Harding, who passed to Ola Sogbanmu... and the young striker's subsequent shot went just inches past the post. Sogbanmu was determined to draw Carshalton level, and in the 69th minute, he had another shot, which also went off target. Five minutes later, he got his head to Emmanuel Akiotu's cross, but failed to make a clean connection. As the end of the game drew near, the Robins looked to more experienced players to try and claw back a point. Everitt's swerving effort in the 89th minute was well held by Traveller, who was the hero again a minute later when he caught Romayne Thomas' shot from distance. After around four minutes of injury time, the final whistle was blown, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Carshalton had perhaps edged the second half, but more importantly, we had found the back of the net and they hadn't!

Romford - 1 (Betteridge 49)

Carshalton Athletic - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 213 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Carshalton 3rd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah (Chapman), Betteridge, Allen, Walters, Beere, Styles, Almeida (Farrell), Oates, Carroll, Reynolds (Benjamin).

Back-to-back wins in two difficult home games - I couldn't ask for much more than that! Those last few matches could have seen us slip down the table, but we managed to keep hold of 6th place. I felt that if we kept building up the momentum, then we could make a real claim for a play-off spot.

[CFuller]

We hoped to record a third league win in a row when we visited mid-table Enfield Town. Jason Harley made his comeback from injury in that match, and while fellow midfielders Callum Crawley and Jay Vassell had also resumed full training after their layoffs, neither of them was yet fit enough to feature.

21 January 2014: Enfield Town vs Romford

I granted James Hartson his first league start, and he took just five minutes to repay my faith in him. After receiving a pass from Nicky Reynolds, James curled a top-drawer strike towards the top corner, and drew us some very early blood! Two minutes later, though, our lead was under threat. Despite being just a few weeks away from his 40th birthday, Scott McGleish still managed to outpace his marker George Allen to go one-on-one with Scott Traveller, who charged off his line and blocked the shot. That was just the start of Allen's struggles against Enfield Town's veteran striker. McGleish was given too much room in the 21st minute, allowing him to hit a powerful effort, which Traveller had to push away. Three minutes later, another chance from McGleish went a few inches wide. We had a further reason to be concerned after half an hour, when Eddie Savage's sliding tackle left Reynolds clutching his leg. Although Nicky was able to carry on until half-time, that wasn't the case with Connor Dymond when the Boro defender was injured in his own six-yard box after 40 minutes. Connor had struggled for fitness in recent weeks, so I took him off to stop him from suffering a more serious injury. Without Dymond, Enfield Town's pressure became more difficult to cope with. In the last few seconds of normal time, Town striker Kyle Perry slid Mark O'Toole's deep cross into the Romford net... but the linesman flagged Perry offside, and we stayed 1-0 up at half-time.

Kieron Carroll's recent dip in form showed little sign of improving in the 58th minute, when our second-half substitute missed a long-range shot. Less than a minute later, old man McGleish was through on goal for Enfield Town again, but the scorer of over 200 Football League goals blazed the ball over the crossbar. Enfield defender Adam Logie picked up a knock soon after that, and we sensed an opportunity to double our lead. In the 65th minute, Scott Weight's long ball from deep in the Romford half found its way to Hartson, but the Welshman's edge-of-the-area strike didn't trouble Daniel Platt in the home goal. As the endgame approached, the Towners took off the tiring McGleish and replaced him with Neil Johnston, a man 20 years his junior. Johnston's first act after coming on was to drill home a thunderous shot from just outside the penalty area. The flag stagged down this time, and Enfield Town had drawn level after 77 minutes. Perry then came within inches of giving Enfield the lead in the 84th minute. We were back on the offensive a minute later, when Hartson cut open the home defence to find Carroll. Disappointingly, Kieron fired his shot straight at goalkeeper Platt. We survived another late Enfield shot, from George Frith, before the final whistle confirmed only our second draw of the league season - four months after our first! On the balance of play, I had to concede that Enfield were slightly the better side, so I was comfortable with that result, even though it could've been better.

Enfield Town - 1 (Johnston 77)

Romford - 1 (Hartson 5)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 248 - POSITIONS: Enfield Town 11th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Dymond (Betteridge), Allen, Walters, Harley, Farrell, Weight, Plummer (Almeida), Hartson, Reynolds (Carroll).

January ended with another away game, this time against Wealdstone. Nicky Reynolds scored a hat-trick against the Stones in September, after which they suffered an alarming decline that left them just outside the relegation zone, but they recently got their act together and moved back up to 15th place.

25 January 2014: Wealdstone vs Romford

In just the fourth minute, Nicky Reynolds forced a fingertip save out of Wealdstone's goalkeeper, Rikki Banks. Another four minutes followed before Joe Oates passed to an unmarked Brian Neville, who advanced with the ball before placing it past Banks! It was the Romford-born teenager's first senior goal for the Boro, and I couldn't be any prouder of young Brian! Neville had given us an early advantage, and after half an hour, we still looked comfortable. A 26th-minute injury to Edwin Ellis hampered Wealdstone's star man for the rest of the half. When Ellis sent a header well wide in the 34th minute, it was clear that the Stones had to look elsewhere for goals. Much of the burden fell on former Southend United striker Matt Harrold, who went very close to scoring after 43 minutes. In fact, his shot was too close to comfort, and at half-time, I had to remind the Romford players not to get careless.

Wealdstone took Ellis off during the break, and early in the second half, we also lost an important player. Callum Crawley's return to action would only last for 51 minutes. CC was on the wrong end of a strong challenge by Ricky Ravenhill, and I took him off as a precaution. Much of the second half would be spent repelling Wealdstone's attacks, and over the course of the last quarter-hour, we had more than a few close shaves. Midfielder Graeme Montgomery grazed the woodwork with a free-kick in the 79th minute. Half a minute later, Scott Traveller made an outstanding low save to palm away Miles John's effort! Some more last-ditch defending from the Boro boys in the 86th minute just about kept our noses in front. Traveller got his fingertips to Montgomery's driver, and the rock-solid Elliot Styles prevented Harrold from converting the rebound. Seconds later, Mark Betteridge frantically headed a cross behind to get it away from Charlie Taylor! As the game went into overtime, I thought we'd seen Wealdstone off... but the game would soon take a cruel twist. Seconds into injury time, Callum Driver hit a first-time cross into the Romford box - and with the help of the strong wind, it flew right into the far corner of the net! It was a sickening moment. We had given everything we possibly could, but in the end, it was not quite enough for all three points.

Wealdstone - 1 (Driver 90)

Romford - 1 (Neville 8)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 276 - POSITIONS: Wealdstone 15th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Betteridge, Dymond (Hatch), Styles, Neville, Beere, Weight, Crawley (Almeida), Oates, Reynolds (Fellows).

We were on the very brink of reaching the 50-point mark, but Wealdstone's dramatic equaliser had left us two points short of that particular milestone heading into February.

We could have gone into that month feeling rather disheartened, considering that in successive away games, we had taken a very early lead only to lose it late on. In fact, we were anything but disheartened. I thought January had gone pretty well for us, and I felt very positive about our chances in our next home game.

[CFuller]

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.          Whitehawk              30    21    3     6     65    35    +30   66
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2.          Concord Rangers        27    17    5     5     44    28    +16   56
3.          Hampton & Richmond     29    17    4     8     54    34    +20   55
4.          Canvey Island          25    16    5     4     67    40    +27   53
5.          Carshalton             29    17    2     10    40    35    +5    53
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[color="#0000FF"]6.          Romford                28    15    3     10    49    32    +17   48[/color]
7.          Thurrock               29    14    5     10    51    40    +11   47
8.          Enfield Town           29    11    11    7     45    40    +5    44
9.          Bury Town              31    12    8     11    37    35    +2    44
10.         Bognor Regis           28    13    5     10    38    38    0     44
11.         Lowestoft              26    12    7     7     43    36    +7    43
12.         Harrow                 30    11    7     12    39    41    -2    40
13.         Wealdstone             29    12    4     13    44    48    -4    40
14.         Hastings               27    11    5     11    46    39    +7    38
15.         Wingate & Finchley     30    11    5     14    47    50    -3    38
16.         Hendon                 31    8     9     14    42    55    -13   33
17.         Maidstone              30    8     7     15    44    56    -12   31
18.         Arlesey                30    9     2     19    32    60    -28   29
19.         Cray                   26    7     7     12    28    36    -8    28
20.         Witham                 27    6     10    11    28    37    -9    28
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.         Merstham               26    6     8     12    38    47    -9    26
22.         Lewes                  25    5     9     11    30    43    -13   24
23.         Billericay             28    3     10    15    19    39    -20   19
24.         Met Police             28    3     7     18    26    52    -26   16

[CFuller]

I wasn't quite sure whether it was arrogance or confidence, but I was utterly convinced that we would start February with a home victory against relegation-battling Witham Town.

Witham had surprised me, to be honest, and not in a positive way. After romping home to the Isthmian League Division 1 North title last season, I really thought they'd settle to life in the Isthmian Premier quicker than us, but that has certainly not been the case. Their struggles have been partly down to the absence of Glyn Mitchell - since the teenage striker broke his foot in the middle of December, they had won just once and suffered the indignity of becoming the first team to lose against Billericay Town in the league this season.

1 February 2014: Romford vs Witham Town

Things started fairly brightly for us. Nicky Reynolds and James Hartson managed to weave their way through the Witham defence in the 5th minute before Nicky had a shot at goal that Aldi Haxhia tipped over his bar. After that, the tide turned in Town's favour. Reis Boyle nearly got lucky with a long-distance free-kick in the 17th minute, with Scott Traveller having to palm the delivery behind. Four minutes later, another Boyle free-kick found Jack Cotton, who headed it wide. We then survived a 25th-minute effort from Elton Sackey, but three minutes later, Witham finally broke through. After we failed to clear Nathan Haisley's corner, teenage midfielder Jack Edwards scrambled the ball over the line to draw first blood for the men in white. It was time for us to buck up, and that was what we did. On 31 minutes, Connor Dymond headed Callum Crawley's free-kick just over. Moments later, Hartson made an excellent run towards goal before sending a disappointing shot off target. Reynolds then had another opportunity in the 35th minute, but Haxhia got his hands to it and pushed it wide to keep us at bay.

Jay Vassell came out for his Romford return at the start of the second half, but his lack of match fitness showed and he struggled to make an impact early on. Meanwhile, Witham declared their intention to score a second goal, with Haisley drawing a save out of Traveller in the 50th minute. Eleven minutes later, my concerns over Jay's fitness were confirmed when Edwards broke free from his marker to fire a low shot into the far corner. It was now 2-0 to Witham. Despite that setback, Vassell was determined to make amends, and after 74 minutes, I saw a more positive aspect of his game. Jay's through-ball to Reynolds was duly converted by Nicky, who notched up his 25th goal of the season. I hoped that would spark a comeback, but I was to be badly mistaken, because we wouldn't get another chance in the whole game. Witham had once again outclassed us, and we'd lost a home league game for just the third time this term.

Romford - 1 (Reynolds 74)

Witham Town - 2 (Edwards 28,61)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 217 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Witham 19th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Allen, Dymond, Walters, Harley, Styles, Crawley (Vassell), Oates (Beere), Hartson (Carroll), Reynolds. BOOKED: Styles.

Yep... it was arrogance.

Elliot Styles returned to AFC Hornchurch after his three-month loan spell at Romford concluded with that poor result. Styles' Boro career wasn't generally poor, but it wasn't particularly great either. In 15 matches, he scored one goal, made one assist... and picked up one red card for giving a Braintree Town reserve player the elbow.

There was just a three-day turnaround between the disappointment of losing to Witham and the hotly-anticipated Essex Senior Cup Semi Final against Colchester United Reserves. The U's may have had a number of League One professionals to call upon, but we had plenty of spirit and determination, and a sense of local pride. We wanted to win the Essex Senior Cup for the people of our hometown, and we were now 180 minutes away from doing just that.

[CFuller]

4 February 2014: Romford vs Colchester United Reserves

I expected Colchester to field a strong reserve side, but I was amazed with the calibre of some of the players that they picked. Among them were United icon Karl Duguid (a veteran of over 500 league games), former Watford midfielders Gavin Massey and John-Joe O'Toole, and striker Clinton Morrison, who went to the 2002 FIFA World Cup with the Republic of Ireland. Another thing that surprised me was the size of the crowd - just 58 souls had turned up! This was a cup Semi Final, for goodness sake! Surely we could've got more people to come!

For all of Colchester's experience and natural talent, it was us who made the better start. Joe Oates narrowly missed the target after four minutes, and Kieron Carroll found the side netting after eight. The U's had their first chance to go ahead on 26 minutes. Scott Traveller's wayward throw went past Kamal Guthmy and to the feet of Massey, who went forward before hitting a long-ranger well off target. Four minutes later, we won a corner, and as Jay Vassell swung it into the Colchester box, Boro defender Mark Betteridge was hauled down by Andre Blackman. The referee pointed to the penalty spot, and Nicky Reynolds took his kick as quickly as he could. Perhaps it was too quick, though, because Daniel Wheeler made a great save to his left. The deadlock remained unbroken, though not for long. After 43 minutes, United captain Duguid swung the ball from the touchline towards the Romford goal. It looked like he was going to pull Colchester in front, but Traveller reacted quickly and caught the ball just before it could fall into his net. He then set a Boro counter-attack in motion, throwing the ball to Anthony Chapman, who hoofed it up the right flank. Carroll got to the ball just before it crossed the byline, and swung it to the far post, where Reynolds poked it into the net! Those Romford fans who had turned up were now getting excited - at half-time, they could sense the Final!

Worryingly, some signs of carelessness crept into our game early in the second half. Colchester intercepted a poor Chapman throw-in on 49 minutes, with Jordan Halsman getting the ball to his fellow half-time sub Jack Simmons, who fortunately for us missed by miles. Our defence was all over the place in the 61st minute, when Morrison's byline cross found Alex Gilbey at the far post. Amazingly, Gilbey's header from about two yards out hit the crossbar before rebounding back into play! Things then got a bit scrappy midway through the half. Rosalino Almeida sent O'Toole flying with a dangerous sliding tackle in the 68th minute, and Colchester's Irish midfielder gashed his leg, but he bravely played on. Sadly, Joe Oates couldn't continue after his challenge on Massey seven minutes later ended with him hurting himself. When play resumed, Massey threw the ball to Simmons in the Romford penalty area, and Colchester's teenage striker hit a low drive across goal. Traveller managed to parry the shot away just before Morrison could toe-poke it in. The U's were getting closer and closer. We'd lost a 1-0 lead late on twice in recent games, Surely it would not happen again... would it?!

Eight minutes from time, Carroll hit a long back-pass towards Traveller, but instead found Simmons, who just had to beat the goalkeeper to draw United level! Simmons could have made a run at goal before slotting the ball beyond Scott's reach. Instead, he rushed into the shot, and missed by a long way. After that, we had to survive the remaining minutes of normal time, plus four more added on for stoppages. Right at the end of the final minute, Carroll picked up a yellow card for a needless trip on Blackman. It didn't matter a jot in the end, because it was deep in Colchester's half, and soon after Wheeler took the free-kick, the referee blew for full-time! There were scenes of jubilation among the Romford players and fans - we were in the Final of the Essex Senior Cup!!

Romford - 1 (Reynolds 44)

Colchester United Reserves - 0

Essex Senior Cup Semi Final, Attendance 58

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Betteridge (Hatch), Dymond, Guthmy, Beere, Weight, Oates (Harley), Vassell (Almeida), Carroll, Reynolds. BOOKED: Carroll.

The Essex Senior Cup Final. Wow. It'll be our first cup Final since the club was reformed in 1992, and to win the trophy, we'll have to beat Dagenham & Redbridge Reserves on 3 May. The match will take place at their home ground, which is the M&B Sports and Social Club... in Romford. It's written in the stars, isn't it?

That game may be three months away, but to quote Five Star, we can't wait... can't wait another minute! After all, it's not every day that you get to play in a cup Final!

It's also not every day that you get invited for lunch with a former UEFA Champions League winner. But that was what happened the following afternoon, when I met Barnet boss Edgar Davids to discuss the possibility of me loaning in two of his reserve players. The Bees were kind to us in that regard last season, as they lent us Anthony Edgar for the closing stages of that campaign.

The meeting ended with Davids agreeing to send 23-year-old centre-half Chris Lynch and 22-year-old left-back Jordan Brown on loan to Romford for the next three months. I was delighted and grateful, as those two lads should give us a bit more experience and strength in the defensive department for this important stage of the season.

Chris and Jordan both made their debuts in the away trip to Wingate & Finchley. We were particularly keen to beat the Blues after they defeated us 3-1 at Ship Lane back in September, and I hoped we would have our own 'Chariots of Fire' tale at the Harry Abrahams Stadium.

8 February 2014: Wingate & Finchley vs Romford

Wingate & Finchley striker Leon Smith was a real menace against us early in the first half. He had three chances within the first ten minutes, and in the 15th minute, he got behind the Romford defence again to put himself one-on-one with Scott Traveller, but narrowly missed the target. Two minutes later, Boro midfielder Rosalino Almeida dispossessed Hicham Opara and knocked a lovely pass to Kieron Carroll. Kieron hit a shot with plenty of power, but it was too straight to seriously test Tom Coulton in the home goal. Opara later hit the crossbar for W&F before his team at last got the goal their play merited. Mark Ward, who scored a hat-trick against us in September, set up the opening goal for Smith, who turned past George Allen and drilled the ball into the bottom corner. The Blues led 1-0 after 20 minutes... and that would become 2-0 just four minutes later. An inaccurate long pass from Allen was intercepted by Darren Ebsworth, who started a string of Wingate & Finchley passes that resulted in Louis Clark doubling their lead through another assist from Ward. Shortly after the restart, Smith cut through our backline once more, and his half-volley, which would have made it 3-0, went inches wide. And as if things couldn't get even worse for us, Carroll was forced off after half an hour with an injury inflicted by Opara. It was pretty much the first half from hell, and at the end of it, we were lucky not to be completely out of the game!

Wingate & Finchley reasserted their dominance in the second half, with right-back John Owinga missing their first chance in the 50th minute. Five minutes afterwards, Ward found Smith in the middle of the penalty area, and Smith's shot found the net via a deflection off Traveller. The Blues were celebrating a three-goal lead - as well as another hat-trick of sorts from the wonderful Ward - until they spotted the linesman's flag. Their treble had been chalked off. On another day, that could've been the turning point of the game, but we were already well beaten. James Hartson's fortunes in front of goal were summed up by a 63rd-minute effort that went well over the bar, while substitute Chris Benjamin once again made little impact on proceedings. W&F didn't get a third goal in the end, though Smith came close to bagging his second goal three minutes from time. If his header had gone in, we would've had no reason to complain - this was a horrible match from our perspective.

Wingate & Finchley - 2 (Smith 20, Clark 24)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 102 - POSITIONS: Wingate & Finchley 14th, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Allen, Lynch (Hatch), Brown, Beere, Almeida, Burrell, Vassell (Weight), Carroll (Benjamin), Hartson.

If we were on cloud nine after getting through to the Essex Senior Cup Final, we were right back on terra firma now. Successive defeats in the Isthmian Premier stalled our play-off charge, and with a couple of nightmare away trips still to come in February, we needed to up our game in our next home fixture to stay in touch with the top five.

Who was next, then? It was Hendon, who took a 4-1 lead on the way to beating us 4-3 in October. Oh goody.

[CFuller]

11 February 2014: Romford vs Hendon

Nicky Reynolds had an attempt at goal in only the second minute, though it missed the target comfortably. Hendon's first shot, from Bagasan Graham in the 8th minute, went over the crossbar. Belal Aite-Ouakrim had a go for the Greens after 20 minutes, but Scott Traveller comfortably caught his 25-yarder. Scott's first serious test came in the 37th minute, when he tipped over a header from Lance White. Although we were enjoying more possession, Hendon were having more scoring opportunities, and I was a bit concerned as we headed into the last minute of normal time. Then George Walters launched a long cross to Hendon's far post, and Kieron Carroll flicked the ball in for his first goal since mid-December! We were 1-0 in front against the run of play!

Half a minute into the second period, Reynolds raced through on goal before Hendon's defenders forced him wide and intercepted his attempted pass to Carroll. That early attack, although unsuccessful, gave us plenty of encouragement. After 50 minutes, Jason Harley intercepted a poor clearance from Greens keeper Jordan Clement, and he lobbed the ball back into the box for Carroll to fire home! It was just like London buses with Kieron, who had waited nearly two months for a goal before scoring twice in one game! Now we had a two-goal cushion, but Hendon soon put that under scrutiny, with Graham hitting the crossbar in the 57th minute. Eight minutes later, some pretty shoddy Romford defending gave the Dons a route back into the game. Walters' attempted headed pass back to Traveller instead found visiting striker Julian Owusu, who took advantage and tapped in an easy Hendon goal. I placed the blame on Walters, and he was immediately subbed. Five minutes after giving Hendon a lifeline, Owusu could have levelled the scores for the Greens, but he headed White's corner wide of the post. In the 83rd, Traveller parried a long-distance effort from Dave Diedhiou, and the rebound came to Owusu. The Ghanaian should've buried the shot and equalised, but he was denied first by the post and then by the offside flag. Eventually, we held on for the win, because although we only had half the number of chances Hendon had, we scored double the number of goals. We also had 62% of possession, which was another very pleasing statistic.

Romford - 2 (Carroll 45,50)

Hendon - 1 (Owusu 65)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 168 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Hendon 19th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Betteridge, Dymond (Hatch), Walters (Guthmy), Harley, Weight, Crawley (Almeida), Oates, Carroll, Reynolds.

About two-thirds of the way through the Isthmian League Premier Division season, we were back up to 6th position. However, I feared that might not be the case after our next two matches...

There were two Isthmian Premier teams that we had not yet faced, home or away, this season. Can you name them?

If you said Canvey Island and their local rivals Concord Rangers, you'd be right. We visited those two play-off chasers next, starting with Canvey Island.

I feared prior to kick-off that the Canvey game would end in carnage. The Gulls had scored an incredible 71 goals in just 28 league games, and 24-goal Lewis Perkins was the only player in the division who was outscoring our very own Nicky Reynolds! And although Canvey were only in 5th place, that was a false position, as their cup exploits in the early part of the campaign meant that they had plenty of games in hand on the four teams above them. Gulp!

15 February 2014: Canvey Island vs Romford

Notably, this was my 100th competitive game as Romford manager, and it got off to a pretty promising start. In the 11th minute, Lewis Perkins headed wide his first chance for Canvey Island, while his partner up front - Piers Wixon - horribly missed the target in the 20th. In comparison, our first shot at goal - after 26 minutes - was much better. Kieron Carroll was at the heart of Boro's attack, and he drilled the ball through a defensive gap and into the far corner. As strange as it sounded, we were leading against Canvey Island! Carroll could've doubled our advantage in the 36th minute but for an excellent save from Ashlee Jones. A minute later, our goalkeeper Scott Traveller made an excellent fingertip save to keep out another Perkins header and keep us in front at the interval.

Jay Vassell came on as a half-time sub for Rosalino Almeida, but after less than five minutes, he twisted his knee after slide-tackling Harrison Chatting to stop a Canvey Island counter-attack. Jay's bravery had cost him very dearly - he would face another four weeks on the sidelines, having just come back from a serious leg injury. A poor start to the second half for us got even worse in the 61st minute. The impressive Chris Lynch was pulled up for what looked like a well-timed challenge on Perkins in the area, and Canvey were awarded a controversial penalty. Wixon blasted the spot-kick to Traveller's right, and Canvey Island were level. Those two critical moments turned the whole match upside down. From thereon in, the Gulls were soaring. After almost exactly 70 minutes, Scott Shulton gave them the lead with a fantastic first-time shot from the edge of the area. It was a lead that Canvey never looked like conceding, and indeed, our second-half misery was compounded by a third goal in the 89th minute. Local teenager Fraser McConville struck from 20 yards to seal all three points for the hosts, whose class had eventually shone through in the final half-hour.

Canvey Island - 3 (Wixon pen61, Shulton 70, McConville 89)

Romford - 1 (Carroll 26)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 337 - POSITIONS: Canvey Island 3rd, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Betteridge, Lynch, Walters, Beere, Almeida (Vassell (Hartson)), Crawley, Guthmy (Hatch), Carroll, Reynolds.

Although I couldn't fault the lads for effort in that game, I couldn't help but feel that this was a massive opportunity missed. Canvey Island were not at their imperious best - something which became apparent just a few days later, when they lost their next game 4-0 at relegation-threatened Lewes! If only...

We had an eleven-day wait before we went back on the road to entertain Concord Rangers, who had been in the play-off zone for practically the entire season. Despite their lofty position, Rangers hadn't won any of their previous four matches, and their most recent result was a 4-0 tonking at the hands of Bognor Regis Town. After falling short against Canvey, could we make amends against their local foes?

26 February 2014: Concord Rangers vs Romford

This match took place at Southend United's Roots Hall, as Concord's home ground was being renovated. Kezie Ibe missed the hosts' first chance in the 5th minute, and four minutes later, Scott Traveller made an excellent save to deny Jason Hallett. It was looking like we would once again have to suck up pressure before launching a counter-attack. After 20 high-octane minutes, Concord slowed down, and we pounced. Nicky Reynolds walked through the Rangers defence and played a neat one-two with Joe Oates before thundering in the opening goal for Romford! Conceding that goal woke Concord up, and they hit back in the 31st minute. Chris Lynch's headed clearance was intercepted by Danny Davenport, who passed the ball back into the Romford box, where Hallett bulleted it in between Traveller and his near post. Six minutes later, Hallett's right-wing cross to Jake Woolley was hit against the side netting by the young left-winger. Concord Rangers were taking control, and the half-time whistle couldn't come soon enough for us. Was this going to be Canvey Island all over again?

We attempted to slow play down in the second half, and that strategy reduced Rangers' attacking threat... but it didn't eradicate it altogether. Four minutes after the restart, Will McCall hit a fine low shot for the hosts, and Traveller just about got enough of his hand to it. Hallett then missed by a matter of inches in the 59th minute. After that, I identified Concord's main threats as coming from the wings, so I ordered the Boro boys to keep the ball down the centre. Ten minutes later, a Reynolds effort was tipped behind by Concord goalkeeper Berkley Laurencin, and Chris Lynch nearly scored directly from the resulting corner! However, his delivery was cleared off the line, and the home team then tried to hit us on the break before Connor Dymond made a crucial interception. I couldn't understand why a centre-back like Lynch was taking a corner, so when we won another shortly afterwards, I insisted that one of the wide players take it. Jason Harley swung the delivery in, and it found Lynch, whose shot went over the line via a deflection off Laurencin! We were back in front after 71 minutes, and we were now feeling some very good vibrations against the Beach Boys! Those vibrations became even greater on 79 minutes, when an injury to full-back Chris Bourne reduced our opponents to ten men. Four minutes later, Lynch hit a long clearance upfield, and it bypassed Reynolds before falling at the feet of Laurencin. Concord's world then came crashing down, as Laurencin made a pig's ear of trying to catch the ball, gifting an easy chance to Nicky, who took his time before making sure of our third goal with a simple finish! It also secured a magnificent away win in the league for Romford - just our third this season!

Concord Rangers - 1 (Hallett 31)

Romford - 3 (Reynolds 20,83, Laurencin og71)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 65 - POSITIONS: Concord Rangers 4th, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Dymond, Lynch, Brown, Weight (Carroll), Farrell (Allen), Crawley (Almeida), Harley, Oates, Reynolds. BOOKED: Oates.

It goes without saying, but still... what a striker Nicky is! That double means that he has already equalled his 25-goal league tally from last season, which I thought would take a superhuman effort for him to match in a higher division! And on top of that, he's now scored 60 goals in all competitions since I took over at Romford.

Nicky may be the man of this and many other moments, but on the first day of March, another of our strikers is sure to be the centre of attention.

[CFuller]

1 March saw the last of three successive away trips, as we attempted to complete the double over 15th-placed Hastings United by downing them at the Pilot Field. This would be an emotional homecoming for our 18-year-old vice-captain Kieron Carroll, who started his career at the Sussex club. Of course, he is very much a Boro boy now, having scored twice for us when we thrashed United in October, but you never forget your first club.

1 March 2014: Hastings United vs Romford

Kieron Carroll's first chance to silence the home crowd came in the 12th minute after he picked up a lovely through-ball from Gary Burrell. His shot took a deflection off Conner Fitzpatrick and went out for a corner, which was comfortably headed clear by Hastings' other centre-back Joe Vines. Five minutes later, Nicky Reynolds dribbled his way towards goal, but failed to trouble the keeper with his shot. Hastings had their first chance in the 25th minute, when Vines' weak effort was easily caught by Scott Traveller. Arrows right-winger Joe Broad then picked up an injury after half an hour. Two minutes from half-time, Boro midfielder Rosalino Almeida knocked the ball past Broad to full-back Jordan Brown, who then drilled a cross to Carroll in the box. Kieron hit the shot high and hard at goal, but it was too high. By half-time, both teams were still searching for that opening goal.

I brought on Tom Beere at the break to give us some more attacking energy... but almost as soon as the second half started, he picked up yet another knock after being brought down by Tom Brunt. That injury kicked off a scrappy second period in which Boro right-back Robert Appiah pulled up with a minor calf injury after 55 minutes. Before then, Traveller had made excellent saves to keep out Frankie Curley's free-kick and Darryn Stamp's low strike. He was having a fine game, and so too was Connor Dymond, whose 67th-minute challenge on Zac Attwood ended the Hastings striker's game early. By the end, Curley and Vines were also struggling with injuries for the hosts, but the inability of either team to create any real scoring opportunities meant that the match fizzled out into a goalless draw.

Hastings United - 0

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 398 - POSITIONS: Hastings 14th, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah (Allen), Dymond, Lynch, Brown, Harley (Beere (Guthmy)), Farrell, Almeida, Burrell, Carroll, Reynolds.

As soon as that thrilling encounter was over with, we immediately set our sights on our 'home' match against Thurrock. We got the better of our landlords earlier this season when we were the 'away' team at Ship Lane, but if Fleet reversed the outcome, they would leapfrog us in the table.

4 March 2014: Romford vs Thurrock

A bumper crowd of well over 300 watched this local derby, and we were desperate to get an early goal for our fans. In the 11th minute, James Hartson had a pop, but his shot was too central and Thurrock's rookie keeper John Douglas didn't have to put much effort into saving it. Four minutes later, Scott Weight put an excellent cross into the Fleet box, and Kieron Carroll nodded just over. That first quarter of an hour suggested that we would come out on top... and then the course of the match suddenly changed direction. Thurrock midfielders Pearson Mwanyongo and Jerry Nash both missed the target with shots midway through the half, though they were just warming up. In the 39th minute, a Romford attack fizzled out following a poor back-pass from Weight, and our opponents chose that moment to strike. Hicham Abdellah fought tooth and nail to get Thurrock in possession, and after he slide-tackled the ball off Chris Lynch, his team-mate Chris Cumming-Bart hit a bullet shot which hit a post and ricocheted in off the other! Four minutes later, Abdellah - a former finalist on Sky One talent show Football's Next Star - was put through on goal by Nash, and Hicham beat Scott Traveller to put Thurrock 2-0 in front! After a shocking end to the first half, we needed to regroup quickly to stop the Fleet from cruising to victory.

Two minutes into the second half, Weight's audacious attempt to lob Douglas almost paid off for us before the Thurrock keeper tipped the ball over. That could well have signalled the start of another momentum shift, but when Scott was hurt by Abdellah in the centre circle after 55 minutes, our mojo was well and truly gone. By the 69th minute, Thurrock were back in the groove, as the troublesome tandem of Abdellah and Cumming-Bart soon teamed up to create a third goal. Abdellah passed to his team-mate down the left flank, and Cumming-Bart's 20-yarder flew over Traveller and into the net. Thurrock's revenge mission was nearly complete. With CCB bulldozing his way past the hapless Anthony Chapman, and Abdellah giving George Allen all sorts of nightmares, a fourth goal for Thurrock was all too predictable. It happened with ten minutes to go, when Hicham headed in Cumming-Bart's cross to match his colleague's two-goal tally for the night. Mercifully for us, neither of them could quite manage a hat-trick, and at the end of the day, we were incredibly fortunate to have 'only' lost by 4 goals to nil.

Romford - 0

Thurrock - 4 (Cumming-Bart 39,69, Abdellah 43,80)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 366 - POSITIONS: Romford 9th, Thurrock 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Allen, Lynch (Betteridge), Walters, Harley, Weight (Crawley), Oates, Carroll, Hartson (Benjamin), Reynolds. BOOKED: Weight.

Well that's just typical, isn't it? This was our biggest home league attendance of the season so far, and we repaid our supporters with THAT?! After that debacle, I doubt that many of those fans who turned up for the first time will ever want to come back!

My sense that the players had badly let their followers down was the main theme of a post-match team-talk as loud and angry as any that I'd given.

Our derby-day humiliation coincided with the departure of one of our coaches. Gavin Rose had only been with us since the summer, but he had always wanted to return to management following a stint as Dulwich Hamlet's player-boss between 2009 and 2012. So when Gavin was offered the opportunity to manage Bedford Town in the Northern Premier League Premier Division, he jumped at it. The 36-year-old left with my blessing and my best wishes for the future.

As soon as Rose was out the door, another coach came in to take his place at Romford. 35-year-old former journeyman forward Sammy Winston was hired as our new attacking coach. If his name seems familiar, that's because he had a brief trial with us in my first pre-season campaign as Boro manager. Sammy didn't earn a permanent deal, but we've kept in touch since then, and now I'm giving him his first experience of coaching.

Four days after Thurrock thrashed us, I was still in a bad mood upon our arrival in Bognor Regis - and not just because I had a terrible holiday there when I was a teenager. Victory over Bognor Regis Town, who had just gone above us in the Isthmian Premier, would go a long way to raising my spirits.

8 March 2014: Bognor Regis Town vs Romford

We won a free-kick just outside the Bognor Regis area in the 8th minute. Rosalino Almeida hit the set-piece against the wall, and then fired in another shot, which was pushed away by Rocks goalkeeper Danny Knowles. On 23 minutes, home right-back Connor Oliver volleyed a pass to Matt Dinsmore on the edge of our own penalty box, and Dinsmore's shot was excellently saved by Scott Traveller. Six minutes later, Joe Oates put Reynolds through on goal, but Knowles punched away Nicky's effort. Both goalkeepers were coming out on top in this match, though that wouldn't be the case for much longer. In the 38th minute, another Oates long-ball sent Reynolds on his way towards goal, and his run was only halted by a sliding tackle from Bognor Regis defender Steve Sutherland in the area. The referee turned to his assistant... and awarded us a penalty! As you'd expect, Nicky took it, and he powered it into the back of the net to break the deadlock! We had a slender 1-0 lead, and thanks to Traveller's last-minute save from Reece Hall, we were still ahead at half-time.

Bognor Regis showed more attacking menace in the second half, and in the 52nd minute, Hall headed the ball into the centre of the box to give Dave Tarpey a great chance to equalise. Fortunately, his header was too comfortable for Traveller. Our relief would be short-lived. Five minutes later, Mark Betteridge's headed clearance from Tarpey only went as far as Dinsmore, whose volley rebounded off Connor Dymond before he fired in the follow-up. There was a hint of good fortune about Bognor Regis's equaliser, and it gave them a massive confidence boost. Five more minutes followed until they won a corner, which Tarpey swung into the six-yard box. On the receiving end was Lewis Tallack, whose header went in off the near-post after Robert Appiah's feeble attempt to clear it. The match had turned on its head, and now Bognor Regis led 2-1. A frustrating period of play forced us to overhaul our tactical approach and go ultra-offensive. Mitch Fellows came on as a sub, and in the 66th minute, he hit a fine cross to Reynolds, but Nicky's first touch was poor and Knowles gathered the ball before he could poke it in. Knowles would then make an awkward save from Fellows' 20-yard attempt in the 77th minute, before making an even better one to deny Mitch again two minutes later. Our shots were not clinical enough to produce an equaliser, which would've saved us from back-to-back defeats, and despite our endeavours, we came away empty-handed.

Bognor Regis Town - 2 (Dinsmore 57, Tallack 62)

Romford - 1 (Reynolds pen39)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 427 - POSITIONS: Bognor Regis 7th, Romford 10th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah (Hatch), Betteridge, Dymond, Brown, Beere, Weight, Almeida (Crawley), Oates, Carroll (Fellows), Reynolds.

Our first three matches of this month had yielded just one point from a possible nine. We were losing more and more ground on our play-off rivals, and indeed, by the time we kicked off our next match, the gap between us and 5th place had grown to double figures.

With just ten rounds to go, it was probably time to concede defeat in our bid for successive promotions. Our aim now was to make sure we finished in the top eight - or the top half at the very least.

[CFuller]

During the week, Ricki Mackin and I took the time to assess several candidates for our youth team set-up. From those trialists who took part in a match against our current Under-18s side, we decided to offer contracts to six local boys. Strikers Matt Griffiths and Gerald Stroud are perhaps the ones most worth keeping an eye on, while we also gave deals to centre-half Allan Sparrow, right-back Craig Hornsey, midfielder Bobby Fisk... and inaccurately-named winger Pat Redhead, who is actually a blond!

Those lads may represent the future of Romford FC, but the current first-teamers faced a stern test when Maidstone United came to visit. The original Maidstone played in the Football League for three years until they went bust in 1992, and since then, the new club has worked its way up the divisions. The Stones were promoted to the Isthmian Premier last season, though they could be dragged into a relegation scrap if they failed to curb their recent poor form.

15 March 2014: Romford vs Maidstone United

We adopted an attacking approach from the outset, and created our first chance within the opening 60 seconds. Kieron Carroll's header didn't come particularly close to giving us the lead, as Maidstone keeper Josh Jones caught it with ease. Nicky Reynolds' first shot in the 7th minute was just as wasteful, as he ran through a gap in the Stones defence before shooting far too rashly. On 18 minutes, Nicky got to a Carroll through-ball and hit a more accurate shot, which Jones had to palm wide. Seven minutes later, Reynolds skimmed the crossbar with a 25-yard attempt. He had another go in the 28th minute, but Jones once again came to Maidstone's rescue with a fine save. By the 37th minute, we'd racked up 10 shots at goal, but a combination of wasteful shooting and fine goalkeeping meant that the scoreline was still 0-0. Then came the 38th minute. Reynolds was at the heart of a Romford counter-attack, which ended with him firing a first-time shot in off woodwork! At last, we were 1-0 up, after 11 attempts! Maidstone's resistance was broken, and having wasted several long balls and a number of half-chances, they did not look capable of equalising. Five minutes after we took the lead, Joe O'Cearuill lofted the ball into the Romford penalty area. Scott Traveller and Chris Lynch both came to meet it, and Lynch tried to head it behind for a corner... but he instead sent the ball into his own net! Incredibly, at half-time, the match was level at 1-1, even though we'd had 11 shots and Maidstone hadn't managed any!

Undeterred by that own goal, we pressed forward again in the second half. On 50 minutes, Carroll played the ball to Jason Harley in the area, and the wide midfielder blasted a low shot past the keeper to restore our advantage! We now had to be careful not to concede another equaliser, and that looked a real possibility two minutes later. Scott Rogers hit a first-time shot from the edge of the penalty area, and missed the target by only a few inches. That was United's first real attempt at goal... but as soon as they started to threaten, they petered out again. Reynolds missed a chance to make it 3-1 Romford in the 65th minute, as did Carroll four minutes later with a header which went just over. We eventually doubled our lead after 79 minutes, through another source. Reynolds lobbed a pass over the head of Maidstone defender Emmanuel Monthe to Boro midfielder Scott Weight, who controlled the ball with his chest before applying the finish with his right foot. We then survived a couple more attacks from the Stones in the closing stages before, in the second minute of injury time, we applied the coup de grace. Callum Crawley charged down the left flank with the pace of an Olympic sprinter, and then played the ball to Kamal Guthmy, who promptly picked out Reynolds on the edge of the six-yard box. A typical poacher's finish from Nicky completed an ultimately comprehensive victory... and sealed the fate of Maidstone's player-manager Jay Saunders, who was sacked after a fourth straight defeat.

Romford - 4 (Reynolds 38,90, Harley 50, Weight 79)

Maidstone United - 1 (Lynch og43)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 209 - POSITIONS: Romford 9th, Maidstone 18th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Dymond (Betteridge), Lynch, Brown, Harley, Weight, Crawley, Oates (Guthmy), Carroll (Hartson), Reynolds.

I don't think it would be too much of an exaggeration to describe that performance as one of our very best this season! Seeing us dominate a game from start to finish was a great change from most of our other wins, in which we withstood a large quantity of opposition attacks before hitting them on the counter with quality finishing.

Speaking of which, Cray Wanderers were our next opponents! When we hosted the Wanderers in November, we amazingly won 3-0, despite trailing 16-5 in terms of shots at goal! On that occasion, Cray's shooting was nigh on diabolical. Would things be different at Hayes Lane in Bromley?

19 March 2014: Cray Wanderers vs Romford

Erm... not really, no. Cray's shooting in the first half wasn't much better compared to what it was like in our last meeting, though to be fair, they only had two real chances. In the 35th minute, teenage midfielder Harrison Georgiou tried his luck from 20 yards, and missed by a considerable margin. The Cyprus Under-21s international had another go in the 45th minute, hitting the woodwork before Chris Lynch cleared the danger. Apart from those two moments, the first half was generally as exciting as watching grass grow.

In contrast, the second half was an absolute thriller! No, I kid you - it wasn't. In the 67th minute, Georgiou hit another wayward shot which seemed more likely to hit our team bus than our net! A minute later, Cray finally got a shot on target, but Scott Traveller easily gathered a tame shot from Kyle Haynes. After that, we decided to show our opponents how it was really done. Kieron Carroll came off the bench, and within minutes, he made an impact. Tom Beere played a one-two with Carroll before crossing to James Hartson, whose half-volley found its way into the far corner of the net! That was our first - and only - shot on target. It had taken 72 minutes for us to take the lead, and the accuracy of Cray's shooting was so godawful that they perhaps needed another 72 to equalise. Fortunately, they didn't have anywhere near enough time, and so we held on for the win. It was the first time this season that we had beaten the same team twice.

Cray Wanderers - 0

Romford - 1 (Hartson 72)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 151 - POSITIONS: Cray 17th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Dymond (Hatch), Lynch, Brown, Beere, Weight (Farrell), Almeida (Carroll), Guthmy, Hartson, Reynolds.

Following on from successive victories, we faced a critical home game against Concord Rangers. If we could beat 5th-placed Concord at Ship Lane, we'd still have an outside chance of sneaking into a play-off place. If we lost, the gap between us and the top five would be at least 12 points - a gap which with just seven games to go would be nigh on impossible to overhaul.

There was also another reason to win, as one more victory would mathematically guarantee our survival in the Isthmian Premier - not that it was ever in doubt, mind.

[CFuller]

25 March 2014: Romford vs Concord Rangers

This match saw former Romford loanee Andrew Burns return to Ship Lane for the first time as a Concord Rangers player, and his new side made the brighter start. In the 4th minute, Concord winger Jake Woolley crossed to Jason Hallett, whose header was held by Boro keeper Scott Traveller. Two minutes later, Evandro Delgado aimed another Concord header at goal, but Chris Lynch easily cleared it. A difficult start for us didn't get any better after 13 minutes, when Scott Weight hurt himself whilst slide-tackling Steve King. Surprisingly, the tide turned in our favour after that. Jason Harley and Nicky Reynolds both missed the target with our first shots at goal, though Kieron Carroll went closer in the 33rd minute, when his long-distance effort was palmed away by goalkeeper Berkley Laurencin. A tight but goalless first half ended with Traveller catching Danny Davenport's shot in injury time.

The second half began very slowly, and it wasn't until the 66th minute that Concord Rangers had their next shot at goal. A pass from King deflected off Anthony Chapman and fell nicely to Woolley, whose shot missed by miles. Concord were being constantly frustrated by excellent defensive showings from Connor Dymond and Chris Lynch, and as Rangers tired themselves out, we took the game to them in the closing stages. Joe Oates found himself in acres of space after 71 minutes, but after receiving a Reynolds through-ball, he volleyed over the bar. The winger then came agonisingly close on 83 minutes, missing by inches after dribbling through the defence. The match went into stoppage time with the scoreline still at 0-0. We then probed the ball around the right flank before Callum Crawley hit a lovely low pass into the area for Harley. Jason skipped past the challenge of Josh Hare, approached Laurencin, and smashed a shot from a tight angle into the net! We'd beaten the Beach Boys again! Following Harley's heroics, Concord argued with the linesman to get the goal disallowed for offside. After nearly a minute, their protests failed, and a Rangers player even got booked for his trouble. The final whistle blew soon after, and we'd clinched a third straight victory in dramatic style!

Romford - 1 (Harley 90)

Concord Rangers - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 186 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, Concord Rangers 5th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman (Allen), Dymond, Lynch, Walters, Harley, Weight (Farrell), Crawley, Oates, Carroll (Benjamin), Reynolds. BOOKED: Chapman.

Our play-off ambition was still alive, though we had to keep winning to have any real chance of breaking into that top five. Next on the schedule was another member of that elite group, as we travelled to goal-happy Hampton & Richmond Borough, who were 2nd in the table after winning seven of their last eight matches.

29 March 2014: Hampton & Richmond Borough vs Romford

The Beavers came into this match having scored 81 goals in just 39 games. After just nine minutes, that statistic read 82 goals in 39-and-a-bit games. Tony Gray fed the ball to his strike partner Gregg Smith, who deftly controlled the ball and then volleyed it with his left foot. Scott Traveller couldn't do much to keep it out, and so we went 1-0 behind. It was still very early on in the piece, so there wasn't any need to panic. As the next half-hour went by with Hampton & Richmond failing to assert their authority, we mustered a few half-chances from Nicky Reynolds, though we were really waiting for the perfect moment to hit back. Our patience paid off after 40 minutes. Rosalino Almeida looked for Scott Weight, who slotted a through-ball to Reynolds, and the marksman extraordinaire found the bottom corner! Nicky had equalled his 32-goal record from last term! From a Romford point of view, that goal put us back in the game, and we headed into the second half with renewed confidence.

Hampton & Richmond were desperate to retake the lead early in the second period. James Simmonds narrowly missed a free-kick after 51 minutes, and his Irish compatriot Kieran Sadlier snatched at a great chance shortly afterwards. When Gareth Risbridger blasted a 55th-minute chance too high AND too wide, H&R began to crack. An hour into the game, Almeida found half-time substitute Kamal Guthmy in plenty of space, and the left flanker rifled Rosalino's pass home to put Romford ahead with his first league goal! Our objective changed immediately - we now had to defend like beavers against the free-scoring Beavers. By the 68th minute, that was looking easier said than done. Hampton & Richmond's in-form winger Billy Gibson crossed from the byline to Sadlier, who aimed a low header at goal, which Traveller got to just in time. Boro target man Kieron Carroll came off with a knock soon after that. Eight minutes from time, his near-namesake Sadlier tried an audacious 30-yard half-volley which just about skimmed the bar! That would've been a great equaliser - and a gutting one from our view - but it was another missed opportunity, and too many of them cost Hampton & Richmond dear in the end. Our winning streak continued - that's four on the trot now!

Hampton & Richmond Borough - 1 (Smith 9)

Romford - 2 (Reynolds 40, Guthmy 60)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 547 - POSITIONS: Hampton & Richmond 2nd, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Allen (Dymond), Lynch, Brown, Harley, Weight, Almeida, Oates (Guthmy), Carroll (Hartson), Reynolds.

A fantastic two weeks ended with our Isthmian Premier status more than secure, and a top-half finish looking very likely. We were still long odds against to reach the play-offs, but a combination of our excellent form and a favourable run-in meant that it was still possible... as long as we repeated last season's heroics, and finished with another flourish.

[CFuller]

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.          Whitehawk              40    26    5     9     85    50    +35   83
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2.          Hampton & Richmond     40    24    6     10    82    48    +34   78
3.          Canvey Island          40    24    6     10    92    68    +24   78
4.          Carshalton             40    23    5     12    53    45    +8    74
5.          Concord Rangers        39    22    7     10    61    47    +14   73
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[color="#0000FF"]6.          Romford                40    21    4     15    65    49    +16   67[/color]
7.          Lowestoft              40    19    9     12    69    53    +16   66
8.          Bognor Regis           40    18    11    11    53    45    +8    65
9.          Thurrock               40    19    6     15    67    53    +14   63
10.         Enfield Town           40    16    12    12    56    54    +2    60
11.         Bury Town              40    15    13    12    48    40    +8    58
12.         Harrow                 39    16    10    13    56    52    +4    58
13.         Hastings               40    15    9     16    66    64    +2    54
14.         Wingate & Finchley     40    16    5     19    62    64    -2    53
15.         Wealdstone             40    16    5     19    58    66    -8    53
16.         Hendon                 40    12    11    17    50    61    -11   47
17.         Cray                   40    11    11    18    46    56    -10   44
18.         Maidstone              40    12    8     20    61    78    -17   44
19.         Billericay             40    10    13    17    40    49    -9    43
20.         Witham                 40    9     15    16    38    48    -10   42
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21.         Merstham               40    10    12    18    58    73    -15   42
22.         Lewes                  40    8     13    19    50    68    -18   37
23.         Arlesey                40    9     4     27    40    83    -43   31
24.   R     Met Police             40    4     8     28    38    80    -42   20

[CFuller]

Concord Rangers' midweek draw with Harrow Borough left us with a seven-point deficit to overhaul in our final six matches if we were to reach the play-offs. Judging by our end-of-season run-in, that looked achievable:

5 April: vs Canvey Island (H) - Canvey Island were 3rd, and they beat us 3-1 in previous meeting

12 April: vs Arlesey Town (A) - Arlesey were 23rd, and hadn't won since New Year's Day

19 April: vs Billericay Town (H) - Billericay were 19th, and had won 10 of their last 15 league games

21 April: vs Harrow Borough (H) - Harrow were 11th, and had lost just once in last two months

26 April: vs Metropolitan Police (A) - Met Police were 24th, and had already been relegated

30 April: vs Lewes (A) - Lewes were 22nd, and had won just three matches in 2014

Those three home games looked a little tricky, but all of our away ties were against the bottom three, and I expected us to win at least two of those. As long as we continued to perform well at home, we'd still be in with a shout.

That said, our first home match of that run-in couldn't have been more challenging. We had to withstand a Canvey Island attack that was on course to smash through the 100-goal barrier (they only had to score eight more to do so). If we did, we would also have to take advantage of a defence that in recent months had looked very vulnerable. The first goal was sure to be crucial.

5 April 2014: Romford vs Canvey Island

It was paramount that we kept Canvey Island's 41-goal sensation Lewis Perkins quiet. In the fourth minute, Rickie Hayles sent a long throw-in to Perkins, whose header hit the crossbar before going out of play. Ten minutes later, we hit the woodwork ourselves, as a Callum Crawley free-kick rebounded off the bar. Canvey then had a spell of domination midway through the half. Robbie King's shot in the 17th minute was caught by Scott Traveller, and Scott Shulton narrowly missed the target with a 25-yard free-kick six minutes later. The Gulls also won a number of corners, though none of them produced any meaningful chances. After half an hour, Canvey defender Hayles was forced to come off injured following a clash of heads with Scott Weight. Tom Beere suffered a knock soon after, and I didn't want to take any chances with the young winger, so I took him off and brought Jason Harley on. Those two changes disrupted the flow of the match, and the first half fizzled out with the deadlock still in place.

Canvey Island set out their plans for the second half early on. After just 20 seconds, Tyrone Berry aimed a floating cross towards the head of Perkins, but Traveller caught the ball before the Gulls hitman could get to it. Berry attempted another cross in the 54th minute. This time, Harrison Chatting outjumped Anthony Chapman to get his head to the delivery and nod Canvey into the lead. As soon as the ball went into the net, I primed Aidan Quinn to come on for his first appearance since New Year's Day. In the 64th minute, Quinn lobbed a pass up to Nicky Reynolds, but Nicky's end product was poor, and he put the shot wide. It would prove to be an ineffective return to action for Aidan - perhaps this was a match too soon for him. It was also a disappointing day for Nicky, whose 87th-minute header from Chapman's cross was easily gathered by Gulls keeper Ashlee Jones. A minute later, Canvey put the seal on a well-deserved win. Piers Wixon tried to find Perkins in the box, but his pass was intercepted by a sliding tackle from Connor Dymond. Fortunately for Wixon, the ball came back to him, and the quick-thinking forward drove it into the bottom corner of the net for his 27th goal of the campaign. Our winning run had been brought to a halt, though we had no qualms about this defeat. Canvey Island are in a different league to us, figuratively speaking, and I suspect that will soon be true in a literal sense.

Romford - 0

Canvey Island - 2 (Chatting 54, Wixon 88)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 277 - POSITIONS: Romford 8th, Canvey Island 3rd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Dymond, Lynch, Brown, Weight, Beere (Harley), Crawley, Burrell (Guthmy), Hartson (Quinn), Reynolds. BOOKED: Beere.

Even though we'd lost that game and fallen down to 8th place, the difference between us and 5th was still at seven points, but with only 15 left to play for, we were running out of time.

If we lost our next match against beleaguered Arlesey Town, then it would surely be game over as far as the play-offs were concerned. Zema Abbey's Blues were on a 19-game winless run stretching back to New Year's Day, and during that period, they took a miserable three points out of 57 on offer. As a result, they had freefallen to second-from-bottom, and one more defeat would almost certainly consign them to relegation.

Jay Vassell was on the Romford bench, and the injury-prone playmaker was in line to make his first appearance in nearly two months. He had actually been in full training for a month since recovering from a twisted knee, but thanks to our recent good form, he has struggled to break back into the team. Perhaps this would be his chance.

12 April 2014: Arlesey Town vs Romford

We made a slow start, allowing Arlesey player-manager Zema Abbey to have a number of shots against us in the opening five minutes. The first came after 45 seconds, and Scott Traveller caught it easily enough. A minute later, Traveller went down to palm away another Abbey effort. In the fifth minute, Gareth Williams headed a Shane Blackett long ball into the path of Abbey, who volleyed a brilliant strike into the target. To some extent, complacency resulted in us going behind, as we had underestimated the scoring ability of the 36-year-old forward. It took us a while to recover from that, and it wasn't until the 22nd minute that we first tested Arlesey's resolve. Rosalino Almeida's attempted cross to Kieron Carroll was headed behind by Town defender Luis Morrison-Derbyshire, and the resulting corner was ineffectively taken by Chris Lynch. Six minutes later, Jordan Brown blasted the ball down the left flank, and Reynolds pounced on a poor Blackett clearance before crossing to Carroll, who struck home the Romford equaliser! We were back on level terms, but we had to beware a riposte from Arlesey and their player-boss. Abbey hit the post after 36 minutes, and in the closing seconds of normal time, his low drive was tipped away by Traveller. Our captain had yet again come to our rescue, and we were lucky not to be trailing at half-time.

Just five minutes into the second half, Carroll hit a vicious half-volley that Arlesey keeper Nathan Abbey managed to parry away. On 56 minutes, half-time substitute Jay Vassell found Joe Oates in plenty of space, and the winger went forward before hitting an ambitious shot that went nowhere near the goal. Reynolds had his first meaningful effort in the 63rd minute, but he was crowded by two Blues defenders and could only shoot directly at Nathan Abbey. As the game progressed, Nathan's brother Zema started to tire, and he was not remotely as dangerous as he was in the first half. Indeed, our players were generally fitter than Arlesey's. For the final ten minutes, we increased the tempo - to great effect. Oates charged down the wing, and although his cross was blocked by Morrison-Derbyshire, the rebound fell nicely to... Nicky Reynolds! Nicky hit an easy finish to score his 33rd goal of the season, and give us a 2-1 lead with just nine minutes to go! It was a lead that we had no trouble holding onto. At full-time, Hitchin Road fell silent - Arlesey had been all but relegated, and there was no reason for us to celebrate this victory. In my opinion, it was a disappointing performance against a team that we should've beaten by a bigger margin.

Arlesey Town - 1 (Z Abbey 5)

Romford - 2 (Carroll 28, Reynolds 81)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 93 - POSITIONS: Arlesey 23rd, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Dymond, Lynch (Betteridge), Brown (Walters), Beere, Weight, Almeida (Vassell), Oates, Carroll, Reynolds. BOOKED: Almeida, Lynch.

The play-off gap was down to five points, and we now had to prepare for our last two home games of the campaign. The trouble was, though, that they were just a couple of days apart. It would take some good squad management to get through those matches and still be in the running.

Our immediate concern was the juggernaut that was Billericay Town. On New Year's Eve, Billericay looked dead and buried, with no wins and just eight points to their name. But since then, Ricay had won ten matches, drawn seven, and lost only three! That sensational transformation had seen them move all the way up to 17th place - two points clear of the relegation zone.

Riskily, I decided to field a second-string starting line-up against the in-form Blues, so that my star players would be fit to play Harrow Borough a couple of days later. Would this be a shrewd move, or would it blow up in my face?

19 April 2014: Romford vs Billericay Town

We created our first chance within just 20 seconds. Chris Benjamin headed a Gary Burrell cross into the path of James Hartson, whose half-volley was saved by Billericay keeper Dave Watson. The visitors countered a minute later, with Chris Henderson making an amazing run from the Ricay half into the Romford penalty area. Henderson was only denied a wonderful solo goal by a last-ditch save from Joel Wilkinson. Billericay had another shot after exactly five minutes, but Luke l'Anson's effort went wide. In the 12th minute, l'Anson's header was fumbled by Wilkinson, and we were fortunate that Greg Pearson could not capitalise from the rebound. Young Joel's self-belief was restored by a comfortable catch from Henderson's 23rd-minute attempt. Shortly after that, Wilkinson parried an effort from Kurt Robinson before Tom Beere cleared the danger. Billericay were not giving our defence much respite, and I was grateful that Wilko and co were all putting in good shifts to keep them at bay. Centre-backs George Allen and Mark Betteridge didn't seem to lose anything in the air, and right-back Anthony Chapman made a crucial sliding challenge on Henderson in the 37th minute. However, one player who was not performing well was Jay Vassell. Jay was having a tough time marking l'Anson, and in injury time, he let the Billericay man get past him too easily. His blushes were only spared when Wilkinson tipped away l'Anson's shot. My blushes weren't, though - I felt embarrassed that we were being outplayed at home by a team battling against relegation.

Billericay had created countless chances in the first half, and they continued where they left off in the second. On 53 minutes, George Walters made a critical block to stop Pearson from scoring a certain goal from just outside the six-yard box. That chance was sandwiched in between two from Chris Piper, both of which went off target. Piper was not having a great game, but his partner in central midfield was. After 64 minutes, l'Anson helped Ricay to at last find a way through. His pass to Pearson was bulleted into the near corner by the former Burton Albion striker, giving Billericay a deserved lead. We now badly needed a goal, and with the underperforming Aidan Quinn and Chris Benjamin up front, I didn't hold out much hope. But in the 74th minute, they both came alive. Quinn turned past Billericay defender Matt Jones and played the ball to Benjamin in the box. Benji turned, and then placed his shot into the far end of the goal to at long last break his season duck at the 18th attempt! Perhaps that would spark a comeback like the one in December, when we came back from a goal to beat Town 2-1! Er... no, it wouldn't. That was to be our only shot on target in the entire half. Fortunately, Billericay could not get back in front, as Sam Lechmere missed a shot in the 85th minute before Wilkinson blocked a close-range Henderson strike in the 89th. That last effort was Billericay's 22nd shot at goal in the match, while in stark contrast, we'd only mustered three - at home! A 1-1 draw was perhaps the best we could hope for in those circumstances.

Romford - 1 (Benjamin 74)

Billericay Town - 1 (Pearson 64)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 210 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Billericay 18th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Allen, Betteridge, Walters, Beere, Neville, Vassell (Crawley), Burrell (Guthmy), Benjamin, Hartson (Quinn).

Phew - that could've gone all Pete Tong! We got incredibly lucky there, and now we had three games to claw back just a four-point deficit.

Two days later, the big guns came back into the side for our last - and most important - home game of the season. It was against a Harrow Borough side who had only experienced defeat once in their previous 13 fixtures.

This really was a make or break situation. If we won, we could get back to within a single point of the top five. If we lost, on the other hand, and either Lowestoft Town or Concord Rangers won, then our play-off dream would be over.

[CFuller]

21 April 2014: Romford vs Harrow Borough

I felt confident going into this game, as several of Harrow's players had only had around 48 hours to recuperate from their last match, while all of our starters were as fresh as daisies. Unsurprisingly, we made the quicker start. In the first minute, Rosalino Almeida dribbled towards goal before shooting inches past the far post. A fairly humdrum quarter-hour followed before the match really sprang into life on 18 minutes. Harrow defender Oluseyi Daley made a frantic clearance from the touchline, and Connor Dymond booted it back towards the away goal. On the other end of Connor's long ball was Kieron Carroll, who got past the Harrow offside trap and blasted home the opening goal for Romford! Daley's mistake angered Harrow manager Dave Anderson so much that he immediately substituted the teenage centre-back. But just like in our last meeting, Anderson's Reds quickly regrouped after conceding the opener. In the 25th minute, Adam Gross chipped a pass to his captain Shaun Lucien, who promptly hit a sublime shot right into the top corner. The game was level, but three minutes later, Gross looked to have undone his good work by needlessly tripping Jason Harley in the penalty area. Here was a chance for us to retake the lead, and Nicky Reynolds once again took the responsibility. Nicky fired to the keeper's right, but James Hoad went the same way and stopped the spot-kick. It could have easily been 2-1 to us... but after 33 minutes, it was Harrow who were leading by that scoreline. Tashan Adeyinka shrugged off Dymond's challenge and fired a shot in off the post to silence the majority of the Ship Lane crowd. Ten minutes after that, our situation worsened further. Lee Wootton whipped in a corner and found Ricky Byrne, whose header doubled Harrow's advantage. We were 3-1 behind, and with Lowestoft Town winning their match against Billericay Town, we had just 45 minutes to save our play-off hopes.

In the third minute of the second half, Adeyinka caught Scott Traveller off guard with a long-distance shot, and Scott fumbled a catch before safely gathering the ball at the second time of asking. Had a Harrow player been in his penalty area at the time, the outcome might've been a lot worse. Soon after, Callum Crawley intercepted a clearance from Harrow's ex-Romford defender Sean Harper and passed to Almeida, who moved the ball on to Carroll just outside the area. Kieron's first-time pass to Reynolds was then buried by our super striker! With 50 minutes on the clock, we'd pulled it back to 3-2! On the hour mark, Lucien made a mazy dribble towards the Romford goal before rushing into his shot and putting it wide. He was soon taken off and replaced by the fresher legs of promising 17-year-old Barry Dix, who had already scored 11 goals this season. Our own teen sensation, Carroll, was substituted six minutes later after he was injured in a challenge from his old team-mate Harper. Despite losing Kieron, we continued to press forward in search for that all-important equaliser. After 71 minutes, Harley brilliantly kept a wayward Robert Appiah cross in play and centred the ball to Reynolds, who half-volleyed from close range to make it three goals apiece! The comeback was complete - now the race was on for goal number four!

This match was so open and fast-paced that it almost certainly wasn't going to finish 3-3. Sure enough, with ten minutes to go, the scoreline became 4-3... in Harrow's favour. My worries about the danger that Harrow boy Dix posed were justified when he hit a stunner into Traveller's top-left corner to place our top-five ambitions back in jeopardy. By now, Lowestoft were cruising to victory in their game, so we desperately needed a goal to stay in the running. Three minutes of injury time were added on after the initial 45, and in the dying seconds, Harley cut a pass into the Harrow penalty area. Joe Oates got on the end of it, and went for glory. Sadly, Harrow defender Kirk Harvey - who had replaced Daley early on - blocked Joe's strike, and the final whistle blew seconds later. Our hopes of securing back-to-back promotions were over. We would be staying in the Isthmian League Premier Division for a second season.

Romford - 3 (Carroll 19, Reynolds 50,71)

Harrow Borough - 4 (Lucien 25, Adeyinka 33, Byrne 43, Dix 80)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 194 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Harrow 10th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Appiah, Dymond, Lynch (Hatch), Brown, Harley, Weight (Crawley), Almeida, Oates, Carroll (Quinn), Reynolds.

Naturally, I was disappointed that we wouldn't be in the play-offs this time around, especially after getting as close as we did... but Rome wasn't built in a day. This was our first season up, and my target at the start of it was just to finish in the top half. That had already been achieved, and we still have a cup final to look forward to, of course.

Before then, we had to get our last two away league games out of the way. Defeat against Harrow had rendered our visit to East Molesey - for a match against Metropolitan Police - meaningless with respect to the play-offs. We still wanted to get another win on the board so we could finish as high as possible, while the Met were fighting for pride, as they were already relegated and certain to finish bottom.

[CFuller]

26 April 2014: Metropolitan Police vs Romford

Metropolitan Police won a free-kick deep in Romford territory less than 90 seconds after kick-off. Craig Tanner curled the ball into the box and found veteran striker Richard Walker who headed over. Aside from that close shave, there was little to talk about in the first half. Midway through the half, we strung 16 consecutive passes together. The last was from Nicky Reynolds to attacking full-back Kamal Guthmy, and with a clinical low finish, Kamal gave us the lead after 22 minutes! That riled the rozzers, and Walker hit a fierce shot at goal six minutes later. It never got close to equalising. Two minutes before half-time, Boro teenager Brian Neville injured himself whilst tackling Met forward Josh Wakefield and had to be replaced. That injury didn't disrupt our performance too much, because in the second minute of injury time, we bagged another goal. Jason Harley sliced through the Met defence with a pass to Kieron Carroll, and after the target man played in Nicky Reynolds, our star man slotted in his incredible 36th goal of the campaign! We were cruising at 2-0 up, and it was not hard to see how the Met, er, met their demise.

The Met Police grabbed a goal back ten minutes into the second half. Tanner caught Anthony Chapman dwelling on the ball in his own half, and his sliding tackle diverted the ball to Daniel Subuola, who gobbled up an easy chance. Two minutes later, Subuola was on the attack again, though he dragged his shot wide on that occasion. The Met would have three more chances to equalise in the closing stages - all of them Subuola's. First, Scott Traveller caught his half-volley in the 81st minute. Subuola then thundered the ball over the bar in the last minute of normal time before actually striking the woodwork in injury time. After surviving a nail-biting second half, we registered our 23rd league win of the season.

Metropolitan Police - 1 (Subuola 55)

Romford - 2 (Guthmy 22, Reynolds 45)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 126 - POSITIONS: Met Police 24th, Romford 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Dymond (Allen), Lynch, Guthmy, Harley, Neville (Crawley), Almeida, Oates, Carroll (Benjamin), Reynolds.

We didn't come out of that battle with the Police completely unscathed. Brian Neville fractured some of his ribs in the first half, and Rosalino Almeida suffered a dead leg just before the final whistle. Both men would miss the last league game of the season, as well as the Essex Senior Cup Final.

That last league game was at the wonderfully-named Dripping Pan against Lewes. The hosts had to win this match and pray for Billericay Town to lose against Whitehawk if they were to have any chance of avoiding a third relegation in the space of just six seasons.

As far as we were concerned, we were battling for a top-eight place. A single point would be enough, but in the event of a defeat, we would need other results to go our way. All that I knew for certain was that we'd finish somewhere between 7th and 11th.

30 April 2014: Lewes vs Romford

I rested all of our star players for this dead rubber, and prior to kick-off, I told those who were playing that they could relax and take things easy. Unfortunately, they seemed to take too much of that team talk to heart. Lewes striker James Smith jinked past Robert Appiah and then bent a shot past Joel Wilkinson to give the Rooks an early check after just two minutes. By the 11th minute, they looked to have already checkmated us. A sublime pass from Aaron Wickham found Ben Godfrey in the penalty area, and Godfrey calmly placed the ball into the far corner for 2-0. Smith and Tony Nwachukwu each had chances to send Lewes further in front within the next five minutes, though they both blasted their shots over. Romford's defenders seemed to me like they were already on their holidays, and I was particularly convinced that the hopeless Wayne Hatch was mentally in Magaluf. Winger Tom Beere also lost his concentration in the 26th minute. After being played through on goal by Chris Benjamin, Tom made a surging run towards the target before spectacularly firing his shot skyward. This was not what I expected from our final game of the Isthmian Premier season.

At least Wilkinson's concentration never wavered. In the 55th minute, the teenage goalkeeper made a spectacular save to prevent Nwachukwu from putting the game completely in Lewes's control. Joel's brave performance was one of the few highlights of an anti-climactic encounter that we never looked like getting anything from. The second half was, thus, little more than an opportunity to give a few youth players some first-team action. One of those who debuted was Bobby Fisk, who with three minutes to go played a fine pass to Tom Beere. Tom then went on another solo run towards goal, but once again, he finished the move with a woeful strike. That rather summed up our evening.

Lewes' final-day victory was not enough for them to avoid relegation, because Billericay defeated Whitehawk - in fact, they thrashed the title challengers 7-3 to gift top spot to Canvey Island! That meant the Rooks would drop into the eighth tier of English football, six seasons after they were in the Conference Premier! As for our top-eight hopes, Thurrock didn't slip up, but our other challengers did, so we finished in a very respectable 8th place after all.

Lewes - 2 (Smith 2, Godfrey 11)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 226 - POSITIONS: Lewes 21st, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Appiah, Hatch (Goodwin), Betteridge, Walters, Beere, Vassell (Fisk), Crawley, Burrell, Hartson (Samaria), Benjamin. BOOKED: Appiah.

If you said to me back in the summer that we'd finish our first Isthmian League Premier Division season in 8th place, having won exactly half of our matches in the process, then I would've bitten your hand off. I am very happy with how we have performed overall this term, and the players can feel very proud of themselves.

Of course, there is one thing that would make me even happier... and that is a trophy to put in our cabinet.

[CFuller]

What do the following years have in common? 1912, 1932, 1934, 1938, and 1947.

No, they aren't the birth years of the Rolling Stones (though coincidentally, Ronnie Wood was born in 1947). They are the years in which Romford won the Essex Senior Cup.

It had been 67 years since we lifted the most prestigious trophy in Essex football. In fact, the last time we even reached the final was in 1977 - the year before the second version of Romford FC went out of business.

Now, though, we were back in the final, and chasing our first significant cup win in the current club's 22-year history (the 2004 Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy doesn't really count). The date was 3 May 2014, the opposition were Dagenham & Redbridge Reserves, and the venue was the M&B Sports and Social Club - just a ten-minute drive from my home in Romford.

This was our 60th and final match of a long and gruelling season. I hoped that we still had enough energy to get one more win, and claim the Essex Senior Cup.

3 May 2014: Dagenham & Redbridge Reserves vs Romford

There were some notable names in the Dagenham & Redbridge line-up, including 39-year-old former Football League regular Darren Currie, who was playing in his final match before retirement. The Daggers also picked Italian striker Gianluca Gracco, who played against us earlier this season whilst on loan at Hampton & Richmond Borough. Meanwhile, I made a big call in central defence. Having observed that Chris Lynch was not a player who thrived under pressure, I left out the Barnet loanee and brought in George Allen to partner Connor Dymond at the back.

Just over two minutes into the game, my decision wasn't looking too inspired. Currie crossed the ball to the near post, and Josh Scott outjumped both Allen and Dymond to head it in and give Dagenham the perfect start. In the 8th minute, Kamal Guthmy handed the Daggers a free-kick in a dangerous position after barging into winger Jermaine Akuamoah. Currie again elected to take the set-piece, which he swung into the box. Allen failed to keep tabs on Darren McVeigh, and he could only watch as the Northern Irish defender nodded home to put us in a right pickle. We were trailing 2-0 after just eight minutes, and I had to act quickly to save our skins. Allen was by now looking shellshocked, so I took him off to spare him any further misery. Mark Betteridge went on in his place. Betteridge's first act after the restart was to send the ball upfield to Jason Harley, who flicked a first-time pass to Kieron Carroll. Kieron spotted Nicky Reynolds making a run, and played a through-ball to Nicky, who got to it and drilled a shot in from a tight angle! We were back in the game! Barely ten minutes had passed, and already there had been three goals! Of course, neither team could keep up this frenetic pace, though Carroll came within inches of what would've been an incredible equaliser after 12 minutes. In the 23rd minute, Reynolds blazed a shot over the bar, while moments later, Dymond bravely blocked a vicious effort from Akuamoah at the other end. The game then died down for a while before Dagenham launched their next attack in the 41st minute. Akuamoah's cross was chested by Gracco into the path of Aaron Partridge, whose half-volley was met by a wondrous save from Romford captain Scott Traveller. A third Daggers goal before half-time would surely have killed us, but at the break, we were only 2-1 down. The situation was still retrievable.

Some of the players were not looking particularly motivated as they returned to the dressing room, so during the break, I reminded them of what they were here for. "Our fans have waited nearly 40 years to see us get this far. Whatever you do in those next 45 minutes, do not let a single one of them down!" It wasn't exactly a Churchillian speech, but it seemed to fire the lads up. While I was at it, I replaced Callum Crawley with Jay Vassell, in the hope that the young attacking midfielder would produce his best performance of an injury-ravaged season in our moment of need.

As the second half got underway, Dagenham & Redbridge quickly set about trying to restore their two-goal advantage. In the third minute of the half, Currie cushioned a headed pass to Scott, who blasted a first-time shot inches wide of the goal. Having survived another scare, we went on the offensive again after 55 minutes. Joe Oates slotted a through-ball towards Carroll, only for Montana Stewart to block the pass. The ball came back to Vassell, who returned possession to Carroll before Kieron looked to his right, and found a certain Nicky Reynolds. After teeing up a shot, Nicky placed it beyond 15-year-old goalkeeper Max Newman's reach! It was now 2-2 - even stevens! The Daggers didn't take too kindly to squandering a comfortable lead, and it made them even more determined to grab another goal. In the 66th minute, Betteridge blocked Jason Dobbs' header at goal, but his clearance could only reach Dagenham substitute Marcus Haley, who tried to slide the ball over the line. Fortunately, Traveller reacted quickly, and he not only saved the shot but he held onto it as well. Dagenham were then frustrated for several minutes in their attempts to create further chances. Later on, their right-back Harry Lewington picked up a thigh injury. Lewington soldiered on to stop his team from being reduced to ten men, but there was now a chink in the Daggers' armour. With three minutes to go, Carroll was presented with an opportunity to become a Romford hero. He ran at the tiring Dagenham defence until he was just outside the penalty area... but at the last moment, he pulled his shot well wide of goal. How crucial would that miss be?

With injury time looming large, Anthony Chapman headed a Dobbs cross behind to concede a corner to Dagenham & Redbridge. Currie delivered the ball to the far post, and Betteridge beat his team-mate Harley to head it away. Unfortunately, the man who got to his attempted clearance first was Dobbs. The former Norwich City youth midfielder hit the ball on the half-volley towards the keeper's right-hand post. With Jordan Brown coming forward and no longer guarding that post, there was nothing we could do to keep the shot out of the net. Dagenham's players crowded Dobbs in celebration, while Romford's surrounded Betteridge. Some were furious with Mark, while others were more sympathetic towards him. We were all united in grief. Our first chance to bring home some silverware had slipped away in the dying moments, and after the final whistle blew a few minutes later, the reality of the situation sank in. Some of the lads collapsed onto the pitch in utter despair. I, personally, was just heartbroken.

Dagenham & Redbridge Reserves - 3 (Scott 3, McVeigh 8, Dobbs 90)

Romford - 2 (Reynolds 10,55)

Essex Senior Cup Final, Attendance 437

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Traveller, Chapman, Allen (Betteridge), Dymond, Guthmy (Brown), Harley, Weight, Crawley (Vassell), Oates, Carroll, Reynolds.

As a Romford native, this defeat was particularly hard for me to take. Here was my chance to win a trophy for Romford IN Romford, and we had come so, so close to achieving that - but this was just one obstacle too many. The £2,500 prize money we earned for merely reaching the Final was scant consolation, because we'd missed out on the only thing we were aiming for.

Mick Jagger was right all along. You can't always get what you want.

[CFuller]

I was back in the office on Monday morning, as I tried to put our Essex Senior Cup agony aside and begin preparations for a new campaign. Before that final match, I had signed a new contract that would keep me in charge of Romford for next season. As part of the deal, my wages were increased to £325 per week, which I thought was a nice touch, but little more than a token gesture.

Speaking of new contracts, I quickly knuckled down and negotiated new deals with two of our four contracted players. The first of them was Nicky Reynolds.

I thought Nicky had done incredibly well last term, when he scored 32 goals. This season, he not only matched that tally, but he upped it by six! I desperately wanted to have our star striker on board for another year, so when Reynolds agreed to sign on the dotted line of a new contract worth £200 a week, I was very pleased.

On the same day, another of our key assets pledged his future to the Boro, as Connor Dymond doubled his weekly wages from £60 to £120. The 19-year-old centre-back had been a consistently strong performer in his first season at Ship Lane.

As for captain Scott Traveller and winger Tom Beere - our other two players on part-time contracts - their futures would be decided in June.

While I was at it, I also agreed new contracts with my assistant Tony Reid and our physio John Kelly.

Meanwhile, we picked up a Bluefin Fair Play award for the second season in the row, for having the best disciplinary record in the Isthmian Premier. Just like in our last campaign, we only racked up 12 yellow cards and no red cards. The fact that we had such a clean record and still managed to finish in the top eight just goes to show that nice guys don't always come last!

However, there was some disappointment when it came down to the individual awards. Nicky's 33 goals in the Isthmian Premier were not enough to take the Golden Boot away from Canvey Island hotshot Lewis Perkins, who scored a scarcely believable 36 times! I was nominated for the Manager of the Season award, but didn't get enough votes to make the top three.

The rest of the month flew by, and while our current players were on their summer holidays, I began my annual search for fresh talent. After finishing in 8th place this season, I thought that some new blood would give us exactly what we needed to really challenge for promotion in the forthcoming campaign.

But when June began, I received some disturbing news that had the potential to put my ambitious plans on hold.

[CFuller]

                                   [b]P     W     D     L     F     A     GD    PTS[/b]
1.    C     Canvey Island          46    27    8     11    102   75    +27   89
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.          Whitehawk              46    27    7     12    92    63    +29   88
3.          Hampton & Richmond     46    26    8     12    88    53    +35   86
4.          Lowestoft              46    25    9     12    85    57    +28   84
5.    P     Carshalton             46    26    6     14    61    51    +10   84
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.          Concord Rangers        46    23    9     14    70    60    +10   78
7.          Thurrock               46    23    7     16    75    58    +17   76
[color="#0000FF"]8.          Romford                46    23    5     18    73    60    +13   74[/color]
9.          Enfield Town           46    20    14    12    68    59    +9    74
10.         Harrow                 46    20    13    13    67    59    +8    73
11.         Bognor Regis           46    20    11    15    57    52    +5    71
12.         Hastings               46    19    9     18    73    68    +5    66
13.         Bury Town              46    16    16    14    51    48    +3    64
14.         Wingate & Finchley     46    19    6     21    76    72    +4    63
15.         Wealdstone             46    19    6     21    68    73    -5    63
16.         Witham                 46    13    16    17    48    54    -6    55
17.         Hendon                 46    14    12    20    58    72    -14   54
18.         Billericay             46    11    16    19    51    59    -8    49
19.         Cray                   46    12    12    22    50    66    -16   48
20.         Maidstone              46    13    9     24    71    94    -23   48
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21.   R     Lewes                  46    10    16    20    57    73    -16   46
22.   R     Merstham               46    10    13    23    66    87    -21   43
23.   R     Arlesey                46    9     6     31    44    93    -49   33
24.   R     Met Police             46    5     10    31    46    91    -45   25

[CFuller]

GOALKEEPERS               APPS    CON  CLN  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
Scott Traveller           54      69   16   0    89%  -    -    0    0    7.02
Joel Wilkinson            6       6    1    0    87%  -    -    0    0    7.08

OUTFIELD PLAYERS          APPS    GLS  AST  MOM  P%   TR   ST%  Y    R    AV RAT
George Allen              19 (13) 2    0    3    59%  1.79 80%  1    0    7.05
Rosalino Almeida          27 (14) 0    3    0    82%  3.34 15%  4    0    6.84
Robert Appiah             19 (2)  0    2    1    71%  2.61 -    1    0    6.83
Tom Beere                 23 (6)  1    5    0    74%  1.87 25%  1    0    6.88
Chris Benjamin            8 (12)  1    4    0    83%  2.25 21%  1    0    6.78
Mark Betteridge           28 (10) 1    1    1    68%  1.66 67%  2    0    6.92
Jordan Brown              10 (1)  0    0    0    73%  2.89 0%   0    0    6.80
Gary Burrell              20 (4)  3    3    0    73%  1.90 62%  0    0    6.82
Kieron Carroll            39 (5)  21   14   7    76%  1.46 53%  1    0    7.20
Anthony Chapman           36 (3)  0    2    1    75%  2.11 0%   5    0    6.98
Callum Crawley            34 (7)  0    11   0    79%  2.26 16%  1    0    6.92
Connor Dymond             42 (2)  3    1    6    67%  2.14 29%  0    0    7.26
Ashley Farrell            10 (9)  0    0    0    78%  3.92 -    0    0    6.76
Mitch Fellows             0 (7)   0    0    0    77%  1.08 50%  0    0    6.73
Bobby Fisk                0 (1)   0    0    0    71%  0.00 -    0    0    6.60
Lee Goodwin               0 (1)   0    0    0    67%  -    -    0    0    6.80
Kamal Guthmy              13 (7)  3    1    0    70%  1.74 80%  2    0    6.90
Jason Harley              30 (4)  4    7    0    78%  2.02 29%  1    0    6.92
Sean Harper               2 (2)   0    0    0    73%  1.64 -    0    0    6.95
James Hartson             10 (9)  6    0    1    77%  1.81 58%  0    0    6.88
Wayne Hatch               13 (17) 0    0    0    68%  1.52 0%   0    0    6.67
Chris Lynch               13      0    0    1    75%  2.97 -    1    0    7.05
Brian Neville             7 (5)   1    0    0    74%  3.46 100% 0    0    6.74
Joe Oates                 37 (5)  2    7    1    72%  1.98 28%  1    0    6.85
Peter Plummer             3       0    1    0    79%  2.54 0%   0    0    7.13
Aidan Quinn               6 (12)  1    6    0    83%  1.76 27%  0    0    6.99
Nicky Reynolds            51      38   10   11   78%  1.92 56%  0    0    7.40
Sydney Samaria            0 (1)   0    0    0    83%  0.00 -    0    0    6.80
Delando Smith             3 (1)   0    1    0    70%  3.24 0%   0    0    6.96
Zak Stephens              4       0    0    0    54%  3.25 50%  0    0    6.67
Elliot Styles             14 (1)  1    0    1    72%  3.69 11%  1    1    6.85
Hassan Sulaiman           3 (1)   0    1    0    75%  0.45 0%   0    0    6.65
Jay Vassell               8 (8)   0    1    0    69%  2.69 0%   0    0    6.61
George Walters            30 (2)  0    1    0    79%  2.34 -    0    0    6.89
Scott Weight              27 (7)  5    1    1    81%  4.31 56%  1    0    6.88
Jordan Willmore           4       0    0    0    69%  1.00 -    0    0    6.77

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 started on a bright note when club chairman Steve Gardener proudly announced a new three-season kit sponsorship deal that would earn us £5,000 per annum. However, that merely eased the financial concerns we had when Mr Gardener called me to an urgent meeting.

Over the last 12 months, we had made a net loss of just over £11,000, and as a result, we were in debt. It was only a small, four-figure debt - and we were still in a much better position financially than a number of our divisional rivals - but nevertheless, the club was now owing money.

At first, I couldn't work out why this was the case. Our gate receipts had increased by nearly £20,000, we earned plenty of money from the FA Cup and the Essex Senior Cup, and our wage bill was by some distance the lowest in the Isthmian Premier. Then Mr Gardener highlighted something that stood out on the expenses sheet. In 2012/2013, our scouting costs were a little under £2,000. In the season just passed, scouting costs were in excess of £20,000.

There was only one person to blame - our chief scout, Meshach Nugent. When we brought him in for questioning, Meshach admitted that he had wasted thousands of the club's hard-earned pounds on regular trips to Scotland, where he repeatedly tried and failed to convince semi-pros from north of the border to come and play for Romford. In truth, he would have been better off trying to sell them haggis, kilts, and deep-fried Mars bars.

Steve and I were both furious with Meshach... but at least he confessed. His contract was up for renewal at the end of the month, and I informed him that he wouldn't be retained. We would soon be searching for a new scout, and in future, the new man would have to report directly to me.

One knock-on effect from Nugent's carelessness with the coffers was that Mr Gardener was no longer able to allow me much leeway with regards to the wage budget.

Last term, I was able to get by with using just a quarter of a £2,000 weekly wage budget, but this time around, I was given a provisional budget of £575 per week. The recent renewals of Nicky Reynolds and Connor Dymond's contracts meant that we were currently totalling £525, and thus I now had little room for manoeuvre.

So, for the time being, I would have to scale back any grand plans I had for rebuilding the squad. Fortunately, there were a couple of cheap midfielders willing to join us on non-contract terms.

The midfield was the department I most wanted to strengthen in the off-season. We were having no trouble scoring goals, and our defence seemed to cope well considering that they were under so much pressure on such a regular basis. However, we didn't create as many chances as I would've liked, especially from the centre of midfield.

That's where someone like Ryan Jones could come in handy in the new season. The 23-year-old Australian midfielder had been with Waltham Abbey for 18 months, and although Jones hardly pulled up any trees in Epping Forest, I thought that a creative team player like him would be a useful asset. I quickly agreed a deal with Ryan, and so he became our first new arrival of the summer.

The second would soon follow. Left-winger Sean Hunt, who was also 23 and in fact just a few days older than Ryan, was signed from Southern League Division 1 Central side Royston Town. The former Birmingham City trainee has a fair bit of pace and is comfortable on the ball, so I don't expect him to struggle in a higher tier.

Jones and Hunt were both signed early on in the transfer window, but over the next couple of weeks, we struggled to attract further new blood. Then, with just one week to go until the team returned for pre-season training, we received some more bad news. It was time to say goodbye to a loyal servant.

[CFuller]

Just before the new season's fixtures came out, the Romford supporters club named their best XI for the 2013/2014 campaign: Scott Traveller, Anthony Chapman, Connor Dymond, Mark Betteridge, George Walters, Jason Harley, Callum Crawley, Rosalino Almeida, Joe Oates, Nicky Reynolds, Kieron Carroll.

The Fans' Player of the Year was, of course, Nicky Reynolds. Nicky was most certainly staying put, but disappointingly, that was not the case as far as another of our key players was concerned.

The player in question was our goalkeeper and captain, Scott Traveller. He made 104 appearances and kept 36 clean sheets during two seasons with the Boro, and his consistent performances caught the eye of other clubs. Not for the first time, we faced a battle to keep hold of him.

Alas, the 23-year-old's wage demands were much too high for us, and negotiations over a new deal quickly broke down. Then Dulwich Hamlet, champions of Isthmian League Division 1 South, came in with an offer that he couldn't turn down. As Scott travelled to south-east London to join his new team, we began our search for a replacement goalkeeper.

My first choice was Daniel East - a 21-year-old free agent who our now former scout Meshach Nugent excitedly said was even better than Traveller. Contract talks with the former Brighton & Hove Albion keeper went well, and it looked likely that we would seal the deal... but then Bishop's Stortford made an offer of their own at the 11th hour.

For the next few days, I tried desperately to persuade Daniel to sign for Romford, but the lure of playing Conference South football was too much, and he instead moved up to Hertfordshire.

Fortunately, I had a 'Plan B' for that situation, so after our bid to stop East from moving further north went west, we looked south. 22-year-old Kieron Thorp had performed solidly in half a season at Isthmian South club Sittingbourne, and I thought that the former Republic of Ireland youth international would make a good replacement for Traveller. I snapped Kieron up on a deal worth just £50 per week, so hopefully he'll represent good value for money.

Aside from Traveller, seven other players left Romford over the summer. Rosalino Almeida, Robert Appiah, Gary Burrell and Scott Weight were all released, Jordan Brown and Chris Lynch both completed their loan spells, and we reluctantly allowed the promising Tom Beere to leave after he refused to even discuss a new contract.

In addition, I persuaded Mitch Fellows to concentrate solely on coaching, and so, at the age of just 25, the former striker hung up his boots. Mitch scored just three goals in 31 appearances for Romford, but he has the potential to do much better as a coach.

After all that transfer activity, we were ready for the new season. There would be plenty of upheaval in the Isthmian League Premier Division, with no fewer than NINE new teams on the schedule!

Along with the four promoted teams from the North and South divisions, we also had four out of the six relegated sides from the regional Conferences coming into our league, as well as Southern League Division 1 Central champions St Albans City! That meant three teams had to be shunted into the Southern Premier to make room for all those newcomers!

Romford's league campaign was set to kick off with a Monday night trip to Cray Wanderers on 25 August, while our first home game would be against Enfield Town on 30 August.

The Ship Lane derbies with Thurrock were scheduled for 18 October, when we would officially be the 'home' team, and 3 March, when we were listed as the 'visitors'. I was also looking forward to our all-Havering clashes with recently-relegated AFC Hornchurch, firstly at the Lane on 15 November, and then at Bridge Avenue on 6 April.

My 30th birthday on 11 April would see us play away against Sutton United. Our league season was scheduled to conclude about three weeks later with a home game versus... Scott Traveller and Dulwich Hamlet!

Right, that's everything pretty much covered. Now it's time for our pre-season preparations to begin!

[CFuller]

Premier League

Manchester City lost just one Premier League game from the start of the season to the New Year, and they then moved up a gear in February to take a firm grip on top spot. While their title rivals faltered, City made fewer mistakes. Their third successive Premier League title was secured on the same day that they lifted the FA Cup to complete their first ever domestic Double. Citizens striker Sergio Aguero retained the PFA Player of the Year award, but he was outscored by Olivier Giroud, who bagged 27 goals as his Arsenal team finished a distant second.

Sir Alex Ferguson's 28-season reign as Manchester United boss ended on a low as the Red Devils finished 3rd and were losing Semi Finalists in all three cup competitions. This season marked the end of an era at Old Trafford, with Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes all joining Ferguson in retirement. 4th-placed Chelsea qualified for the UEFA Champions League once again as the new 'Big Four' finished well clear of Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, who completed the top six.

Newcastle United sacked Alan Pardew as manager in December, when they were facing a tough battle against relegation. His replacement was Stuart Pearce, who had just won the European Under-21s Championship with England, and he would work more miracles at St James' Park. Not only did he guide them from the bottom three to a 7th-place finish, but he also won Newcastle their first major trophy in 45 years, as Papiss Cissé scored the only goal of a tense League Cup Final against West Bromwich Albion.

Nottingham Forest never settled back into the Premier League, and were stuck at the bottom for effectively the entire season. When their relegation was confirmed in mid-April, manager Billy Davies lost his job instantly. The other two relegation places came down to the final day. In the end, it was Reading and West Brom who fell just short, with the Baggies' Midlands rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa left to survive for another season.

Top Four: Manchester City (1st, 84 pts), Arsenal (2nd, 77 pts), Manchester United (3rd, 75 pts), Chelsea (4th, 75 pts).

Relegated: West Bromwich Albion (18th, 40 pts), Reading (19th, 39 pts), Nottingham Forest (20th, 25 pts).

Championship

West Ham United and Watford fought it out at the top of the Championship for most of the campaign. But while Watford and their 31-goal summer signing Pantelis Kapetanos secured promotion to the Premier League first, they were beaten to the title by Martin O'Neill's Hammers.

Sunderland were late challengers for an automatic promotion spot, and they carried their impressive form into the Play-Offs. After seeing off Cardiff City in the Semi Finals, they faced Queens Park Rangers, who had surged up the table after manager Owen Coyle's arrival in November. The Hoops beat Hull City in their semi, but then suffered agony in the Final as Connor Wickham's 118th-minute goal secured the Mackems an instant return to the big time.

Just like last season, Millwall were serious contenders for automatic promotion at the halfway stage of the season... but their form once again went south after Christmas. They would lose out on a play-off place on the final day after Cardiff City beat them 2-1 to take their spot. Meanwhile, shock FA Cup finalists Peterborough United finished well safe in 17th, and they can look forward to UEFA Europa League football next term.

Swindon Town were totally out of their depth in their first Championship season since 1998/1999, and they lost 30 matches on their way to finishing rock bottom. Cash-strapped Birmingham City had trouble scoring goals, and they likewise sank into the third tier. Tranmere Rovers also went down after an agonising final-day defeat to West Ham that spared Crystal Palace from relegation.

Promoted: West Ham United (1st, 87 pts), Watford (2nd, 86 pts), Sunderland (3rd, 84 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Queens Park Rangers (4th, 79 pts), Hull City (5th, 76 pts), Cardiff City (6th, 76 pts).

Relegated: Tranmere Rovers (22nd, 47 pts), Birmingham City (23rd, 39 pts), Swindon Town (24th, 28 pts).

League One

Charlton Athletic won the first nine games of the League One season, but then came under pressure from the other two recently-relegated teams. By the end of the season, they had been overtaken by both Derby County and Bristol City. The Rams won the title with 96 points, while the Robins also smashed through the 90-point barrier.

Charlton showed why they were Play-Off favourites when they sauntered past Oldham Athletic in the Semi Finals to set up a Wembley meeting with Sheffield United's conquerors Doncaster Rovers. However, the Final did not go as many people expected. The Addicks choked, and James Coppinger inspired Donny to a 3-1 win that sent them up into the Championship.

Doncaster aside, it wasn't a good season for northern teams in League One. Burton Albion, Carlisle United and Hartlepool United were all relegated prior to the last round of games. Crewe Alexandra were favourites to join them in League Two, but a brilliant 5-2 win against Rotherham United kept them up and sent Fleetwood Town packing.

Promoted: Derby County (1st, 96 pts), Bristol City (2nd, 94 pts), Doncaster Rovers (4th, 81 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Charlton Athletic (3rd, 89 pts), Sheffield United (5th, 77 pts), Oldham Athletic (6th, 75 pts).

Relegated: Fleetwood Town (21st, 48 pts), Hartlepool United (22nd, 42 pts), Carlisle United (23rd, 42 pts), Burton Albion (24th, 41 pts).

League Two

After losing just a single league game in 2014, Walsall romped home to the League Two title. The Saddlers finished a whopping 15 points clear of runners-up Gillingham. The other automatic promotion place went to Morecambe, who will be a third-tier club for the first time in their history next season.

4th-placed Scunthorpe United were too strong for Shrewsbury Town in the Play-Off Semi Finals. Their Final opponents were Wycombe Wanderers, who edged out Northampton Town in a penalty shoot-out. The Wembley showdown also went to spot-kicks after a 1-1 draw, but this time, Wycombe's luck deserted them, and Scunny won the shoot-out 4-3.

Portsmouth went into administration for the third time in the space of four years, and their 10-point deduction would ultimately prove costly, because they missed out on a play-off place by just three points.

Going into the final day, three teams were battling to avoid the two relegation places. There were no late heroics from prolific escapists Barnet this time around, and AFC Wimbledon also faltered, so those two sides dropped out of the Football League and Bristol Rovers were spared.

Promoted: Walsall (1st, 94 pts), Gillingham (2nd, 79 pts), Morecambe (3rd, 77 pts), Scunthorpe United (4th, 74 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Northampton Town (5th, 71 pts), Wycombe Wanderers (6th, 71 pts), Shrewsbury Town (7th, 68 pts).

Relegated: AFC Wimbledon (23rd, 44 pts), Barnet (24th, 43 pts).

Conference Premier

Just six points separated the Conference Premier's top seven by season's end, but Kidderminster Harriers were deserving champions, having led the way for the lion's share of the campaign.

The Play-Offs saw Dagenham & Redbridge edge past Accrington Stanley and Hereford United overcome Macclesfield Town in the Semi Finals. Nothing could separate the Daggers or the Bulls in the Final, so it came down to a shoot-out, which Dagenham won 4-2 without missing a penalty. The Essex club were on their way back to League Two.

Altrincham were relegated back to the Conference North following a difficult campaign, while Dartford, Newport County and Alfreton Town all went down after the final round of matches.

Promoted: Kidderminster Harriers (1st, 86 pts), Dagenham & Redbridge (2nd, 84 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Macclesfield Town (3rd, 83 pts), Hereford United (4th, 83 pts), Accrington Stanley (5th, 82 pts).

Relegated: Alfreton Town (21st, 42 pts), Newport County (22nd, 40 pts), Dartford (23rd, 40 pts), Altrincham (24th, 34 pts).

Conference North

Promoted: Stalybridge Celtic (1st, 80 pts), FC Halifax Town (3rd, 77 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Tamworth (2nd, 78 pts), Bradford Park Avenue (4th, 71 pts), Chester (5th, 70 pts).

Relegated: Histon (20th, 44 pts), St Neots Town (21st, 37 pts), Vaxhall Motors (22nd, 34 pts).

Conference South

Promoted: Dover Athletic (1st, 84 pts), Eastleigh (2nd, 77 pts).

Also in Play-Offs: Maidenhead United (3rd, 75 pts), Kingstonian (4th, 67 pts), Boreham Wood (5th, 66 pts).

Relegated: Staines Town (20th, 35 pts), Sutton United (21st, 34 pts), AFC Hornchurch (22nd, 28 pts).

Regional Premier Divisions

Promoted from Northern Premier League Premier: Worksop Town (1st), Market Drayton Town (5th).

Promoted from Isthmian League Premier: Canvey Island (1st), Carshalton (5th).

Promoted from Southern League Premier: Corby Town (1st), Banbury United (5th).

[CFuller]

Major Transfers

• Premier League champions Manchester City spent over £70million in the summer. £34.5million of that was spent on Juventus' tenacious midfielder Arturo Vidal, who went on to have an excellent first season in England, even if his disciplinary record left a lot to be desired. Arguably an even better purchase was England left-back Leighton Baines from Everton for £20million. During 2013/2014, Baines firmly established himself as unquestionably the world's best player in his position.
  
• City also made one of the most eye-raising transfers of the summer when Chelsea legend Frank Lampard ended his 13-year stay at Stamford Bridge to join the champions on a free transfer. The ageing England midfielder only made 30 appearances for the Citizens, but he did score five goals.
  
• Manchester United only made one significant purchase - Vasco da Gama's Brazilian international defender Dede for £26million. The tall centre-back quickly established himself as a key player in the heart of United's defence.
  
• Chelsea's £24.5million signing Stevan Jovetic had a stop-start first campaign with the Blues. He suffered a sprained ankle, and then tore his hamstring, before tearing his calf muscle in April. That last injury ended the former Fiorentina striker's season after just 17 Premier League games, in which he scored five times.
  
• Away from the Premier League, Paris Saint-Germain's big spending continued when they persuaded Borussia Dortmund to sell Polish hotshot Robert Lewandowski for £34.5million. Lewandowski would be a great signing, as he overshadowed both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and fellow PSG new boy Nicklas Bendtner to score 21 goals for Ligue 1's runaway champions.
  
• One January transfer that caught the eye was Arsenal's surprise decision to buy Liverpool castoff Andy Carroll for just £4.2millon. How did the lanky England forward fare in north London? Well, he made just three Premier League appearances from the bench before being left to rot in the reserves. Erm...
  

Managerial Movements

• Following the conclusion of his 28th season as Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement. Although his final campaign ended without any new silverware, the 72-year-old still bowed out with an incredible 12 Premier Leagues, six FA Cups, four League Cups, two UEFA Champions League, two UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, one Intercontinental Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup. The man chosen to replace Sir Alex at Old Trafford was none other than his former rival José Mourinho, who left Real Madrid to take his job.
  
• Newcastle United's Alan Pardew was not the only Premier League manager to lose his job mid-term. At the end of March, Wigan Athletic parted company with Malky Mackay and brought back former boss Paul Jewell, who returned to work after a brief spell at trigger-happy Swindon Town. Under Jewell's management, Wigan pulled clear of relegation danger to finish 10th for the second season in a row.
  
• The end of the season triggered another round of managerial chopping and changing. Reading sacked Harry Redknapp following their relegation and replaced him with Ipswich Town's Mick McCarthy, while West Bromwich Albion - who also went down - swapped Steve Clarke for ex-England boss Steve McClaren. Clarke quickly got another management job at Everton, where he took over from the long-serving David Moyes. Aston Villa also wanted to change things, so they fired Paul Lambert and brought in Mark Hughes from Huddersfield Town.
  
• In the Championship, Queens Park Rangers parted with Sam Allardyce just two months into the campaign. Taking his place was another former Bolton Wanderers manager, and Owen Coyle eventually guided QPR all the way to the Play-Off Final, which they lost to Brian McDermott's Sunderland. Curiously, the Hoops' beaten opponents in the Semi Final were Allardyce's new employers - Hull City.
  
• Borussia Dortmund made a major gamble in November when they dismissed Jurgen Klopp - the man who had taken them from the brink of disaster to successive Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012. It would prove to be a masterstroke by the BVB board, as Slaven Bilic led them to a third championship in four years.
  
• Another risk that paid off was made by Juventus, who surprisingly replaced Antonio Conte mid-season with newly-promoted Novara's manager Attilio Tesser. At the end of the Serie A campaign, Tesser's Juve regained the scudetto from AC Milan by a slender goal difference of +2.
  

Other Major Stories

• Josep Guardiola's first season in the Bayern Munich hotseat ended with a fairytale win over his old charges Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League Final. Thomas Muller scored twice in the first half before Mario Gómez struck just before half-time to seal a 3-0 win, and Bayern's first European title since 2001. However, Guardiola's men couldn't retain their Bundesliga title, as they only finished in 3rd place.
  
• Championship side Peterborough United stunned English football by going all the way to the FA Cup Final. Darren Ferguson engineered a remarkable 3-1 win over his father Sir Alex's Manchester United team in the Semi Final, but the Posh were overwhelmed by Manchester City 3-0 in the Final. Ferguson then left London Road to take over from Scottish compatriot Billy Davies at Nottingham Forest. Who would replace him at Peterborough? None other than Billy Davies!
  
• England failed to qualify for a FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1994 after losing a play-off on away goals against France. Incredibly, despite being viciously lambasted and caricatured as a frog in tabloid newspapers, manager Roy Hodgson kept his job until the summer, when he announced his retirement following a colourful 38-year coaching career.
  
• Catalan football supporters had a very mixed season. Barcelona retained the La Liga trophy, but city rivals Espanyol were sensationally relegated - just 12 months after they qualified for the Champions League group stages!
  
• In Serie A, Fiorentina inexplicably failed to win a match until December, and from that point on, they faced a tough battle to avoid relegation. In the end, not even the return of Sinisa Mihajlovic as manager could save them from dropping into Serie B.
  
• The one-horse race that is the Scottish Premier League continued with Celtic winning their third successive championship by a record margin of 26 points. Indeed, they lost just four times all season, and three of those defeats came right at the end, so the gap could've been even bigger!
  

Cup Winners

FA Cup: Manchester City 3-0 Peterborough United.

League Cup: Newcastle United 1-0 West Bromwich Albion.

Community Shield: Manchester United 1-1 Manchester City (6-5 penalties).

Football League Trophy: Portsmouth 2-0 Scunthorpe United.

UEFA Champions League: Bayern Munich 3-0 Barcelona - at Estadio da Luz, Lisbon.

UEFA Europa League: Ajax 4-2 Athletic Bilbao - at Juventus Stadium, Turin.

UEFA Super Cup: Lyon 2-0 Manchester City - at Synot Tip Arena, Prague.

FIFA Club World Championship: Manchester City 3-0 Boca Juniors - at Stade du Prince Moulay Abdallah, Rabat.

Major European Leagues

Dutch Eredivisie: PSV (1st), FC Twente (2nd), AZ Alkmaar (3rd).

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

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

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

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

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

Scottish Premier League: Celtic (1st), Motherwell (2nd), Inverness Caledonian Thistle (3rd).

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

Award Winners

PFA Player of the Year: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City).

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

FWA Footballer of the Year: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

Premier League Manager of the Season: Roberto Mancini (Manchester City).

PFA Premier League Team of the Year: David De Gea (Manchester United), Ángel Rangel (Swansea City), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Jonas Olsson (West Bromwich Albion), Leighton Baines (Manchester City), Oscar (Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Luis Suárez (Liverpool), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal).

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

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

European Golden Shoe: Fernando Llorente (Juventus).

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

FIFA/FIFPro World XI: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Leighton Baines (Manchester City), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Juan Mata (Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City).

[CFuller]

Qualification

Argentina showed just why they were among the favourites to win the 2014 World Cup when they finished top of the South American qualifying group, with Lionel Messi scoring nine times. Mexico also impressed, while Australia and Japan both qualified unbeaten, but it was Italy who shone the most - winning all ten of their matches. Likewise, defending champions Spain got through the European qualifiers without losing, as did Germany, Portugal and Ukraine.

However, it wasn't all plain sailing for the big guns. United States only got through after winning an intercontinental qualifier against New Zealand, while two European giants missed out altogether. 2010 runners-up Holland amazingly finished behind both Turkey and Romania in their group, and England failed to qualify after losing a titanic play-off against France on the away goals rule.

Edin Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic each scored 11 times as Bosnia & Herzegovina made it through to their first ever major tournament. The only other World Cup debutants to take their place in the finals were Mali, who overcame Zambia in the African play-offs.

QUALIFIERS: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil (hosts), Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Korea, Spain (holders), Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay.

Group Stage

The World Cup kicked off with Germany defeating Mali 2-0, and they made it through Group A along with Belgium, who won a decisive match against the African rookies 3-2. Mexico's Javier Hernández carried his impressive scoring form from the qualifiers into Group B, where he bagged a hat-trick against Saudi Arabia as his side finished top.

There were a couple of surprises in Group C. France were pipped to top spot by Chile, although they still made it through to Round 2, unlike Portugal, who drew two games and lost the other. Copa América holders Uruguay blitzed through Group D with three victories, and Luis Suárez scored four times in their opener against Costa Rica.

Spain trailed Turkey 2-1 at half-time in their Group E opener, but the champions eventually won 4-2 before continuing the defence of their title. They set up a Round 2 humdinger against Group F runners-up Argentina, who finished just behind Russia on goal difference despite Messi scoring six times.

Group G favourites Italy suffered a shock defeat to African champions Senegal in their first game, and after conceding a late equaliser against Croatia, they looked set for elimination. However, a 4-1 win over the United States, coupled with Senegal's dramatic loss to the group-winning Croats, just about saw the Azzurri through at the Lions' expense. In comparison, Group H was relatively drama-free, as hosts Brazil coasted through without dropping any points or conceding any goals.

GROUP A: Germany* (1st, 7 pts), Belgium* (2nd, 6 pts), Mali (3rd, 3 pts), Japan (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP B: Mexico* (1st, 7 pts), Paraguay* (2nd, 5 pts), Switzerland (3rd, 4 pts), Saudi Arabia (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP C: Chile* (1st, 7 pts), France* (2nd, 4 pts), Cameroon (3rd, 3 pts), Portugal (4th, 2 pts).

GROUP D: Uruguay* (1st, 9 pts), Ukraine* (2nd, 4 pts), Bosnia & Herzegovina (3rd, 3 pts), Costa Rica (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP E: Spain* (1st, 7 pts), Colombia* (2nd, 5 pts), Turkey (3rd, 4 pts), South Korea (4th, 0 pts).

GROUP F: Russia* (1st, 7 pts), Argentina* (2nd, 7 pts), Australia (3rd, 1 pt), Ivory Coast (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP G: Croatia* (1st, 7 pts), Italy* (2nd, 4 pts), Senegal (3rd, 4 pts), United States (4th, 1 pt).

GROUP H: Brazil* (1st, 9 pts), Nigeria* (2nd, 4 pts), Republic of Ireland (3rd, 3 pts), Jamaica (4th, 1 pt).

* through to Round 2

Round 2

Germany were the first side to advance to the Quarter Finals after they outclassed Paraguay 2-1. Notably, Mesut Ozil scored one penalty and missed another within the first 12 minutes! Mexico then won a last 16 clash for the first time since 1986 after two-goal hero Andrés Guardado inspired them to a 4-2 win over Belgium, who were leading 2-1 at half-time.

Uruguay faced an uphill struggle when Suárez was sent off early on in their meeting with France. Despite being a man short, they held on until extra-time, when Olivier Giroud scored to put Les Bleus through. Another South American side then fell by the wayside, with Chile falling victim to a lone goal from Ukraine midfielder Igor Khudobyak.

Fabio Capello's Russia continued to progress through the tournament following a 2-0 victory over Colombia. That was followed by the story of the World Cup so far. Argentina survived a 90th-minute red card for Nicolas Otamendi to take world champions Spain to a penalty shoot-out... but then Lionel Messi, the best player in the world, had the decisive spot-kick saved by Iker Casillas. The Albiceleste were eliminated, and the holders were still alive!

A shocking few days for South America culminated in Brazil self-destructing on home soil. Neymar and Marcelo were both sent off for the Selecao, who conceded a last-minute Sebastian Giovinco free-kick as Italy silenced the hosts. Hours later, Ivan Rakitic and Croatia ended African hopes by eliminating Nigeria from the competition.

RESULTS: Germany 2-1 Paraguay, Mexico 4-2 Belgium, France 1-0 Uruguay (aet), Ukraine 1-0 Chile, Russia 2-0 Colombia, Spain 1-1 Argentina (5-3 penalties), Italy 2-1 Brazil, Croatia 1-0 Nigeria.

Quarter Finals

The first Quarter Final saw the last non-European team left - Mexico - knocked out 1-0 by Ukraine. Artem Milevskyi bagged the only goal after 22 minutes, and to cap the Mexicans' misery, their substitute Luis Ernesto Pérez was sent off on the hour mark. Germany then fell short at a major tournament once again after losing by the same scoreline to France, whose goal came from Karim Benzema in the 19th minute. Didier Deschamps remained on course to match Franz Beckenbauer's record of winning the World Cup as both a captain and a manager.

Russia's dream tournament carried on with a 2-0 win over Croatia, which put them into their first World Cup Semi Final since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Artem Dzyuba scored in each half, and Croatia had Ognjen Vukojevic sent off just before the break. Spain completed the final four after coming through yet another close battle with Italy. David Villa's opener for La Furia Roja was cancelled out by Giovinco, but just five minutes into extra-time, David Silva hit the deciding goal that continued Spain's bid to retain the World Cup.

RESULTS: Ukraine 1-0 Mexico, France 1-0 Germany, Russia 2-0 Croatia, Spain 2-1 Italy (aet).

Semi Finals

France took on Russia in the first Semi Final in Sao Paulo. The Russians struggled under the pressure, missing a number of good chances. In the 55th minute, they went behind to a surprise goal from Patrice Evra - his first ever for France in his 66th cap! Evra's goal was ultimately decisive, and Les Bleus reached the Final for the third time in their last five attempts.

Spain's meeting with Ukraine at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana wasn't the most exciting game ever played at a World Cup - but it did produce a massive shock. Eugene Seleznyov put Ukraine 1-0 up in the 39th minute, and although Santi Cazorla equalised for Spain in the 63rd, the holders' grip on the trophy loosened again when Sergio Ramos was dismissed. Then, in injury time, Yaroslav Rakitskyi sealed a famous victory for Mykhaylo Fomenko's men, who had made it all the way to the Final in just their second ever World Cup!

RESULTS: France 1-0 Russia, Ukraine 2-1 Spain.

3rd Place Play-Off

After failing in their attempt to win back-to-back championships, Spain were determined to claw back some pride against Russia in Sao Paulo. Raúl Albiol put them ahead after 34 minutes with just his second international goal. His centre-back partner Gerard Piqué doubled La Furia Roja's lead in the 59th minute, and four minutes later, the much more prolific David Villa put the seal on third place for Spain.

RESULT: Spain 3-0 Russia.

Final

France vs Ukraine was not a Final that many people predicted, but nevertheless, those two unlikely contenders faced off in Rio de Janeiro. Ukraine boss Fomenko made a big call before the game, dropping ever-present goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov in favour of new Barcelona signing Maxym Koval. Another major decision was made after 12 minutes by Italian referee Andrea De Marco, who sent off France's Jérémy Toulalan for putting an elbow in Milevskyi's face. Les Bleus would pay the price for that early red card in the 34th minute, when Milevskyi headed home from Andriy Yarmolenko's cross.

The former Soviet republic took a slender 1-0 lead into half-time, and they would continue to hold firm in the second half. Eric Abidal came within inches of drawing France level after 70 minutes, but Les Bleus couldn't find a way through a stubborn Ukrainian defence marshaled brilliantly by Eugene Khacheridi. After four tense minutes of injury time, the final whistle blew, and the most incredible World Cup fairytale was complete! Just a few months after a deadly revolution in Kiev, Ukraine had won football's biggest prize!

After Ruslan Rotan lifted the trophy in honour of 46 million proud Ukrainians, coach Fomenko quietly announced his retirement. Although little-known outside his home country before this summer, the 65-year-old's legacy as the first manager to lead an Eastern European team to World Cup glory was assured.

RESULT: Ukraine 1-0 France.

Award Winners

Golden Ball: Lionel Messi (Argentina).

Golden Boot: Lionel Messi (Argentina, 6 goals).

Yashin Award: Iker Casillas (Spain).

Best Young Player: Samuel Umtiti (France).

Goal of the Tournament: Edgar Benítez (Paraguay, vs Saudi Arabia - Group Stage).

Dream Team: Iker Casillas (Spain), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Gerard Piqué (Spain), Holger Badstuber (Germany), Carlos Salcido (Mexico), Ivan Perisic (Croatia), Igor Khudobyak (Ukraine), Thiago (Spain), Andrés Guardado (Mexico), Javier Hernández (Mexico), Lionel Messi (Argentina).

[CFuller]

The last day of June was the first day of a new season for Romford FC. The Boro players returned from their summer holidays with fresh energy, and a hunger to build on an impressive first campaign in the Isthmian League Premier Division. Having finished 8th last time out, we felt confident that we could follow that up with a serious challenge for the top five.

The lads' excitement about the new term was increased a couple of days into pre-season training. They had a new man to play alongside - Danny Newman, to be precise. The 19-year-old former Millwall trainee is quick, agile, and he times his tackles well, so he could just be the right-back we have been crying out for.

At the same time, we said farewell to striker Aidan Quinn, who made the short move to East Thurrock United. Aidan had difficulty trying to establish himself in the first-team last season, so I understood his decision to drop down a division to get regular football. I wished him the best of luck - but not too much, because we play East Thurrock in a pre-season friendly next month!

I then finally got round to hiring a new scout, as 32-year-old former Welling United forward Dean Standen became our latest talent-spotter. Dean has promised not to waste the club's money on fruitless scouting trips to Glasgow like his predecessor did!

The Meshach Nugent fiasco gave me a bit of a scare last month, and I hoped that July would be far less stressful on the financial front. But at the start of our second week of pre-season training, chairman Steve Gardener delivered another bombshell - he was retiring.

I was gobsmacked when I heard the news. It was Mr Gardener who appointed me as Romford manager in the first place, so to hear that he was leaving was a shock to the system.

Mr Gardener explained to me that he was stepping down as he felt that he was no longer the right man to lead Romford FC forward. He'd decided to look for a new investor - someone who had what was required to take us to the next level. That made me ask myself a couple of important questions.

Who would the new chairman be, and just how wealthy would he - or she - be? I wasn't expecting Mr Gardener to sell up to Bill Gates or an Arab prince with more dollars than there are stars in the galaxy, but at the same time, nor did I want him to. New investment is all well and good, but if it resulted in us selling our soul to buy promotions and silverware, then I wouldn't feel too easy about it.

Also, what plans would this new chairman have for Romford? Would a new stadium be on the cards? More worryingly, would I still be in a job by the time they took over? Would they sack me, and replace me with someone who does not know what the club stands for? And what about our most loyal servants like Joe Oates and Nicky Reynolds - would they be victims of the new owner's plans?

There were so many questions... and none of them would be answered before we visited Whyteleafe in Surrey for our first pre-season friendly. Our hosts had been in the news recently, because they happened to be the first club that newly-appointed England manager Alan Pardew ever played for.

15 July 2014: Whyteleafe vs Romford

Whyteleafe had several chances in the first half. Their first was a vicious 4th-minute effort from Luke Sutton, which went just over the bar. They then missed a number of shots by bigger margins before James Hartson threatened to put us ahead on 31 minutes, but his weak header was comfortable enough for Alex Tokarczyk to deal with. The Leafe eventually scored a breakthrough goal after 39 minutes, when Harry Martin drilled the ball into Joel Wilkinson's bottom-left corner. Three minutes later, Whyteleafe were 2-0 up, as Derek Dean thumped in an unstoppable free-kick from the edge of the area. In the dying seconds of the half, Jay Vassell cracked a Romford free-kick against the bar. The half-time whistle blew soon after. We were trailing 2-0 against a team who finished 15th in the Isthmian South last season, and it was clear that the Boro players weren't completely motivated for this game.

I made no fewer than five substitutions at half-time, and one of them made a quick impact just six minutes into the second half. A byline cross from Hartson deflected off Whyteleafe defender Shane Fraser and fell nicely for Ashley Farrell, who hit a clinical finish to give us a lifeline. Just a few minutes later, Hartson's match came to a premature end following a rough tackle from Fraser. We would be sweating again in the 65th minute, when new Boro keeper Kieron Thorp spared us from potential embarrassment. Sutton's shot deflected off Mark Betteridge's heel and looked goalbound, but Thorp read the situation well and caught the ball in the nick of time. We got lucky again just three minutes from full-time. A headed clearance from Whyteleafe defender Gary Ramage hit the back of Farrell's head and deflected into the path of Jason Harley, who squirmed home an equalising goal! It looked like we were going to get away with a draw... but Whyteleafe had something else in mind. In the fourth and final minute of injury time, Nick Sullivan latched onto a fantastic cross from Sam Rigby. From just outside the Romford penalty area, Sullivan fired in the winning goal for the hosts, rendering our fightback meaningless. The similarities with our final match of last season - the Essex Senior Cup Final - were all too stark.

Whyteleafe - 3 (Martin 39, Dean 42, Sullivan 90)

Romford - 2 (Farrell 51, Harley 87)

Friendly, Attendance 33

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson (Thorp), Newman (Chapman), Betteridge (Allen), Hatch (Dymond), Walters (Guthmy), Plummer (Harley), Vassell (Farrell), Jones (Crawley), Hunt (Oates), Benjamin (Carroll), Hartson (Reynolds). BOOKED: Vassell, Farrell.

This defeat felt as if somebody had thrown a cup of cold water into our faces. We had to wake up and get our act together quickly, because if we repeated that performance in our next friendly, we would be smashed to pieces.

Conference South side Welling United were the first team to visit Ship Lane in pre-season. Against a team as strong as Welling's, we needed as much help as we could get, so I was grateful that former Thurrock and Metropolitan Police right-winger Danny Hart agreed to join us on an initial trial.

19 July 2014: Romford vs Welling United

There were plenty of positives to take from an evenly-fought first half in which we showed more desire than we did against Whyteleafe. Kieron Carroll pulled a shot wide in the 16th minute, and Callum Crawley did the same four minutes later, but at least we were creating chances. Welling's main creative threat was their left-winger and captain Joe Healy, so when he hurt himself in a challenge on Ashley Farrell after 36 minutes, I was feeling more positive. But Healy bravely carried on, and in the 41st minute, he hit a fine shot towards goal. It was met by an even better save from Kieron Thorp, who also denied Kiernan Hughes-Mason in injury-time to make sure that we were still in contention going into the second half.

After 57 minutes, Anthony Chapman finished Healy off with a firm sliding tackle, and we looked like the more dangerous team. But then, just a minute later, Chapman literally threw the game away. While some saw Anthony's throw-in to Welling defender Barney Williams as good sportsmanship, I saw it as carelessness at a time when we didn't need to be charitable. The next time a Romford player touched the ball was about 15 seconds later, when Thorp picked Ashley Carew's 18-yard screamer out of his net. After going 1-0 behind, we were frustrated in our attempts to equalise. Connor Dymond had his header saved by Wings keeper Darty Brogden in the 61st minute, and Crawley hit a free-kick against the crossbar three minutes afterwards. I thought we were finally going to get an equaliser in injury time, when George Walters aimed a long ball towards target man Chris Benjamin, but it instead flew straight into Brogden's hands. Welling quickly went on the counter-attack, and Solomon Shields sent a sublime through-ball to Ross Lafayette, who thundered it home to wrap up victory for the visitors. Dammit!

Romford - 0

Welling United - 2 (Carew 58, Lafayette 90)

Friendly, Attendance 54

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp (Wilkinson), Chapman (Newman), Allen (Betteridge), Dymond (Hatch), Guthmy (Walters), Farrell (Neville), Harley (Hart), Crawley (Vassell), Oates (Hunt), Carroll (Benjamin), Reynolds (Stroud).

Back-to-back defeats were not what I had in mind for the start of pre-season, but in all honesty, we deserved to lose both of those games. In each match, we allowed our opponents to have too many chances, and this was something we plainly had to address before the competitive fixtures kicked off.

However, I will also admit that the uncertainty over the chairmanship distracted all of us, both on the pitch and on the touchline. I really wanted the situation to be resolved soon.

[CFuller]

During the weekend, I looked up the promotion odds for the Isthmian League Premier Division. St Albans City were surprisingly the favourites at 5-2, while Grays Athletic, Dulwich Hamlet and Sutton United were all at 3-1. We were given much higher odds at 25-1, placing us firmly in mid-table. Considering how our pre-season had gone thus far, the bookies had probably got it right.

Our next friendly was another away trip - this time to AFC Sudbury, whom we famously beat in the 2013 Isthmian North Play-Off Final. The Suds are still in that division, and they are now managed by former Watford goalkeeper and Dragons' Den 'contestant' Richard Lee.

Teenage striker Daniel Akindayini joined us on trial in time to make his Romford debut against Sudbury. The 18-year-old Londoner of Nigerian descent was recently released by Tottenham Hotspur's academy, so he certainly does have some potential. Whether he had enough ability to warrant a permanent stay was another matter.

23 July 2014: AFC Sudbury vs Romford

The pre-season from hell continued after just seven minutes. Brian Neville lunged in on AFC Sudbury midfielder Jon Docker and came off second-best, thus bringing his match to a very early end. Then it got worse, as home winger Marlon Agyakwa was given too much space, allowing him to have a couple of shots from distance. Neither of those efforts found the target, but in the 26th minute, Agyakwa picked up Sam Newson's cross and finished it from just outside the six-yard box. 1-0 to the Suds. Our horrible luck carried on six minutes later, when Sean Hunt incredibly became the third Romford midfielder in as many games to hit the crossbar! Bad luck or otherwise, there was no excuse for a first half in which we allowed a lower-division team to walk all over us.

My anger with the players spilled over into my half-time team talk, which was more like a team yell. The lads knew that anything but a stronger performance in the second half would not be tolerated. Initially, there were few signs of improvement. Agyakwa had another crack from distance in the 50th minute, and narrowly missed out on a second Sudbury goal. We were slow to settle into the game and get going, but when we did, we finally gave the fans something to cheer about. After 72 minutes, Jason Harley supplied a fine pass to new boy Daniel Akindayini, who found the corner of the net and levelled the scores! The teenage trialist had made an instant impact, and in the third minute of injury time, he had the chance to seal an unlikely victory. Youth striker Gerald Stroud weighted a lovely cross to Akindayini, but Danny agonisingly headed it against our new foe - the crossbar. I was despairing a bit, but at least we hadn't lost this time.

AFC Sudbury - 1 (Agyakwa 26)

Romford - 1 (Akindayini 72)

Friendly, Attendance 52

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp (Wilkinson), Newman (Chapman), Allen (Dymond), Betteridge (Hatch), Guthmy (Walters), Hart (Harley), Jones (Crawley), Neville (Farrell), Hunt (Oates), Carroll (Stroud), Hartson (Akindayini). BOOKED: Crawley.

Well, that was bizarre! Both teams had scored with their only shots on target, but while we only had two shots off target, AFC Sudbury had ELEVEN! We could say all we liked about how unlucky we were with the woodwork, but we should actually have been thanking our lucky stars that we didn't lose a third game in a row!

Considering how we'd fared in our opening three friendlies, I was fearing the worst when we hosted Conference Premier side Braintree Town. I arrived at Ship Lane early to fine-tune my tactics for that match, but then Steve Gardener interrupted me - and told me to meet him in the chairman's office.

When I got there, Mr Gardener introduced me to Leo Jones - the new chairman of Romford Football Club. He had just bought the club for around £10,000 - not exactly a fortune, though still £9,999 more than what Ken Bates paid for Chelsea all those years ago. Mr Gardener said his goodbyes, and then left us alone to discuss the future.

Mr Jones was quick to reassure me that my job as manager was most definitely safe. Although he could not promise any immediate investment, nor a new stadium, he said that he would do all he could to keep the club progressing.

At first glance, Mr Jones seemed to come across as a nice bloke who cared a lot about his local football team. The 57-year-old had made a decent living from building up a number of small businesses in the town, and now he was keen to put something back into the local community. If that something was to eventually bring Romford FC back into Romford on a permanent basis, then I for one would be delighted.

Hours later, this new era for the Boro got underway, as former England international Alan Devonshire and his Braintree team came to town.

26 July 2014: Romford vs Braintree Town

If there was one man who was likely to bring a smile to the new chairman's face, then it was Nicky Reynolds. Nicky agonisingly hit the post in just the second minute - although to be fair, he was offside. Reynolds then went one better in the 8th minute. After picking up a Joe Oates pass, he made a fantastic run towards goal, dribbling past defender Kenzer Lee before firing in the opening goal! We were 1-0 up, and we were keeping control of the ball very well, which was obviously great to see considering recent results. Oates put Reynolds through again on 14 minutes, but Braintree keeper Nathan McDonald just about got his fingers to Nicky's shot. Six minutes later, the Iron gave us a major scare. Kaine Sheppard headed Moses Swaibu's delivery towards the goal, and Boro goalie Joel Wilkinson had to catch the ball just in time. Wilko saved our skins again when he pushed away a vicious strike from Liam Dickinson in the 34th minute. On the whole, the first half had gone well from our point of view. We were in the lead and defending resolutely, while Braintree's best defender - Welsh left-back Tom Bender - had to come off just before the break with a hamstring injury.

Just two minutes after the second half kicked off, our slender lead was no more. First-time passes from Khari Oriogun and former Stockport County striker Dickinson set up Sheppard, who capped the move with a lovely finish into the top corner. That equaliser revitalised the Iron for a while, and Wilkinson had to make a brilliant save to stop Dickinson from putting Braintree ahead after 52 minutes. Five minutes later, though, we were awarded a penalty! Daniel Sparkes showed he was not a bright spark by hauling Wayne Hatch down in the Braintree area - and right in the referee's line of vision. As always in these situations, Reynolds took the penalty, and he fired it home to restore our advantage! Once again, Nicky was delighting the Romford fans, and after 66 minutes, he was applauded off as James Hartson took to the field. Hartson himself had to be replaced five minutes later, when he was badly hurt in a tackle from Swaibu. Despite that, we weren't knocked off our stride, and we continued to hold firm at the back. With full-time approaching, I was counting down the minutes to a memorable win over Conference Premier opposition. Then, with four minutes to go, we were thrown a curve-ball - or rather, Anthony Chapman threw the ball away to the opposition yet again. Moments later, Dickinson thundered in the Iron's second equaliser, undoing our hard work. We were still reeling from that goal when Braintree smashed and grabbed victory in the second minute of injury time. Dickinson had already sent our heartbeats up several notches when he struck the crossbar, but after full-back Ryan Peters lobbed the rebound into the far corner of the net to make it 3-2, it felt like we had suffered collective cardiac arrests! To lose a game in such circumstances, even when there was little at stake, was nothing sort of heartbreaking.

Romford - 2 (Reynolds 8,pen58)

Braintree Town - 3 (Sheppard 47, Dickinson 86, Peters 90)

Friendly, Attendance 69

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson (Thorp), Newman (Chapman), Dymond (Allen), Hatch (Betteridge), Guthmy (Walters), Harley (Hart), Vassell (Jones), Neville (Fisk), Oates (Hunt), Akindayini (Stroud), Reynolds (Hartson (Carroll)). BOOKED: Akindayini.

Jesus wept! Poor old Leo Jones must be wondering what the heck he's let himself in for!

July had been nothing short of a disaster on the pitch, and it ended with one of our strikers leaving for pastures new. Chris Benjamin packed his bags and joined Cheshunt on a free transfer after two years at Ship Lane. Chris's first season had gone rather well with 12 goals for Romford, but he only scored once last term, so it's no real surprise that he's decided to return to the Isthmian North.

Shortly after Benjamin's departure, we had some more positive news, as our talented young trialist Daniel Akindayini agreed to stay with us permanently.

In normal circumstances, I would've been delighted to have secured the services of a former Premier League trainee. But of course, there was nothing to smile about.

[CFuller]

As August arrived, I was asking myself one question - could pre-season get any worse than it did in July? Oh yes it could. The next team to challenge us at Ship Lane were none other than Canvey Island, who outclassed us twice last season as they secured promotion to the Conference South.

If there was anything to be hopeful about as we prepared to face the mighty Gulls, it was that their star striker Lewis Perkins was no longer around, having left on a free transfer last month.

2 August 2014: Romford vs Canvey Island

With or without Lewis Perkins, Canvey Island would always be a difficult team to keep quiet. French defender Nicholas Bondon tested us with a free-kick after just eight minutes, curling it inches wide. Canvey then missed a couple more half-chances before Bondon played his part in their opening goal on 29 minutes. He hit a pass down the left flank for Harrison Chatting, who then crossed the ball into the box. Bradley Woods-Garness got to the delivery before George Walters, and the one-time Montserrat international slid the ball underneath the diving Kieron Thorp to draw first blood. Six minutes later, Connor Dymond came within inches of an equaliser, but his header struck the woodwork before being cleared away by Chatting. The goal frame just isn't our friend at the moment, is it?

Canvey Island increased their lead to 2-0 just two minutes into the second half. This time, it was Jon-Jo Bates who got on the scoresheet with a powerful finish into the roof of the net. We knew that Canvey were not going to let a two-goal advantage slip away, so we relaxed a bit, and strangely enough, we actually improved as a result! Joe Oates drew a save out of goalkeeper Sam Cowler in the 52nd minute, and on the hour mark, he volleyed another effort wide. We finally got lucky after 65 minutes, when Daniel Akindayini's cross was headed into the net by Gulls defender Rickie Hayles. That gave us a glimmer of hope, though in truth, a comeback was never really on the cards. Indeed, Canvey Island restored their two-goal cushion in the last few seconds of injury time. Hayles made up for his own goal with an excellent long throw to Tyrone Berry, who bundled the ball home from close range to make the final score 3-1 in Canvey's favour. We had now lost four pre-season friendlies, and conceded an injury-time goal in every one of them.

Romford - 1 (Hayles og65)

Canvey Island - 3 (Woods-Garness 29, Bates 47, Berry 90)

Friendly, Attendance 52

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp (Wilkinson), Chapman (Newman), Dymond (Hatch), Betteridge (Allen), Walters (Guthmy), Hart (Harley), Crawley (Jones), Farrell (Neville), Oates (Hunt), Carroll (Akindayini), Reynolds (Hartson).

After our fifth attempt to win a pre-season game went the same way as the previous four, I decided to cut short the incompetent Danny Hart's trial period and replace him with another right-winger. 18-year-old former Southend United player Michael Ademiluyi joined us for our last three friendlies with a view to a permanent contract if he performed well enough.

Desperate times called for desperate measures. So, for the next fixture, I switched formation to a modified version of the 4-5-1 that I occasionally used last term, but with two inside-forwards in place of the two wingers.

Our next fixture was just ten miles away from Ship Lane - at East Thurrock United. Yes, that's the same East Thurrock who have just signed Aidan Quinn from us. The Rocks finished a lowly 19th in the Isthmian South last season, so if we lost against that lot, then God would really have to help us.

6 August 2014: East Thurrock United vs Romford

The change of formation gave us a bit more defensive stability, and East Thurrock found it tough to break through our backline. Winger Charlie Conroy nearly got a fortunate goal for the Rocks in the 17th minute, when he hit a swerving shot from the touchline, but Joel Wilkinson tipped it over. That was the only save either goalkeeper would need to make in a mundane first period. While our defenders excelled, our attackers toiled, and home keeper Sam Beasant - the son of Wimbledon legend Dave - hardly had to do anything against them.

Having failed to create a single decent opportunity in the first 45 minutes, we improved markedly in the attacking department during the second half. We weaved passes through the East Thurrock defence in the 58th minute before Callum Crawley saw his shot turned away by Beasant. Ten minutes later, we had our second meaningful opportunity. Daniel Akindayini stole the ball off the dithering Chris Saunders, and then placed it underneath Beasant's dive to give us the slimmest of leads. Moments after East Thurrock restarted, our old friend Aidan Quinn hit a shot from just outside the penalty area... and came within inches of putting his new side back on terms. That was one of four shots Aidan would have, and all of them missed the target as we held on for our first win of this pre-season campaign. I was obviously pleased with the result, but the 4-5-1 tactic still needed a bit of tweaking.

East Thurrock United - 0

Romford - 1 (Akindayini 68)

Friendly, Attendance 16

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman (Sparrow), Dymond (Hatch), Allen (Betteridge), Walters (Guthmy), Farrell (Carroll), Vassell (Neville), Jones (Crawley), Harley (Ademiluyi), Hunt (Oates), Reynolds (Akindayini). BOOKED: Walters, Newman.

Having seen off Aidan Quinn's new team, we were reunited with another departee in our next game. Chris Benjamin and his new Cheshunt team-mates hosted us at the Cheshunt Stadium. The Ambers have struggled near the foot of Isthmian League Division 1 North for several seasons.

9 August 2014: Cheshunt vs Romford

I expected a win from this fixture, and after just two minutes, that was looking likely. We had Cheshunt goalkeeper Michael Pritchard to thank for our opening goal. Pritchard misjudged Anthony Chapman's cross, coming to the ball just as his defender Connor Lancaster headed it out of the area. Lancaster's header went straight to Ryan Jones, and the Aussie played in Joe Oates, who put his shot well beyond Pritchard's reach! That first goal had come very quickly... and so did Cheshunt's equaliser. Romford centre-half Mark Betteridge mistimed a jump in the 5th minute, and as a result, ex-Gillingham midfielder David Perpetuini's cross was finished by Ashan Holgate. Mark's mistake was just a case of poor judgment, but on 12 minutes, his fellow defender Kamal Guthmy gifted the Ambers a second goal through sheer carelessness. Guthmy tried to chest Marcel Nugent's long ball back to Kieron Thorp in the Boro goal, but he instead presented Nick Bensaid with an easy chance, which the striker duly converted! We'd gone from 1-0 up to 2-1 down, and I felt like tearing my hair out! In the 25th minute, the dreadlocked Holgate crossed to his opposite winger Matt Scott, who then thundered a shot into the net - well, the side of it, anyway. A third Cheshunt goal might have turned me into a trichotillomaniac, but instead of pulling hairs, we pulled our act together, and levelled the scores again after 34 minutes. Jones hit the post from close range, and then followed it up with a cool rebound strike into the far corner! Our new Antipodean midfielder had created one goal and scored another to restore our belief ahead of the second half. Unfortunately, Ryan would play no part in it, as he broke his wrist in injury-time, meaning that he would miss not only the second half but also the next four weeks.

James Hartson's recent bad form in front of goal continued five minutes after the restart, when he clipped the far post with an effort from just inside the box. On 65 minutes, Oates intercepted a pass from Cheshunt's substitute keeper Michael Wright and dribbled towards goal, but he placed his shot just inches wide. Joe was then replaced by teenager Sydney Samaria, who took little time to create an opportunity for Hartson, only for the Welshman to waste it. In the 72nd minute, the pair swapped places, with Hartson lobbing a 30-yard pass up to Samaria. The Namibian controlled it brilliantly before tucking in his first ever goal for the Romford first-team! Sydney had put us back in the lead at 3-2! Seven minutes later, he proved it was no fluke by latching onto Sean Hunt's through-ball and slotting it past Wright to wrap up a 4-2 win! Had we found a new Romford star in the making?

Cheshunt - 2 (Holgate 5, Bensaid 12)

Romford - 4 (Oates 2, Jones 34, Samaria 72,79)

Friendly, Attendance 50

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman (Newman), Hatch (Dymond), Betteridge (Allen), Guthmy (Walters), Crawley (Hunt), Neville (Farrell), Jones (Vassell), Ademiluyi (Akindayini), Oates (Samaria), Hartson (Reynolds).

Following those back-to-back wins, all was well at Ship Lane once again. But of course, this was no ordinary start to a season, and something else had to go wrong. Sure enough, a couple of days later, something else DID go wrong!

[CFuller]

Imagine the look on my face when I received a call from the Essex County FA, informing me that - in spite of the fact that we were the runners-up in last season's Essex Senior Cup - we would have to enter this year's competition at the very start. Round 1. At Redbridge. On 26 August.

The County FA secretary tried to reassure me that this was purely the luck of the draw - 41 teams had entered, and we just happened to be one of those two teams who had to come in before the other 39. As far as I was concerned, this wasn't on. I took it as an insult that we, as one of the better teams, had to play what was essentially a preliminary round tie, and then another match before we could even reach the last 32 stage at which we entered the last couple of tournaments!

To make matters worse, the tie had been scheduled to take place 24 hours after we were due to kick off our Isthmian Premier season at Cray Wanderers! Of course, that game would now have to be moved back to September, meaning that our league campaign would now start with a home match versus Enfield Town on 30 August.

I attempted to persuade the Essex County FA to move the tie forward to an earlier date, but I might as well have repeatedly banged my head against a wall. There was nothing I could do.

I was just coming to terms with our start-of-season preparations being messed up when the time came for our last pre-season friendly (thank heavens!). It was at home to goalkeeper Kieron Thorp's old club Sittingbourne, who currently play in the Isthmian South.

13 August 2014: Romford vs Sittingbourne

Sittingbourne had a chance after only ten minutes, when young striker Tom Chapman flighted his free-kick just over the crossbar. Six minutes later, we had an opportunity from a set-piece of our own. Connor Dymond's corner was poorly cleared by the Brickies, and Daniel Akindayini reacted quickly to fire it into the net! It was 1-0 to Romford, and one would have expected us to take full control of the game. The reality was rather different, with Sittingbourne creating several chances to equalise. Kayan Kalipha went very close after 29 minutes, but his half-volley was hit with too much power to trouble the goal. Kieron Thorp made his first save of the evening in the 36th minute, keeping out a close-range effort from Chapman. Moments later, Jay Vassell got in a tussle with former Boro trialist Max Howell and had to come off with yet another serious injury. Fortunately, Jay's latest injury woe didn't have too adverse an effect on our performance. In fact, three minutes from half-time, another central midfielder doubled our lead, with Brian Neville finding the net after being fed a lovely pass by skipper Kieron Carroll.

Sittingbourne didn't look quite so dangerous in the second half. Hassan Janneh cleared the crossbar with an effort inside the first 30 seconds, and that rather summed up the Brickies' post-interval shooting. Although Sittingbourne still created more chances than us, it would prove to be a comfortable day at the office against his old side for Romford goalkeeper Thorp. A comfortable catch from Janneh's 66th-minute header was Kieron's one and only save in the second period, and around ten minutes from time, he came off with a clean sheet. The closing stages of the match gave me an opportunity to test out a number of youngsters, but when Kamal Guthmy pulled up in the 85th minute, star man Nicky Reynolds was brought on for a brief cameo. Nicky would go on to complete a 3-0 win for the Boro in the third minute of injury time, when he tapped in a simple finish after being set up by Jason Harley's throw-in and Matt Griffiths' pass.

Romford - 3 (Akindayini 16, Neville 42, Reynolds 90)

Sittingbourne - 0

Friendly, Attendance 57

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp (Yorke), Chapman (Sparrow), Dymond (Hatch), Allen (Goodwin), Walters (Guthmy (Reynolds)), Ademiluyi (Harley), Vassell (Crawley), Neville (Farrell), Oates (Samaria), Carroll (Griffiths), Akindayini (Hartson).

That ended an eventful pre-season which started terribly but culminated in three successive victories. We were coming good at just the right time, with the serious stuff just a couple of weeks away.

Of course, there was one piece of bad news to come out of the Sittingbourne game. Jay Vassell strained his knee ligaments, and he would now face a further two months on the all-too-familiar physio's bench. This was especially gutting for Jay, because the 18-year-old had recently shown much greater determination in training than ever before, and I was hopeful that he would start to realise the potential we'd always known he possessed. Time is still on Jay's side, but he can't keep getting injured, that's for sure.

George Walters and Daniel Akindayini would also miss our opening match of the season against Redbridge - George with a dead leg, and Daniel with whiplash.

Meanwhile, Michael Ademiluyi's trial came to an end... but the right-winger returned to Ship Lane almost immediately after signing a part-time contract with us. Michael had shown in those last three matches that he had the potential to be a good player at this level, and I was pleased to have him on board.

My squad for the 2014/2015 campaign was now complete, and my next task was to appoint my third captain in three seasons. In the end, I promoted Kieron Carroll from vice-captain, because he had shown great leadership qualities that belied his 18 years, which was especially important because our squad is generally so very young. Romford's second-longest-serving player, Joe Oates, replaced Kieron as our vice-skipper.

My decision to give the captaincy to someone who had only just reached adulthood was clearly a risky one, but one that I had the utmost faith in.

[CFuller]

(All ages correct as of 1 August 2014)

GOALKEEPERS

Kieron Thorp (age 23, Irish)

Kieron doesn't appear to have any real weaknesses, so he'll start out as my first-choice goalkeeper.

Joel Wilkinson (age 18, English)

With a bit more confidence in the air, Joel can seriously challenge for the number 1 jersey this season.

Nick Yorke (age 16, English)

It remains to be seen whether Nick has what it takes to be a goalkeeper for the senior team.

DEFENDERS

George Allen (age 20, English)

George is our most mature central defender, and he can never be accused of not working hard.

Mark Betteridge (age 17, English)

Tall centre-back Mark is hoping to play more regularly this season after a decent first campaign here.

Anthony Chapman (age 18, English)

Anthony is an energetic and enthusiastic right-back who particularly relishes high-pressure situations.

Connor Dymond (age 19, English)

I don't recall Connor having a bad game last term - he always does his defensive duties with minimum fuss.

Lee Goodwin (age 17, English)

Lee needs to perform better for the youth team if he is to have a long-term future at Romford.

Kamal Guthmy (age 19, English)

Kamal is our most attacking full-back, and the former Barnet trainee has plenty of natural fitness.

Wayne Hatch (age 18, English)

Wayne's ability is not in question, but he sometimes hinders his team with a lack of concentration.

Craig Hornsey (age 16, English)

Youth centre-back Craig makes up for his lack of speed with good aerial ability and plenty of aggression.

Danny Newman (age 19, English)

Danny is fairly quick and an accurate tackler, so I expect him to be our regular right-back this season.

Allan Sparrow (age 16, English)

Allan is an ambitious young right-back with good leadership skills, so he could be one to watch.

George Walters (age 21, English)

George is improving year on year, and at 21, the best is still to come from the hard-working left-back.

MIDFIELDERS

Michael Ademiluyi (age 18, English)

Michael boasts plenty of flair, but he's a raw talent who still needs plenty of development.

Callum Crawley (age 24, English)

It's a big season for playmaker Callum, who started last term in scintillating form before going downhill.

Ashley Farrell (age 17, English)

Nothing will faze local lad Ashley as he prepares to start his first full season as a senior player.

Bobby Fisk (age 16, English)

Bobby has made one appearance for the first-team, though he needs to up the accuracy of his passing.

Jason Harley (age 17, English)

Jason was one of our better performers in pre-season, when he looked dangerous on the right flank.

Sean Hunt (age 23, English)

It may take a while for Birmingham boy Sean to settle here, but the left-winger could be a useful player.

Ryan Jones (age 23, Australian)

Ryan might be the consistent and creative midfield maestro we've been needing since I came here.

Brian Neville (age 17, English)

Defensive-minded midfielder Brian is on the fringes of the senior team and looked solid in pre-season.

Joe Oates (age 20, English)

Vice-captain Joe is in his fourth season at Romford, and he will once again be a regular starter.

Peter Plummer (age 17, English)

Having overcome his injury woes, Peter will be looking to challenge for a first-team place this term.

Pat Redhead (age 16, English)

Pat, who I have nicknamed 'Blondie', is a selfless right-winger who needs to build up his strength.

Jay Vassell (age 18, English)

Jay's horrendous luck with injuries has continued, and we won't see the midfielder again until October.

FORWARDS

Daniel Akindayini (age 18, English)

Daniel scored three pre-season goals, and the new signing has the composure to bag even more.

Kieron Carroll (age 18, English)

New captain Kieron is a prolific long-distance shooter who can also outjump taller defenders.

Matt Griffiths (age 16, English)

Matt may not make his competitive debut for a while, but the youth striker has plenty of potential.

James Hartson (age 19, Welsh)

James is a fairly similar player to Nicky Reynolds, but his one weakness is that he is very inconsistent.

Nicky Reynolds (age 26, English)

Nicky has scored 70 goals in the last two seasons, and the Boro hero shows no signs of stopping.

Sydney Samaria (age 17, Namibian)

Sydney is hoping to make a breakthrough after catching the eye with two goals in a recent friendly.

Gerald Stroud (age 16, English)

My coaches rate Gerald highly, so I'll either give him a few senior run-outs or send him out on loan.

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

[CFuller]

On 3 May 2014, we played our final game of last season. It was the Final of the Essex Senior Cup against Dagenham & Redbridge Reserves, who would narrowly beat us 3-2. 115 days on, our new campaign got underway in the same competition - but in the very first round of it.

While most of our Isthmian Premier arrivals were recovering from their opening-day fixtures in the league, we were at Oakside, entertaining near-neighbours Redbridge. In order to claim the county spoils that we so nearly took last term, we would have to knock out the Motormen and six other teams between now and next May.

26 August 2014: Redbridge vs Romford

Redbridge keeper Daniel O'Neill made his first save after 11 minutes, as he got a foot to Kieron Carroll's effort from the edge of the area. Six minutes later, Carroll beat the Motormen's offside trap to receive Nicky Reynolds' pass and thrash it into the net. We were now 1-0 up, and from that point, we went from strength to strength. We sliced through the Redbridge defence again in the 24th minute, and stretched our lead to 2-0! Callum Crawley made up for his failure to score in the whole of last season by lobbing a shot over O'Neill to put us in a commanding position. Redbridge had a chance to get back in the tie after 27 minutes, but Jamal Wood missed by a considerable margin. Mbiyeye Medine also hit a horrible effort for the hosts in the 39th minute. Moments later, we scored our third goal - and it was by some distance the best yet! Young midfielder Ashley Farrell started the move by winning the ball off Wood and sending it forward to Reynolds. The ball was then passed to Carroll, Farrell again, Joe Oates, Carroll once more, and Crawley, before Nicky played a perfect through-ball to Jason Harley on the right wing. Jason's tap-in made it 3-0, and our place in Round 2 was already looking very secure!

Wood went wide again for Redbridge in the 53rd minute, and the Motormen soon turned off the engine as they resigned themselves to their fate. With victory almost rubber-stamped, I brought on James Hartson to replace the brilliant Carroll after 65 minutes. In his first three minutes on the pitch, he forced a save out of O'Neill and then struck the woodwork. James would not break his goalscoring duck in this match, but we weren't quite ready to settle for a 3-0 win. Nine minutes from the end, Farrell - who set up Callum's goal - claimed his second assist of the evening by passing to an unmarked Reynolds, who got his campaign underway with a typically clinical finish! With that goal, our demolition job was complete. The Motormen had been dismantled, and their only saving grace was a brave performance from shotstopper O'Neill, who prevented Farrell from grabbing a fifth for Romford in injury time.

Redbridge - 0

Romford - 4 (Carroll 17, Crawley 24, Harley 39, Reynolds 81)

Essex Senior Cup Round 1, Attendance 80

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Dymond, Allen (Hatch), Guthmy, Harley, Crawley (Hunt), Farrell, Oates, Carroll (Hartson), Reynolds. BOOKED: Allen, Carroll.

That went rather well, didn't it? One done, six more to go...

We would face familiar opposition in Round 2, as we were drawn away to Bowers & Pitsea, who we defeated at the start of our previous Essex Senior Cup campaign. I expect us to get past the Clarets again next month, but we've got the league and the FA Cup to concentrate on before then.

At long last, our Isthmian League Premier Division season got underway on the penultimate day of August. We played host to Enfield Town, who narrowly beat Grays Athletic in their opening league game. Enfield's squad had undergone a major overhaul in the summer, and I had no idea what they would be like.

30 August 2014: Romford vs Enfield Town

My first opinion of this new Enfield team was that they were likely to give us a real test. Javen Palmer - one of their many new signings - forced an awkward save out of our debutant keeper Kieron Thorp in the third minute. Two minutes later, Thorp's fellow Romford new boy Michael Ademiluyi hit the woodwork with a scorching free-kick. Enfield goalkeeper Simon Overland tipped over Nicky Reynolds' 9th-minute half-volley, but there was little he could do about an effort from Kieron Carroll seven minutes later. Our skipper's powerful strike into the bottom corner of the net gave us the opening goal, and the confidence to take the game to Town. Nicky hit the post on 24 minutes before Overland gathered the loose ball. Ashley Farrell also hit the frame of the goal eight minutes later with a spectacular volley, and Towners defender Lewis Gonsalves cleared it behind for a corner. Sean Hunt's initial corner was also cleared behind, but his second delivery found Connor Dymond, who nodded us into a 2-0 lead after 33 minutes! Although Hunt was a left-winger by trade, he was thriving as a central midfield playmaker, and he set up another goal in the 41st minute. His through-ball found captain Carroll, who clinched his second and the Boro's third with a little help from the post! Just like four days earlier, we were holding a comfortable three-goal advantage after the first 45 minutes.

During the half-time break, I told the lads that the job was still far from done. I didn't want even a little complacency to creep into our game over the second period. In truth, I need not have worried, because Enfield Town's self-belief had been shot to bits. I had no reason at all to be concerned until defender George Allen clashed heads with Kyle Perry in the 64th minute and was unable to continue. Even in spite of that, we still managed to keep total control of the match. Four minutes later, Hunt hoisted a free-kick into the Enfield penalty area, and Carroll flicked a header to Reynolds, whose finish increased our lead further - to 4-0! There was no way back for Town, and in the last few minutes of the game, they exploded. Their impossible job was made a whole lot more difficult when Julian Robinson was sent off for a cynical professional foul on Carroll in the 79th minute. Enfield may have decided then to go easy on the tackling, but four minutes later, Max Wright took Romford left-winger Joe Oates out of the game to even the scores, at least in terms of players. The worst, however, was still to come. In the last minute of normal time, Zak Allan made a dangerous lunge on our other winger Jason Harley, leaving him with what would later turn out to be a very serious knee injury. Enfield's dirty tactics had taken some gloss off a comprehensive Romford victory, but our league campaign had still kicked off in style.

Romford - 4 (Carroll 16,41, Dymond 33, Reynolds 68)

Enfield Town - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 213 - POSITIONS: Romford 10th, Enfield Town 12th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Dymond, Allen (Betteridge), Guthmy, Ademiluyi (Harley), Hunt (Crawley), Farrell, Oates, Carroll, Reynolds. BOOKED: Dymond.

Usually, a 4-0 home win would have been a cause for celebration, but while I was obviously delighted with the result, my primary concerns were our injured trio.

George Allen, thankfully, had come away with little more than a minor gash to his head, and he was still available for our next game. Joe Oates was not quite so lucky - a bruised shin would see him miss our trip to Billericay Town and perhaps a couple more matches. But when we heard about the extent of Jason Harley's injury, the dressing room fell into a stunned silence.

I could see from the look on physio John Kelly's face that it was very, very bad news. John informed us that Jason was being put into an ambulance as he spoke. He then confirmed our worst fears. Jason had damaged the anterior cruciate ligament in his right leg... and his season was already over.

An evening in which I had planned to quietly celebrate our victory at home was instead spent at the hospital to which Jason had been admitted. The 18-year-old was totally devastated, and he was worried that he might not play to a decent standard again, if at all. I pledged to Jason that Romford would stand by him all the way through his recovery, and that we would not desert him. I was determined that we would see him in a blue and yellow jersey again next season.

For the meantime, though, I would need to find another player to replace him on the right wing.

[CFuller]

Although we had won each of our first two competitive fixtures by four goals to nil, those victories counted for almost nothing as we visited Billericay Town at the start of September. The Blues narrowly escaped a second successive relegation last term, but now the slate was clean and they were determined to make amends. We had to be on our guard.

2 September 2014: Billericay Town vs Romford

Billericay wasted no time in setting out their stall. William Miller - a former team-mate of Daniel Akindayini's in the Tottenham Hotspur youth side - tried a shot from distance in the 3rd minute, and Kieron Thorp did well to catch it. Our first attack, in the 12th minute, resulted in Kieron Carroll heading George Walters' cross into the Ricay net... but Kieron was in an offside position, and the deadlock stayed intact. A minute later, Thorp caught a Lee O'Leary free-kick, and that marked the start of a Billericay storm. Miller spurned several opportunities from outside the area before Kurt Robinson had the hosts' best chance yet, hitting the crossbar on 29 minutes. Miller should've put the Blues in front after 39 minutes, when his close-range volley was somehow stopped by Thorp. The ex-Spur would not be denied for much longer, as he at last opened the scoring three minutes later. After making a great interception, Boro full-back Anthony Chapman undid his hard work with a wayward clearance to Billericay midfielder Ade Cole, who then set up an easy finish for 18-year-old Miller. Billericay had edged in front, and they looked good value for their lead at the break.

Just eight minutes into the second period, the woodwork denied Miller what would've been his and Ricay's second goal. Despite losing captain Chris Henderson to injury seven minutes later, the home team continued to dominate the match with embarrassing ease. As the game progressed, I finally figured out why that was the case. Billericay, playing in an attacking 4-5-1 formation, were being given too much space in the centre of midfield by our more rigid 4-4-2. That was arguably the main reason why we were struggling to create chances. Once I realised what was going wrong, it was too late to change things for the better. Less than eight minutes before full-time, Danny Phillips headed Thorp's goal kick back into the Romford half. The ball fell to the feet of his team-mate Greg Pearson, who then raced past Wayne Hatch with jet heels before wrapping up the three points for Billericay. The Blues were deserving winners, having managed 19 shots at goal compared to our four. As a result of our first competitive defeat this season, we dropped to 17th place, though to be fair, we had played a game less than nearly all of the other teams.

Billericay Town - 2 (Miller 42, Pearson 83)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 213 - POSITIONS: Billericay 10th, Romford 17th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge (Hatch), Walters, Ademiluyi (Redhead), Crawley, Neville, Hunt, Carroll, Reynolds (Akindayini).

My first three seasons as Romford manager had now all started in similar fashion, by which I mean we won our first home game in the league, and then followed it up by losing our first away fixture. Before we could plan for our next league meeting, there was the small matter of our first hurdle in this season's FA Cup to negotiate.

When I learned last month that we would be playing away to some team called Highmoor Ibis in Qualifying Round 1, I didn't have any clue about WHO they were, let alone WHERE they were! That called for a visit to Wikipedia, on which I discovered that our opponents were formed as recently as 2001, based in Reading, and playing two tiers below us in the Hellenic Football League Premier Division. I also learned that, apparently, "HIGHMOOR SUCKS" and "HIGHWORTH RULES", though I'm not sure if those last two are credible facts...

So, on 6 September, we set our sat-nav for Reading and kicked off our latest FA Cup journey. How long would it last?

[CFuller]

6 September 2014: Highmoor Ibis vs Romford

Highmoor Ibis had one of their biggest ever home attendances at the Palmer Park Stadium, and it was clear from the start that their large support would be a big factor in how this potential banana-skin clash went. After just five minutes, Jimmy Reach hit the crossbar for the hosts. Danny Newman and Wayne Hatch then failed spectacularly in their attempts to clear the danger, and when Frank Carpenter hammered home the loose ball, the ground erupted. The plucky underdogs were in front. It was now more important than ever that we didn't lose our heads, and thankfully, we didn't. On 21 minutes, James Hartson's through-ball was thundered in off the post by Daniel Akindayini, and normal service - it seemed - had resumed. But Highmoor Ibis, to their credit, were not fazed by letting a lead slip. In the 26th minute, Carpenter tested Joel Wilkinson with a long-distance effort, and Wilko just about got his hand to it. Two minutes from half-time, Carpenter looked likely to restore Highmoor's advantage, but George Allen blocked his shot to keep the scoreline at 1-1.

During my half-time team talk, I barracked the defence for giving Highmoor too much room. Messrs Hatch and Newman didn't take too kindly to being criticised, and so they were subbed before the second half. My talk made its mark on the other defensive players... but not in the way I had hoped. Within 90 seconds of the restart, Wilkinson let a tame Reach header nervously slip through his fingers, and after Mark Orr tapped in the rebound, the Moor fans were back in celebratory mood. Our FA Cup status was now in real jeopardy! Then, in the 50th minute, our redemption came from a surprising source. Romford's saviour was our hometown rookie Bobby Fisk, who marked his full debut with an incisive finish into the far corner! The home crowd quietened down again, and the score was level at 2-2. If either team could get a third goal within the closing 40 minutes, it would surely be decisive. In the 65th minute, Isaac Jameson knocked the ball past Mark Betteridge to Reach, whose shot beat Wilkinson but hit the post before Allen booted it into touch. After Highmoor failed to make the most of their resulting throw-in, skipper Ashley Farrell set up a Boro counter-attack by booting the ball upfield to James Hartson. James was clean through on goal, but his first touch was too firm, and Moor keeper Jack Asafu-Adjaye rushed off his line to clear the danger. Neither team would seriously trouble the other's goalie again, and a match that was both exciting and gut-wrenching finished in a draw. A replay would be required.

Highmoor Ibis - 2 (Carpenter 5, Orr 47)

Romford - 2 (Akindayini 21, Fisk 50)

FA Cup Qualifying Round 1, Attendance 588

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman (Chapman), Allen, Hatch (Betteridge), Guthmy, Ademiluyi, Fisk, Farrell, Samaria (Plummer), Akindayini, Hartson. BOOKED: Guthmy.

That was a hugely embarrassing result in my book. If there was any justice, we would have been knocked out of the FA Cup by a team from the ninth tier of English football. We got very lucky, so now we had to make the most of our second chance.

Four days later, the rematch took place at Ship Lane. I knew that the Romford fans were still cheesed off about our performance in the initial tie. If we won the replay, all would be forgiven, but anything else would see us fall well short of expectations and put me under pressure. As clichéd as it sounded, we could not afford to lose this match.

10 September 2014: Romford vs Highmoor Ibis

Young forward Sydney Samaria had a shot at goal after just ten seconds, but it didn't remotely test the Highmoor Ibis keeper. Jack Asafu-Adjaye's first serious examination came in the 17th minute, when he punched a dangerous George Walters cross away from Daniel Akindayini. Five minutes later, Walters troubled Asafu-Adjaye with another cross, and the visiting custodian tipped it over just before Nicky Reynolds could get a connection to it. We had dominated the opening stages, but after 32 minutes, Highmoor Ibis almost took the lead in fortuitous style! Highmoor right-back Noel Stone floated a delivery towards the Romford goal, and it looked goalbound until Connor Dymond heroically headed it off the line! After that late scare, we press forward again, and our efforts were finally rewarded on 42 minutes. Akindayini headed Samaria's cross towards goal, and Asafu-Adjaye couldn't get enough of his hand to prevent it from going into the net. Two minutes later, our 1-0 lead became 2-0. Nicky outjumped Moor defender Jay March to head the ball towards Akindayini, who grabbed a quickfire second goal for the Boro. We were firmly on top now!

Asafu-Adjaye caught a 50th-minute header from half-time substitute Kieron Carroll that would've made it 3-0 to Romford, and after that, we eased off a bit. That was perhaps a mistake, because Highmoor had come out for the second half without any pressure, and they could relax. Soon after Carroll's missed chance to put the result beyond Highmoor's reach, Jimmy Reach headed the ball against the crossbar. Reach had another effort in the 68th minute, and his shot ricocheted off Kieron Thorp's glove and hit the post before going out for a corner. Mark Betteridge headed that corner out of harm's way, but the visitors would eventually peg a goal back in the 79th minute. Reach's byline cross was turned in by Isaac Jameson, who gave fresh hope to the Reading minnows... fleetingly. Three minutes later, man of the match Dymond headed in a third Romford goal to finally break Highmoor's spirit. Carroll wrapped the victory up a couple of minutes later, when he broke free and clinically placed his shot into the net. At the second time of asking, we had seen off Highmoor Ibis to book our spot in Qualifying Round 2!

Romford - 4 (Akindayini 42,44, Dymond 82, Carroll 84)

Highmoor Ibis - 1 (Jameson 79)

FA Cup Qualifying Round 1 Replay, Attendance 318

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, Farrell, Crawley (Neville), Hunt, Akindayini (Plummer), Samaria (Carroll), Reynolds. BOOKED: Akindayini.

Our rewards for getting through were £3,000 in prize money, and a Qualifying Round 2 game at home to Isle of Wight team Cowes Sports. On paper, we were expected to beat the Wessex Football League side easily, but Highmoor Ibis showed that ninth-tier teams may not necessarily be second-rate, so we wouldn't take Cowes for granted.

Neither would we take Witham Town for granted when we hosted them in the Isthmian Premier. Witham had picked up just one point from their opening three matches and already looked set to be battling relegation. But in recent times, they had the voodoo sign over us - we hadn't beaten Town in any of our last four meetings.

In between the Highmoor matches, I got round to signing a replacement for our crocked right-winger Jason Harley. He was Dean O'Halloran - a quick 18-year-old Irishman who had recently been let go by Fulham. The game against Witham would mark Dean's debut for the Boro.

[CFuller]

13 September 2014: Romford vs Witham Town

Dean O'Halloran showed great promise within 20 seconds of his Romford debut. He hit an excellent cross towards Joe Oates in the box, but unfortunately, Jack Edwards got in the way to deny Joe an early crack at goal. The first half would generally be a pretty even affair. Steven Hogg swung a Witham free-kick narrowly over on 15 minutes, and Callum Crawley went just as close with a Romford set-piece two minutes later. In the 26th minute, O'Halloran single-handedly went on a counter attack for the Boro. He knocked Ryan Jones's headed clearance away from Hogg, and then pounced on a mistake by Witham defender Reis Boyle to go clean through on goal! Unfortunately, by the time O'Halloran reached the penalty area, he was out of breath, and after Aldi Haxhia saved his initial effort, Dean's follow-up limped out of play. Another Romford chance went begging after 36 minutes, when Crawley pulled his shot the wrong side of the post, and the score remained 0-0 at half-time.

I was not happy with our first-half performance, so I used my team talk to rally the troops and get them fired up for the second half. After 60 minutes, Kieron Thorp made an assured catch to prevent Witham's star striker Glyn Mitchell from giving his team the lead. Two minutes after that, Oates lobbed a pass upfield to Reynolds, who advanced towards goal and then drilled the ball into the bottom corner! My team talk had had the desired effect... and then some! Nicky doubled his money in the 70th minute when, after Boyle nobbled him in the penalty area, he dispatched the spot-kick with a typical marksman's finish. By the 76th minute, Witham's resolve had crumbled completely. O'Halloran capped off an encouraging debut by setting up a Brian Neville strike that went in off the far post, and we had won by three goals to nil! All in all, it was a good night's work - but not without cost. We lost both full-backs in the closing stages, as Kamal Guthmy was taken off in the 84th minute before Danny Newman broke his toe five minutes later. Danny's injury was the more serious, and our new right-back wouldn't be back in action for at least two months.

Romford - 3 (Reynolds 62,pen70, Neville 76)

Witham Town - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 198 - POSITIONS: Romford 9th, Witham 23rd

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman, Dymond (Hatch), Allen, Guthmy (Carroll), Farrell, Crawley (Neville), Jones, O'Halloran, Oates, Reynolds.

We were back in the groove again, and we hoped to carry our improving form into our next game at Bury Town. The Blues had started strongly with three wins from their opening four games under new manager Clinton Morrison. Yes, that's the same Clinton Morrison who played for Colchester United Reserves against us in last season's Essex Senior Cup Semi Final. The former Republic of Ireland striker's first taste of management was going well, but were we about to bring his honeymoon to a sudden halt?

16 September 2014: Bury Town vs Romford

After three minutes, Mark Betteridge headed away a Bury Town free-kick, and Nicky Reynolds kicked off a Romford counter-attack by storming down the right flank. He then played in Daniel Akindayini, who fired home a rebound shot after goalkeeper Chris Webb saved his initial effort. With less than four minutes on the clock, we were already leading 1-0! Akindayini was enjoying life as a right-winger, but after 17 minutes, an injury to Sean Hunt meant that Michael Ademiluyi was brought on and Danny was shifted to the left flank. In the 22nd minute, Callum Crawley lobbed the ball upfield to Reynolds, who was one-on-one with the keeper. Although usually deadly in those situations, Nicky couldn't quite hit a clean shot this time, and Bury were spared. Two minutes later, the hosts created their first attack, but Kieron Thorp made a comfortable catch from Evan Key's header. The Blues were off colour throughout the first half, and in the last minute of normal time, we added a second goal. Betteridge's long ball found Ademiluyi in a lot of space, and Mike hit a byline cross for Nicky to tap into the net! It capped off a bad day for Webb, who was substituted at half-time.

Bury's replacement goalkeeper Rob Peet had a quiet second half in which much of the action happened at the other end. On 54 minutes, Betteridge dallied on the ball for too long in the Romford penalty area, and he was dispossessed by Liam Newman. Unlike Mark, Thorp's concentration did not waver, and he heroically pushed the Welsh striker's shot to the far touchline. Kieron saved his clean sheet again in the 64th minute by gathering Levi Wright's header. Those saves helped us on the way to our first away league win of the season - in just our second attempt! (In comparison, it took us seven games to win away in the league last term.) The winning margin could have been more than 2-0, though, because Brian Neville blazed a shot over the bar on 76 minutes.

Bury Town - 0

Romford - 2 (Akindayini 4, Reynolds 45)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 232 - POSITIONS: Bury Town 7th, Romford 5th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, Farrell (Hatch), Crawley (Carroll), Neville, Akindayini, Hunt (Ademiluyi), Reynolds.

As a result of beating Bury, we temporarily broke into the top five. We wouldn't stay there for long because, even though it was only the middle of September, that was actually our final league match of the month! The next couple of weeks would be all about the cup competitions.

Unfortunately, we would have to get through those cup matches without goalkeeper Kieron Thorp, who strained his groin in mid-week training. Kieron faced around three weeks on the sidelines, so Joel Wilkinson would have to deputise for the time being.

To start off our run of knockout games, we played host to Cowes Sports in Qualifying Round 2 of the FA Cup. Although we were expected to win this game without breaking much sweat, I still fielded a very strong starting eleven. I wasn't going to take any chances - not when there was plenty of cup moolah at stake.

20 September 2014: Romford vs Cowes Sports

We were on the mark after less than two minutes. Dean O'Halloran charged down the right wing with blistering pace and crossed to Nicky Reynolds, who with a simple tap-in gave us a very early lead! Cowes were already in disarray, and their manager immediately hauled off defender Colin Machala, who failed to block Dean's cross. The change would have little impact, as we dominated the first half. In the 12th minute, Cowes keeper Bernard Weait had to make a low save to prevent O'Halloran from giving us even more security. There was a short spell in which our visitors from the Isle of Wight threatened to equalise, but the only save Joel Wilkinson had to make was from Guy Widdowson's long-distance shot in the 23rd minute. Nine minutes later, Weait threw the ball to his centre-back Ray Tynan, who looked far from comfortable in possession. Nicky quickly took the ball off Tynan's feet, and finished with almost embarrassing ease. At 2-0, we had the wind in our sails, and the Yachtsmen were sinking without trace.

Cowes were under the cosh again in the second half. They had Karl Buchanan to thank for preventing a third Romford goal when he cleared Joe Oates' half-volley off the line after 50 minutes. Six minutes later, Weait got his hands to a George Allen header. The rest of the match flew by without any further chances or scares, and we eased into Qualifying Round 3 for a third year in a row. Cowes went home to the Isle of Wight with absolutely nothing to show for their efforts.

Romford - 2 (Reynolds 2,32)

Cowes Sports - 0

FA Cup Qualifying Round 2, Attendance 359

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond (Hatch), Allen, Guthmy, O'Halloran (Ademiluyi), Jones (Hartson), Farrell, Oates, Carroll, Reynolds.

The FA Cup draw had been kind to us this season - but it would be a case of third time unlucky, as we were given a home tie against Conference South high-flyers Boreham Wood. I knew we would need to be at our very best to clear a hurdle at which we stumbled in our previous two Cup campaigns.

Before then, we were back at the Len Salmon Stadium to play Bowers & Pitsea in Essex Senior Cup Round 2. We knocked out the Basildon minnows in Round 3 last season, and we would have to beat them on their own turf again to reach the same stage of this year's competition.

For this match, and the next three weeks, we had the experienced right-back Greg Oates (no relation to Joe) to call upon. 32-year-old Greg joined us on trial to cover for the injured Danny Newman. He has previously played for the likes of Arsenal's youth team, Margate, and Billericay Town, and was most recently at Tilbury.

[CFuller]

24 September 2014: Bowers & Pitsea vs Romford

Bowers gave Joel Wilkinson his first test in the ninth minute, when Wilko caught Gary Hinton's shot from the edge of the area. Nine more minutes later, Hinton latched onto Aston Carlton's cross, and he turned past George Allen before volleying home with his left foot. Against the odds, Bowers were 1-0 in front! They could've taken an incredible two-goal lead in the 24th minute, but William Cox miscued an ambitious effort. Two minutes from half-time, a couple of defensive lapses by the minnows allowed Daniel Akindayini to cross to James Hartson in the penalty area. James should have buried the resulting header, but he somehow sent it to the wrong side of the post! Moments later, Bowers midfielder Marcus Thompson was forced off with an injury. In spite of that, his team-mates held onto the lead until half-time. We were 45 minutes from Essex Senior Cup oblivion.

Further injuries to substitute Cyrus Agus and goalscorer Hinton didn't derail Bowers & Pitsea in the second half, as they carried on playing without fear. In contrast, we panicked with the few chances that we could muster against their dogged five-man backline. In the 75th minute, Joe Oates made an excellent run down the left flank before crossing to Kieron Carroll, whose header struck the corner of the goal frame and went out. After that happened, I resigned myself to defeat. We whimpered out of the Essex Senior Cup against the underdogs from the Essex Senior League.

Bowers & Pistea - 1 (Hinton 18)

Romford - 0

Essex Senior Cup Round 2, Attendance 25

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, G Oates, Hatch, Allen (Betteridge), Guthmy, Ademiluyi (O'Halloran), Crawley, Neville, J Oates, Akindayini (Carroll), Hartson.

I was furious with the players afterwards, as we'd thrown away our chances in a winnable competition, and fallen at just the second hurdle. That said, in the general scheme of cup competitions, the Essex Senior Cup isn't really THAT important...

The FA Trophy, on the other hand, carries much more prestige. Our bid to lift that trophy - or at least reach the first round proper - started in Worcestershire. To get through Qualifying Round 1, we would have to knock out Southern League Division 1 South & West outfit Evesham United on their own stomping ground. Just like against Bowers, this was not to be confused with a walk in the park.

27 September 2014: Evesham United vs Romford

Well, I said it wouldn't be a walk in the park, but in truth, Evesham had all sorts of trouble coping with our attacks in the first half. The first couple of chances, from Daniel Akindayini and Mark Betteridge inside the first eight minutes, were fairly inconspicuous. Then we upped the ante. Robins keeper Jacob Nicholson caught a header from Connor Dymond in the 11th minute, and pushed away Kieron Carroll's drive eight minutes later. By the 27th minute, Evesham's defence was all over the place. Anthony Chapman cut the ball to the scarcely-marked Akindayini, and Danny then fired it past the despairing Nicholson to open the scoring! Eight minutes later, our in-form forward turned provider for Nicky Reynolds. Danny's attempted volley came back to him off Evesham left-back Jonny Haynes, and he then played the ball to Nicky's feet. Reynolds led centre-back Calum Sheriffs on a merry dance before sprinting past his marker and firing home from a wide angle! At half-time, we were 2-0 ahead, and we had one foot in the next round.

Evesham brought on captain Ryan Kenyon in the second half, hoping that he would give them some inspiration. Kenyon finally got them a shot at goal after 57 minutes, but he dragged the ball hideously wide. The Robins would have to wait until the 75th minute for another chance, and their skipper was off target again with a weak header. Two minutes later, Evesham were put out of their misery. Romford substitute Dean O'Halloran bravely took the ball off Kenyon, and played a long pass up to Reynolds before pulling up in agony. While Dean was was on the ground clutching his thigh, Nicky raced through on goal before delivering the fatal blow. Two goals for Nicky, and three goals for Romford! There was no way back for the Robins, and we returned to Essex with a place in Qualifying Round 2 all sewn up. (Oh, and Dean was absolutely fine after all.)

Evesham United - 0

Romford - 3 (Akindayini 27, Reynolds 35,77)

FA Trophy Qualifying Round 1, Attendance 105

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, Farrell, Carroll (Fisk), Jones, Akindayini, Hunt (O'Halloran (Allen)), Reynolds.

The draw came out for Qualifying Round 2 the following day. Once again, we were given an away draw - not to somewhere far away like Northumberland or (shudder) Derbyshire, but Hampshire. AFC Totton, from the Southern League Premier Division, would stand in our way next month.

Aside from the two defeats to Billericay Town and Bowers & Pitsea, September had gone incredibly well for us. We were scoring plenty of goals and conceding not very many with our rejigged 4-5-1 formation, and on the financial side of things, we made a staggering profit of over £20,000 - putting us close to £40,000 in credit! It had been a long, long time since Romford FC was in such rude health both on and off the pitch!

The excitement will carry on into October, when we face the prospect of our biggest pay day yet!

[CFuller]

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

[CFuller]

For the third year in a row, we had made it all the way to Qualifying Round 3 of the FA Cup, and for the third year in a row, we were drawn against Conference South opposition. In 2012, Dorchester Town destroyed us, and a year later, we took AFC Hornchurch to a replay before being knocked out on penalties. This time, our opponents were Boreham Wood.

Although Boreham Wood were 3rd in the Conference South, we had home advantage, and I thought we had a great chance to cause an upset. This was our best opportunity yet to break through the wall that was seemingly stopping us from progressing to Qualifying Round 4.

4 October 2014: Romford vs Boreham Wood

The game plan was to put Boreham Wood under pressure early on. That, er, didn't go down too well! With just three minutes on the clock, Graeme Montgomery hit a 35-yard shot from the left touchline, and it flew over Joel Wilkinson's head before falling into the net! Montgomery had given Wood a very early lead, and he would inflict further misery on us in the 5th minute. He beat Nicky Reynolds to a header and flicked a pass to Mario Noto, who hit an excellent cross that Alex Wall slid in for Boreham Wood's second goal. We had fought back from conceding two early goals before, but on this occasion, the gulf in class was too wide to bridge. Montgomery in particular was more than a cut above our lot, so it was no surprise that Boreham Wood's left-winger made it 3-0 in the 17th minute. He intercepted Ashley Farrell's headed clearance from a Kevin Nicholson corner, and drilled the ball through a defensive gap to find the net again. Things would get worse still after 27 minutes, when Joel's vulnerability from long range was exposed once more. On this occasion, it was Noto's time to get lucky from an attempted cross that bypassed Wilko and flew directly into the target! Not even half an hour had passed, and already we were 4-0 down! Fortunately for us and our distraught fans, and not to mention the scoreboard operator, Wood eased off a little after that fourth goal. They did, though, have a half-chance to grab a fifth, but Chez Isaac's 42nd-minute effort from distance went mercifully wide.

The half-time whistle couldn't come soon enough for us. The last thing that the lads needed after their first-half mauling was to be savaged by their manager, but I'm ashamed to say that was exactly what I did. In a fit of rage, I made all three substitutions at once (the surprisingly inept Reynolds was among those who came off), and demanded a much better display from the remaining players in the second half. Our FA Cup dream may have derailed and crashed, but we still had 45 minutes in which we could salvage at least some pride.

Having failed to hit a single shot in the first period, we needed more than 20 minutes in the second half to create something that resembled an attacking move. In the 66th minute, Callum Crawley drilled a pass to Sean Hunt on the edge of Boreham Wood's penalty area, but Hunt couldn't guide his shot goalwards. Sean would try again in the 77th minute. Shortly after seeing Crawley miss the target with an audacious effort, Hunt picked up a lobbed pass from Daniel Akindayini. He turned past a couple of Wood defenders, and fired the ball in off goalkeeper David Bevan's foot. We finally had a goal to our name, but by then it was too late in the piece to even contemplate a comeback. Six minutes later, Boreham Wood made that improbable thought impossible by restoring their four-goal cushion. A pinpoint cross from Ben Nunn found Wall, who drilled the ball underneath Wilkinson to pinch his second goal. Ian Allinson and his team could now relax, and they played out the last few minutes without using up too much energy. In the last minute of normal time, Hunt burst through Boreham Wood's backline and grabbed another goal to reduce the Romford arrears to 5-2. Brian Neville then scrambled in one final Boro consolation in the third and last minute of added-on time. We could take heart from winning the second half 3-1, but the terminal damage had been sustained long before then. We were out of the FA Cup after a 5-3 defeat to a far superior team.

Romford - 3 (Hunt 77,90, Neville 90)

Boreham Wood - 5 (Montgomery 3,17, Wall 5,83, Noto 27)

FA Cup Qualifying Round 3, Attendance 473

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge, Walters (Guthmy), Farrell, Jones (Neville), Crawley, Akindayini, Hunt, Reynolds (Carroll).

I won't lie to you, that result made me seriously question the long-term Romford futures of some of my players - in particular Anthony Chapman. At full-time, we had a blazing row over his performance, which I thought was unacceptable and he believed was anything but. As tensions heightened, I told him that I was dropping him from our next match at home to Histon - and he stormed out of the dressing room, still wearing his full kit.

The following day, when the dust had settled, I sat down with Anthony and apologised for letting the situation go too far. He accepted my apology, and reluctantly agreed that he should sit out the Histon match. Knowing Anthony like I did, I expected him to put our disagreement to one side and concentrate on improving his game.

Our first league game in three weeks gave me a chance to see if the other players had mentally recovered from a loss to Boreham Wood that would've crushed many a man's soul. Histon were another team who had the capacity to silence Ship Lane and cause further distress to a usually happy Romford camp.

Although it was still hard to tell who the best and worst teams in the Isthmian Premier were, the Stutes' early-season form screamed mid-table. In seven matches, they had won two, lost two, and drawn the other three. Regardless of that, any team who had previously tasted life in the Conference Premier would be particularly dangerous at this level.

7 October 2014: Romford vs Histon

To be brutally honest, the first half did not have much in the way of quality. The Stutes' shooting was far from astute - in fact, it was pretty diabolical at times. Histon's Romanian left-winger Claudiu Hoban fired a powerful effort off target after three minutes, and his team-mate Kelvin Austin also shot well wide a couple of minutes later. The worst shooting, though, came from right-winger Jordan Wilson. A 21st-minute half-volley from Wilson nearly made its way to the far corner of the pitch, and in the 35th minute, he sent another attempt deep into the stands. In between Wilson's woeful efforts, we had a couple of poorly-taken chances by our own widemen - Joe Oates and Dean O'Halloran. Those were the only real chances we had in the first 45 minutes of a match that Histon were dominating in terms of goal attempts. We could consider ourselves lucky that their finishing was not as deadly as it could and perhaps should have been. When the half entered injury time, someone finally managed to get a shot on target. That someone was our captain Kieron Carroll. Joe Oates' cross was headed into the middle of the penalty area by O'Halloran, and Carroll showed Histon how to find the net by rifling an unbeatable half-volley past the keeper! Somehow, we were 1-0 up at the break!

Histon had been stunned by that Carroll goal late in the first half, and their struggles carried over into the second period. Hoban missed yet another attempt in the 48th minute, pulling a shot wide from just outside the area. The Stutes' best chance to date came after 61 minutes, when Matthew Clarke reached captain Andy Gooding's corner delivery and headed it just over the bar. We then patiently probed the ball around the Histon half before striking another blow three minutes later. Trialist Greg Oates' first-time cross was nodded in at the far post by captain Carroll, who was head and shoulders above the other players in a poor game. Kieron's goals were the only shots on target in the entire match! As a result, we got a third Isthmian Premier win on the bounce and moved into the play-off zone. I expected Histon to play much better, but though they'd scored 10 goals in their first seven league matches, five of those came in their previous game against lowly Cray Wanderers, so perhaps their failure to score was not so surprising after all.

Romford - 2 (Carroll 45,64)

Histon - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 189 - POSITIONS: Romford 5th, Histon 13th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, G Oates, Dymond, Allen, Guthmy, Farrell (Hatch), Vassell (Crawley), Neville, O'Halloran (Ademiluyi), J Oates, Carroll.

Next up was another home game against Southern League Central champions St Albans City, who were in the relegation places after losing six of their opening eight games. Despite our visitors' terrible start, we couldn't afford to be complacent against a team who had been tipped to challenge for back-to-back promotions.

11 October 2014: Romford vs St Albans City

St Albans had young goalkeeper Bradley Fowler to thank for the scoreline still being 0-0 after seven minutes. Callum Crawley swung a free-kick into the six-yard box and George Allen got to the delivery, but Fowler brilliantly pushed George's half-volley away. At the other end, Saints striker Greg Ngoyi hit a long-distance shot in the 15th minute, and missed by just a few inches. In the 29th minute, Fowler saved a close-range effort from Ryan Jones, who had another disappointing game in the Romford midfield. St Albans finished the first half strongly, as Ngoyi sent a promising volley wide on 33 minutes, and captain Lee Chappell's long throws caused us a few problems. We stood our ground, though, and at half-time, the game was still there for the taking.

Eight minutes into the second half, Joel Wilkinson completely misjudged the flight of Chris Watts' long ball to Ngoyi, giving the Congolese forward a clear view of his goal. Ngoyi chested the delivery, teed himself up, and then placed his shot... miles wide, much to Joel's relief! The City striker never really recovered from that missed sitter. A couple of minutes after we survived that major scare, Daniel Akindayini lobbed a pass to Sean Hunt on the edge of the Saints' six-yard box. Sean let rip, only for the fantastic Fowler to push his volley clear. James Hartson came on midway through the half as we tried to find a way through, but the Welsh striker skied his one and only effort well wide on 69 minutes. We wouldn't be able to find the net, and so our three-game winning streak in the league ended. On a brighter note, another excellent defensive display from Connor Dymond - who seemed to be unbeatable in the air - stretched our clean sheet run to four games and earned us a creditable draw.

Romford - 0

St Albans City - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 255 - POSITIONS: Romford 6th, St Albans 20th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, G Oates, Dymond, Allen, Guthmy, Carroll (Farrell), Jones, Crawley, Akindayini (Ademiluyi), Hunt, Reynolds (Hartson).

After six Isthmian League Premier Division matches, Romford were flying high. We had lost just one game, against a resurgent Billericay Town, and kept clean sheets in the other five, putting us in a very strong position. Although the draw against St Albans wasn't enough to keep us in the play-off zone, we still had games in hand on all the teams above us bar Lowestoft Town, who flew out of the traps with six straight victories.

Could we continue this bright start and keep up with the early pacesetters, or would we drop off back into mid-table mediocrity?

[CFuller]

James Hartson's recent struggles at Romford had caught the attention of one of our former Isthmian North rivals. Thamesmead Town - now managed by former Burnley striker Robbie Blake of all people - approached James about him potentially joining their bid to win promotion to the Isthmian Premier.

James, however, was determined to fight for his Boro place, and wasn't keen on the idea of relegating himself to a lower division just yet. So he decided to stay with us... for now.

Hartson hoped that his goal drought would end when we returned to Redbridge for the second time this season. We had already knocked the Motormen out of the Essex Senior Cup back in August, and now we faced them again in Round 2 of the Isthmian League Cup. I had a perfect record against Del Robinson and his team, and a fifth successive win over Redbridge - who were second-from-bottom of the Isthmian North - would put us into the last 32.

14 October 2014: Redbridge vs Romford

Romford goalkeeper Kieron Thorp was called into action seven minutes into his comeback from a groin injury. Kieron passed his first real test when he caught a powerfully-struck free-kick from James Zanelli. A minute later, his opposite number Billy Booth parried away Kieron Carroll's effort for the Boro. In an appropriately unlucky 13th minute, we engaged in a spot of soccer-based pinball in the Redbridge penalty area. Joe Oates' shot from a tight angle was pushed back to him by Booth, and Joe's follow-up rebounded off Aaron O'Connor before Mark Betteridge then dragged the ball wide of the far post! Redbridge's 16-year-old striker O'Connor came off with a toe injury a few minutes later, and the Motormen then started to splutter. We made a breakthrough after 27 minutes, when Jay Vassell picked out Carroll with a first-time pass, and the skipper drilled the ball into the corner with his weaker left foot. Just over a minute later, Dean O'Halloran half-volleyed a pass to Vassell, who burst his way through the Redbridge defence. Although Booth saved Jay's first shot, the rebound shot was duly fired into the net, and Vassell had doubled our lead with his first goal of the season! I hoped that we would go into half-time with the security of being two goals up, but Redbridge gave themselves renewed hope by scoring in the 42nd minute. To be fair, it was a well-crafted goal by Mbiyeye Medine, who exchanged passes with David Ellis and then shrugged off Wayne Hatch before blasting the ball right into the top corner.

Betteridge came mighty close to putting us back into a healthy lead just six minutes after play restarted, but his header skimmed the crossbar. In the 62nd minute, Medine tried to be Redbridge's hero again with a shot from long range, and he missed the target by miles. The Motormen would not get going again after that. Eight minutes later, a Romford counter-attack gave substitute James Hartson his chance to break his duck. Carroll's cross to Oates was intercepted by Zanelli, but Hartson was well placed to fire the loose ball at goal and finish Redbridge off. Unluckily for James, Booth reacted very quickly and tipped the ball wide to continue the Welshman's goal drought. Another Boro sub - Dean O'Halloran - agonisingly hit the outside of the far post deep into injury time. Those two missed opportunities didn't matter in the end because, despite the narrow-looking scoreline, we went comfortably through to Round 3.

Redbridge - 1 (Medine 42)

Romford - 2 (Carroll 27, Vassell 28)

Isthmian League Cup Round 2, Attendance 43

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Hatch, Betteridge (Allen), Walters, O'Halloran, Vassell (Crawley), Neville, J Oates, Carroll, Reynolds (Hartson). BOOKED: Betteridge.

I had taken the Isthmian League Cup a bit lightly in the past, but now I considered it to be a very winnable competition. Our hopes of making further progress were boosted further when we got a favourable home draw against AFC Hayes - another team from the Isthmian North - in Round 3.

Over the next few days, Greg Oates left Romford at the end of his four-week trial, and Thamesmead made another approach for Hartson. With the Mead's interest in James showing no sign of diminishing, I would soon have to make a difficult decision about whether he deserved a part-time contract.

Before then, I had more pressing matters to deal with. The first of our two annual clashes with Thurrock was a chance to get some sweet revenge on our Ship Lane landlords. The Fleet flogged us 4-0 when we last played them back in March, and that result helped them to finish one place above us in last season's Isthmian Premier table.

We were officially the 'home' team for this latest meeting, and so we would be defending our proud record of having not conceded a league goal at Ship Lane this season.

18 October 2014: Romford vs Thurrock

In the third minute, Boro forward Daniel Akindayini looked set to give us an early lead, but his shot was blocked by Thurrock defender Mahlon Romeo. Fleet then went on a counter-attack, but that fizzled out when Bradley Pegg dragged his effort wide. After 11 minutes, Akindayini was on the attack again. He brilliantly jinked past Thurrock skipper Lewis Cumber, and then agonisingly thundered his shot against the post! Six minutes later, Kieran Bywater had a crack at goal for Thurrock, and Kieron Thorp managed to palm it towards the far touchline. Our opponents suffered a blow when an injury in the 25th minute forced off their leading scorer - former Wingate & Finchley man Leon Smith. Two minutes later, our own frontman Kieron Carroll had a chance to give us a lead when Sean Hunt headed the ball towards him in the six-yard box, but the captain couldn't get his volley on target. Not to worry, though, because he made amends after 40 minutes. Hunt was again the creative force, and this time, the winger's cross was turned in from close range by Carroll! Kieron's eighth goal of the season gave us a narrow half-time lead against our rivals.

Thurrock's defence would come under further strain in the second half, and right-back Romeo was hampered by a knock just seven minutes into it. On 58 minutes, George Allen's long ball upfield found Carroll, who made a promising run towards goal. He could only hit his shot against the side netting, though, after being forced wide. Carroll and Hunt combined again to create another attacking move four minutes later. Kieron nodded the ball towards the far post, and Sean outmuscled Romeo to reach it and surely make it 2-0... but it was not to be. Fleet goalkeeper Gareth Deane blocked his header, and centre-half Alex Finney then slide-tackled the loose ball to stop Carroll from scoring the follow-up. That would be a telling moment in the match. After 71 minutes, Gary Frewen threw the ball to Lawrence Yiga on the edge of the Romford area. Yiga crossed into the box, and Pearson Mwanyongo struck an excellent volley to beat Thorp and level the scores. After restoring parity, Thurrock went searching for a second goal that would give them the win. Thorp stood firmly in their way, and he pushed Pegg's 75th-minute free-kick out of play to save us a point. In all honestly, I felt we should have got all three.

Romford - 1 (Carroll 40)

Thurrock - 1 (Mwanyongo 71)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 457 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Thurrock 11th

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

We had a week's rest before going to Hampshire for an FA Trophy Qualifying Round 2 match against AFC Totton. Our opponents had played a Southern League Premier Division match in midweek, so they weren't as fresh as us. Would that be a decisive factor in the outcome?

[CFuller]

25 October 2014: AFC Totton vs Romford

Ten minutes into the match, a typically dangerous corner from Callum Crawley corner caused Totton some problems. Home midfielder Tom Mitchell frantically tried to head the cross away, but Kieron Carroll nodded it back to Callum, who cut inside before drilling the ball through a crowded penalty area. The ball rustled into the net, giving us a 1-0 lead! We now had to try and build on it. Sean Hunt's 17th-minute effort stung the palms of Totton keeper Elliott Seddon, but our next couple of shots wouldn't be as close. Kieron Carroll scooped a great chance over the bar in the 25th minute, and three minutes later, Dean O'Halloran drove wide from a tight angle. The Stags soon settled down, and created their first chance after 31 minutes. Veteran midfielder Kevin James crossed a free-kick into the box, and Mark Clunie headed it in to put Totton on level terms. We didn't take too well to losing our advantage, and after a nervous end to the first half, in which Liam Howley hit the crossbar for the hosts on 43 minutes, we had to recompose ourselves for the second period.

Although we had narrowly been the better side before half-time, AFC Totton looked more threatening after play resumed. In the 50th minute, Kurtis Herd curled an excellent left-footed shot towards the top-right corner, and only missed by inches! The pendulum appeared to be swinging towards the Stags, but the match soon became a bit scrappier. Jay Vassell hit a lovely through-ball to Carroll in the 65th minute, only for Totton defender Shane Hoey to make a well-timed sliding tackle on Kieron. In doing so, Hoey twisted his knee, ending his game early. We couldn't make the most of that Totton setback, and our only chance to knock them out came in the first half of injury time, when Ryan Jones blazed a hopeful effort way too high. As for Totton, they were too tired to deliver a knockout blow, and so the match fizzled out into a draw. We would have to meet again to settle the tie once and for all.

AFC Totton - 1 (Clunie 31)

Romford - 1 (Crawley 10)

FA Trophy Qualifying Round 2, Attendance 194

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Allen (Hatch), Guthmy, Neville (Jones), Crawley, Vassell, O'Halloran, Hunt (Oates), Carroll. BOOKED: Guthmy, Vassell.

I made us narrow favourites to win the replay at Ship Lane four days later. The victors would earn a Qualifying Round 3 tie away to Bromley, and would be just one stage away from reaching the first round proper.

29 October 2014: Romford vs AFC Totton

We made a promising start to the match, winning a corner just 20 seconds after kick-off. Our first real chance to score came after three minutes, when Nicky Reynolds' drilled cross deflected off a Totton defender and fell nicely to Joe Oates, whose shot was stopped at close range by teenage keeper Mark Patel. In the 7th minute, Boro centre-back Connor Dymond was knocked out following a clash of heads with Stags forward Jamie Richards. Connor was taken off with concussion, and Wayne Hatch replaced him. It took us a while to recover from the loss of such a key defender, but after Mark Clunie missed Totton's first attempt on goal in the 15th minute, we regained control. Totton were being run ragged by our crisp passing, and Patel was kept busy in goal. He pushed away Ryan Jones' 21st-minute strike, and turned a dangerous Callum Crawley corner round the post in the 36th. Moments later, Jones had another crack from inside the penalty area, but he couldn't direct his low shot towards the target. Although we dominated the first half in nearly all departments, some lacklustre shooting meant that we went into the break without a goal to our name.

For the second half, I told the lads to up the tempo and pass more directly to give the tiring Totton lads a sterner test. James Hartson - still awaiting his first goal of the season - was also brought on as a sub. Hartson had his first chance to end his scoreless streak after 54 minutes, but he couldn't strike the ball cleanly and it went horribly wide. As the half neared its halfway point, some of our fans were fearing another FA Trophy disappointment... but good things come to those who wait. After 67 frustrating minutes, a huge stroke of luck sent us in front. An outswinging corner from Oates found the near post and was diverted in off Mark Betteridge's shin! Mark was just as stunned as we were that he had scored only his second senior goal, and four minutes later, an even less likely scorer doubled our advantage! While Daniel Akindayini ran rings around Totton down the left flank before passing to Jones, Boro right-back Anthony Chapman snuck behind the Stags defence. When Ryan played a through-ball to Anthony, he advanced on goal - and tapped the ball home! It was Chappers' first ever goal, and in his 55th senior appearance for Romford! The Stags were seriously wounded, and we later went for the jugular. Although Patel managed to punch Oates' cross away from Hartson in the 80th minute, he couldn't deny the Welsh striker for any longer. In the 83rd minute, Akindayini outmuscled the hapless Mal Burgess and set up Hartson, who with a vicious strike ended his drought and put the game to bed! An excellent 3-0 victory put us within 90 minutes of reaching Round 1 in the FA Trophy - now we just had to beat Bromley!

Romford - 3 (Betteridge 67, Chapman 71, Hartson 83)

AFC Totton - 0

FA Trophy Qualifying Round 2 Replay, Attendance 116

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond (Hatch), Betteridge, Guthmy, Neville, Crawley (Hartson), Jones (Hunt), Akindayini, Oates, Reynolds.

James Hartson had finally broken his scoring duck, and he later committed his short-term future to Romford by turning down the latest approach from Thamesmead Town. He was not going anywhere any time soon!

Once again, our exploits in both FA competitions were making us plenty of money. The cups were no longer our main source of income, though.

Since the start of the season, our new chairman Leo Jones had chipped in with monthly donations of around £8,000 a time. Thanks to his generosity, we had a very healthy £55,000 in the bank by the end of October! To a non-league club such as us, that's a fortune!

I guess it'll soon be time to talk to Mr Jones about where all that money is going...

[CFuller]

Although the season had started much better than many of us anticipated, November would bring with it our biggest challenges to date. Our next three matches were all away from home, and the first was perhaps the toughest of the lot.

Whitehawk were the big underachievers in the Isthmian League Premier Division. Although they were widely expected to be among the main contenders for automatic promotion, they had so far drawn too many winnable games and sat in mid-table. Those disappointments cost their new manager Jimmy McFarlane (ex of AFC Hornchurch) his job after just five months, and the Hawks went into this match without a head coach.

When you consider Whitehawk's problems on and off the pitch, you might think we had a chance of beating them. I wasn't so confident, to be honest. Aside from a few squad changes, this was still by and large the same team that did the double over us last season, and in Billy Bricknell and Sam Gargan, they had two of the division's outstanding strikers.

Before the game, right-winger Michael Ademiluyi told me that he wasn't happy with his lack of appearances for the first-team. He had played just eight times up until this point, and he also missed the last four games. Considering that he asked me so nicely to play him, I decided to give Michael his chance, and put him straight into the starting XI.

1 November 2014: Whitehawk vs Romford

Whitehawk looked the better team early on, thanks in no small part to some shocking Romford passing. Time and time again in the first few minutes, we squandered possession with careless punts up the pitch. We were fortunate that the Hawks' shooting was rusty, as Ryan Woods pulled their first effort wide in the 5th minute. While some of our lads were passing recklessly, another was tackling recklessly. In the 14th minute, winger Sean Hunt lost possession to Tommy Fraser right in front of the Romford dugout, and then lost his cool - lunging in on Fraser with both feet! The red card quickly came out of the referee's pocket, and Sean's stupidity had left us significantly disadvantaged. Whitehawk were now a man up, and they soon looked to go ahead on the goal count. Woods unleashed a long-range strike at goal on 17 minutes, and Kieron Thorp made a fine catch. A minute later, Fraser's first-time effort from around 25 yards went inches wide. The Hawks eventually got their break in the 26th minute. Callum Hart's long ball cut open the defence, and Sam Gargan got on the other end of it and drilled it beyond Thorp's reach. Having scored the first goal, Whitehawk looked very likely to get the second before half-time. Thorp beat away a Ryan Brett shot in the 31st minute, and Fraser narrowly missed the target with another thunderous drive in the 39th. But three minutes after that, Dean O'Halloran's corner for Romford found Mark Betteridge in the six-yard box, and Mark tapped in his second goal in as many matches to give us a shock equaliser!

Holding a team like Whitehawk to a 1-1 draw with only ten men was surprising enough to me. Imagine my shock when, five minutes into the second half, Nicky Reynolds received O'Halloran's through-ball and placed it into the net to give us a 2-1 lead! If we could keep hold of that advantage, it would be a massive result for us. But though Whitehawk were down, they got back up again, and attacked with more purpose. In the 55th minute, Ben Adams's edge-of-the-area volley deflected off his team-mate Gargan's boot and headed towards goal... but Thorp got down and caught the ball right on his goal line! Seven minutes later, we went from nearly losing our advantage to almost consolidating it. Billy Tsovolos missed a headed interception from Jay Vassell's long ball, allowing Kieron Carroll a clean run at goal. The skipper just had to beat Hawks goalkeeper Josh Baker, but when the moment came to shoot, he skied the ball over the crossbar. Kieron had shown too much complacency all game, and this was the last straw. He was taken off, with Brian Neville replacing him. Brian would be on the pitch for only 14 minutes before Fraser made a firm challenge on the teenage midfielder and left him unable to carry on. The game was nearing its conclusion, and the strains of defending a winning position with fewer men would eventually take their toll. In the 81st minute, Thorp brilliantly caught a header from Fraser to keep the Hawks captain at bay. Seven minutes later, though, an error of judgment from the keeper cost us two points. Thorp charged off his line to approach Lewis Stockford, but when Stockford fired his shot, Kieron was helpless to stop it from going in. Whitehawk pressed on in search for the winning goal in injury time, but we held firm and ensured that we took one point home from Brighton. This was the Hawks' eighth league draw of the season, and our third on the trot.

Whitehawk - 2 (Gargan 27, Stockford 88)

Romford - 2 (Betteridge 42, Reynolds 50)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 231 - POSITIONS: Whitehawk 13th, Romford 8th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge, Guthmy, Farrell (O'Halloran), Carroll (Neville (Hartson)), Vassell, Ademiluyi, Hunt, Reynolds. SENT OFF: Hunt.

When all is said and done, a draw against Whitehawk is a good result - but if it wasn't for Sean Hunt losing his temper, then we might have had a better chance of claiming victory. Sean received an official warning from myself, and a three-match ban from the Isthmian League's disciplinary committee. He'd better not do it again.

Rock-bottom Maidstone United were our next opponents. They hadn't tasted victory in the Isthmian Premier since 2 September, while we hadn't LOST in the league since that very same date. We were determined to keep both of those sequences going when we met them at the Gallagher Stadium.

4 November 2014: Maidstone United vs Romford

To say that we dominated the first half would be an understatement of the highest order. Maidstone could not cope with the pressure we put them under from the very start, and we effectively set up base camp in the final third of the pitch. In just the second minute, Stones keeper Aaron Butcher made two incredible saves from Ryan Jones and then Kieron Carroll. He also pushed away a Nicky Reynolds strike in the 8th minute before Kieron missed the target seconds later. Unsurprisingly, we found a way through in the 12th minute, when Carroll volleyed home from Dean O'Halloran's free-kick delivery into the area. Three minutes later, Carroll fired a second goal in off the crossbar, and Maidstone were looking like they would cave in! We would incredibly have TEN shots at goal in the first 20 minutes! The last of them should have resulted in our third goal, but Reynolds rushed into his shot and pulled it wide of the post. After Butcher denied Carroll a hat-trick in the 23rd minute, we eased off a little - and I'm afraid to say the lads got a little cocky. Sonny Cobbs put Maidstone's first goalscoring opportunity over the bar in the 40th minute, and Charlie Ide went close for United in injury time. Maidstone were showing signs of life when we really should have killed them off.

Maidstone's attempts to get back in contention looked more convincing in the second half. In the 49th minute, Kieron Thorp did well to tip away Ide's drilled effort. He also caught a half-volley from midfielder Scott Rogers after 63 minutes. On 68 minutes, Boro winger Joe Oates centred the ball to substitute striker Daniel Akindayini, who had a great opportunity to slot it into the corner... and scuffed it wide. Two minutes later, Maidstone snatched the lifeline they were looking for. Jack Page played an excellent pass to Ide, who was given too much space by our defenders, and he made us pay with a cool finish. However, it was not enough for the Stones. Their next attempt - Joe Peacock's 30-yard free-kick in the 88th minute - was easily caught by Thorp's safe hands, and after Akindayini tested Butcher with a couple more efforts, we saw the game out. Three more points took us up to 6th place.

Maidstone United - 1 (Ide 70)

Romford - 2 (Carroll 12,15)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 594 - POSITIONS: Maidstone 24th, Romford 6th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Dymond, Hatch, Betteridge (Allen), Walters, O'Halloran (Plummer), Jones, Farrell, Oates, Carroll, Reynolds (Akindayini).

After another fine result in the league came our moment of truth in Qualifying Round 3 of the FA Trophy. We had already seen off opponents from Worcestershire and Hampshire in previous rounds, and our next away trip was a less gruelling journey to Bromley in south-east London. To make it through to Round 1, we would have to eliminate the 4th-placed team in the Conference South - a tough ask, but not an impossible mission.

8 November 2014: Bromley vs Romford

After an uninspiring start to the match, Kieron Carroll had our first shot at goal in the 12th minute, and dragged it a long way off target. Two minutes later, our other Kieron - goalkeeper Thorp - caught a long-range free-kick from Bromley midfielder Michael Noone. On 24 minutes, Thorp made another easy save after Elliot Sandy's miscued attempt at a half-volley. Carroll then blasted two efforts over the bar in the 26th and 27th minutes. The game looked too close to call at that stage, but after 28 minutes, Bromley struck a major blow. A knee injury sustained early on did not stop Lilywhites captain Ben Smith from playing a sweet through-ball to Johnny Cosgrove, who buried the ball in the corner. 1-0 to Bromley. That opening goal settled any nerves the favourites may have had, and they went on to dictate play for the rest of the half. Just before half-time, a poor headed clearance from Mark Betteridge gave Solomon Taiwo the chance to consolidate Bromley's position, but the Nigerian's shot didn't test Thorp.

Our counter-attacking strategy didn't work in the first half, and it fell to pieces in the second. Every time we tried to hit Bromley on the break, we kept making silly mistakes and gifting the ball back to our opponents. After 51 minutes, Bromley came close to getting a second goal through Kurtney Brooks, whose long-range effort wasn't a million miles wide. Neither was Taiwo's 64th-minute strike from inside the penalty area. But when Sandy got past George Allen to tap Adam Tann's through-ball into the net two minutes later, the Lilywhites had a two-goal cushion. There was no stopping them afterwards. By the 77th minute, they were coasting, as Sandy made it 3-0 with a header from Tann's cross. Bromley's frontline was ripping apart our defence to such an extent that even Connor Dymond had a bad day at the office. When our usually dependable stopper brought down Jack Dean in the penalty area with five minutes to go, Sandy got the chance to complete his hat-trick... and that was exactly what he did. 4-0 Bromley - the game was most certainly over, and likewise our hopes of making further inroads in this season's FA Trophy. The final whistle ended a miserable afternoon in which we did not get so much as a shot on target.

Bromley - 4 (Cosgrove 28, Sandy 67,77,pen85)

Romford - 0

FA Trophy Qualifying Round 3, Attendance 302

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge (Allen), Guthmy, Neville (Farrell), Crawley, Vassell, Ademiluyi, Akindayini (Oates), Carroll.

Ouch. That's why Bromley are in the Conference South, and we're only in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

Though it was disappointing to whimper out of the FA Trophy like that, we could now put most - if not yet all - of our efforts into the Isthmian Premier. As things stood, we were a few points off the play-off places, and we still had at least two games in hand on everyone in the top five.

[CFuller]

This next match was sure to be a real doozy. When our main rivals AFC Hornchurch last came to Ship Lane last year, we played out an epic FA Cup qualifying match before the Urchins eventually scraped through on penalties.

Since then, Hornchurch have dropped from the Conference South to the Isthmian Premier, they've replaced their manager, and most recently, they've had a new chairman take over. Ahead of this meeting, they were in 16th place, having picked up six fewer points than us from one extra game.

15 November 2014: Romford vs AFC Hornchurch

After only three minutes, Nicky Reynolds hit a half-volley at goal, but couldn't strike it cleanly enough to keep it on target. Nicky wasn't exactly having a purple patch, but two in-form Boro players combined to give us the lead after nine minutes. Dean O'Halloran created his eighth assist in just ten games, as his header was nodded into the net by defender Connor Dymond, who recovered quickly from his Bromley nightmare. By the 25th minute, our FA Trophy disaster seemed like ancient history. Dean cut out Barney Williams' throw-in and flicked it to Reynolds, who moved the ball left to Jay Vassell on the edge of the penalty area. Jay then smashed his shot home to double our advantage! At 2-0 up, we were well on our way to victory. AFC Hornchurch were out of sorts, and they couldn't even get a shot on goal in the first half. Indeed, if Sam Baxter hadn't tipped over Kieron Carroll's effort in the 40th minute, the Urchins would've been three goals down at the break! The game was not quite over as a contest, though. Would there be a Hornchurch revival in the second half?

Four minutes after the restart, Hornchurch had their first shot at goal... and it found the back of the net. Samuel Smith centred the ball to Tom Derry, and the 19-year-old's half-volley gave the visitors fresh hope. We had been punished for a slow start, and things would only get worse before they got better. A couple of Urchins corners shortly after the hour mark made the Boro fans even more nervous. Our players would soon begin to feel the tension. After 66 minutes, Frazer Shaw's low cross into our six-yard box found Derry, who with Hornchurch's second shot at goal scored their second goal! Our opponents had shown great determination to draw level, and the way things were going, another goal looked unavoidable. With just eight minutes to go, the scoreline did change to 3-2 - in Romford's favour! The man of the moment was captain Carroll, who chested Vassell's headed pass and drilled it beyond Baxter to break Hornchurch's hearts! We had pulled two points out of the fire and ignited our play-off charge!

Romford - 3 (Dymond 9, Vassell 25, Carroll 82)

AFC Hornchurch - 2 (Derry 50,66)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 239 - POSITIONS: Romford 8th, AFC Hornchurch 17th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, Neville, Carroll, Vassell (Jones), O'Halloran (Ademiluyi), Oates, Reynolds (Hartson).

Our unbeaten run in the league was now at eight games, but before we could try and extend that to nine, we had to host Isthmian North mid-tablers AFC Hayes in Isthmian League Cup Round 3. The visitors were formed as Brook House in the 1970s, and adopted their current name in 2007 after a better-known Hayes club merged with Yeading.

Before the game, I met Leo Jones to talk about investing some of our cup cash in the youth set-up. Although the chairman agreed to enhance our junior training programme, he wasn't so sure about increasing our youth recruitment network. I was naturally disappointed, but I respected his decision.

19 November 2014: Romford vs AFC Hayes

In the 9th minute, James Hartson headed the ball into the AFC Hayes net, and we were seemingly off to a great start. It wasn't to be, though, as the goal was ruled out after James was judged to have fouled goalkeeper Jack Metcalfe. The Brook were off the hook... but not for long. Just over a minute later, Metcalfe gifted us an easy opening goal with a dreadful error! He came forward to the edge of his penalty area and tipped Ryan Jones' long ball further towards his own goal, leaving Hartson with a very basic finish! Cecil Jee Thomas then had an opportunity to equalise for Hayes on 21 minutes, and he blasted it wide. Five minutes later, his team-mate Warwick McManus struck an effort so far off target that it landed in the Ship Lane car park! By the 28th minute, some Hayes fans were thinking about going there and heading back home! Hartson made an excellent run towards the Hayes goal before setting up a simple finish for Daniel Akindayini, and we were now 2-0 to the good! Danny returned the favour in the 39th minute, setting up James's second goal and Romford's third of what was becoming a very one-sided match.

AFC Hayes were dying a very agonising death, and once we scored our fourth goal in the 50th minute, there was no doubt about our place in Round 4. Sean Hunt - who was playing for the first time since his three-match ban expired - swung a corner to the near post, and Mark Betteridge dealt the final blow with an excellent header. Sadly, Hunt's comeback was halted by a twisted knee in the 66th minute, and he was subsequently ruled out for at least three weeks. That was the only low point of a comfortable victory in which goalkeeper Joel Wilkinson only had to make a couple of second-half saves from Thomas. Our reward for getting through to the next round was an away tie against Maidstone United.

Romford - 4 (Hartson 10,39, Akindayini 28, Betteridge 50)

AFC Hayes - 0

Isthmian League Cup Round 3, Attendance 145

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Hatch, Betteridge, Guthmy, Ademiluyi (Reynolds), Jones (Crawley), Farrell, Hunt (Oates), Akindayini, Hartson.

Next, we journeyed to Cambridgeshire to play St Neots Town. The Saints were relegated from the Conference North last season, and their bid to get back into the sixth tier hadn't started too well, with six losses from their first eleven games.

[CFuller]

22 November 2014: St Neots Town vs Romford

St Neots were one of the Isthmian Premier's tougher teams on paper, but we made a bright start against them. In the 3rd minute, our Aussie midfielder Ryan Jones hit a shot from 25 yards, and it was comfortably caught by St Neots' teenage goalkeeper Oliver O'Nien. We attacked again in the 11th minute, when Joe Oates floated a cross to Kieron Carroll in the box, and the skipper half-volleyed it past O'Nien to take the lead for us! St Neots were frustrated at having gone a goal down, and they had several unsuccessful attempts to draw level. James Stevenson hit a woeful shot in the 16th minute, but that was nothing compared to Theo Fairweather-Johnson, whose shooting was at times more likely to trouble the spectators than Kieron Thorp! Fairweather-Johnson had six shots at goal, and the only one that was on target came after 37 minutes, when Thorp tipped it wide. The Saints' wastefulness meant that our lead was just about intact going into the second half.

Unsurprisingly, St Neots took TFJ off at half-time, replacing him with James Knowles. How significant would that substitution be for St Neots? The answer was very. The second half had barely started when Michael Thomas (no relation to the Arsenal legend) lobbed an exquisite pass to Saints captain Daniel Subuola, who scored from a tight angle with just 27 seconds gone! The equaliser brought with it a wind of change, as St Neots started to shoot with more confidence. Thomas himself had a pop from around 30 yards in the 53rd minute, and Thorp just about got his fingers to it. The home defence also looked much more solid, and we struggled to add to the four shots we mustered in the first half. Midway through the second half, I brought on George Allen to replace the tiring Mark Betteridge, hoping that it would boost our own backline. Well, in the 77th minute, Allen headed away a Ben Ford free-kick... straight back to Ford, who hammered the follow-up home! After St Neots went 2-1 ahead, our defence collapsed like a house of cards. Ford was our nemesis again in the 83rd minute, when his corner was nodded in off the bar by substitute Knowles for 3-1. That effectively won the game for the Saints, and their star performer Subuola put the seal on it with their fourth goal after 89 minutes. Twelve minutes from hell had resulted in our eight-match unbeaten league run going up in smoke, and I was seething.

St Neots Town - 4 (Subuola 46,89, Ford 77, Knowles 83)

Romford - 1 (Carroll 11)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 143 - POSITIONS: St Neots 16th, Romford 10th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Chapman, Dymond, Betteridge (Allen), Guthmy, O'Halloran (Ademiluyi), Jones (Hartson), Vassell, Oates, Carroll, Reynolds.

In recent weeks, a solid Romford defence had become more flimsy, and after that crushing defeat, it was time for me to act. Goalkeeper Kieron Thorp had kept just one clean sheet in nine games since his return from injury, and in that time, he conceded 16 goals. With Kieron's form heading south, I decided to drop him and give Joel Wilkinson an extended run in the first-team.

Our next home game was likely to be another stern test against Harrow Borough, who did the double over us last term. Harrow began this campaign in brilliant fashion, though they had fallen away a little recently and were now just outside the play-offs.

26 November 2014: Romford vs Harrow Borough

Neither team appeared to have their shooting boots on in the first half-hour. George Landais' opening effort for Harrow in the 5th minute struck the outside of the post, and his next attempt was saved by Joel Wilkinson in the 17th. At the other end, Boro forward Daniel Akindayini was having trouble getting his shots on target. He curled one effort wide after 19 minutes, and a header went the same way three minutes later. In the 32nd minute, Harrow midfielder Nicky Milner was forced to come off after being injured by Jay Vassell. His replacement Rob Wolleaston would make an immediate impact, because two minutes later, he created the opening goal for Harrow. The former Chelsea man played a fantastic long pass up to Landais, who jumped clear of Danny Newman, cut inside, and bent his shot in off the post. The visitors were leading, and they could have gone into half-time with a two-goal cushion, but Matthew Thompson curled his free-kick just wide on 44 minutes.

Romford favourite Nicky Reynolds came on at half-time to replace Kieron Carroll, who was booked early on and was running the risk of a red card. Nicky's first shot was an unconvincing header in the 52nd minute, which Harrow goalkeeper James Hoad caught comfortably. But our general performance improved, and as well as creating more scoring chances, we also won a number of corners. One of them, in the 60th minute, nearly resulted in a goal, as Wayne Hatch headed Callum Crawley's delivery against the bar. Six minutes later, Joe Oates decided to try his luck from the left touchline... and his shot floated over Hoad and into the net! Regardless of whether it was a stroke of luck or genius, it was a priceless goal, and it preserved our record of not having lost a home league game this season. Landais did miss a chance to end that record six minutes from time, but both Harrow and ourselves were satisfied with a draw at the close of play.

Romford - 1 (Oates 66)

Harrow Borough - 1 (Landais 34)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 175 - POSITIONS: Romford 9th, Harrow 7th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Dymond, Betteridge (Hatch), Walters, Farrell, Crawley, Vassell, Akindayini (O'Halloran), Oates, Carroll (Reynolds). BOOKED: Carroll, Vassell.

We ended November with an away trip to Potters Bar Town - and it was perhaps our most significant league game of the season so far. If we could beat the in-form Scholars, who led the Isthmian Premier by six points, then we'd be just eight points behind them with four games in hand! It wasn't going to be easy, but anything was possible, especially as Potters Bar's main striker Tom Bradbrook was out with an ankle injury.

29 November 2014: Potters Bar Town vs Romford

Well, so much for this being the biggest game of the season! The first half was almost completely devoid of any drama, and the only time that either keeper was remotely tested was after 43 minutes, when Brian Neville's tame shot was caught by Potters Bar goalie Josh James. I knew I should've brought a Tolstoy novel with me...

Things picked up a little in the second half. Potters Bar won a corner after 53 minutes, and Mitch Hahn's delivery was headed in by Matt Drage, who put the league leaders 1-0 up. That lead wouldn't last long, though. Just five minutes later, Daniel Akindayini flicked Joe Oates's cross into the net and levelled the match! It was Danny's seventh goal for Romford, and he was fast becoming a Boro favourite! After that short burst of activity, the game reverted to its original pattern. Save for a few Potters Bar corners and a hopeless long-range shot from Romford captain Kieron Carroll in the 66th minute, there was little to get excited about late on. The final whistle brought relief for both teams, as well as those spectators who sat through a total borefest!

Potters Bar Town - 1 (Drage 54)

Romford - 1 (Akindayini 58)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 118 - POSITIONS: Potters Bar 1st, Romford 10th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Hatch (Dymond), Betteridge, Guthmy, Farrell (Crawley), Jones, Neville, O'Halloran (Oates), Akindayini, Carroll.

Despite picking up just two point from those last three games, we were still in a good position, as most of the teams above us were taking points off each other and making the battle for the play-offs much tighter. Heading into December, we were just three points off 5th place, and only six off 2nd - and remember, we still had those extra games to play!

[CFuller]

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

[CFuller]

Four weeks after winning a league match at Maidstone United, we were back there for Round 4 of the Isthmian League Cup. The victor would progress to the Quarter Finals in the New Year.

3 December 2014: Maidstone United vs Romford

This was Maidstone's first match under their new manager Charlie Burns, and they started positively. Stones striker Jack Sellens had the chance to open the scoring after just three minutes, but he blasted his shot into orbit. In the 16th minute, Sellens found the back of the net with an amazing volley after intercepting Danny Newman's headed clearance! Fortunately for us, the goal was chalked off after the referee spotted a Maidstone foul in the penalty area. After that close shave, Nicky Reynolds struck the crossbar with Romford's first chance in the 39th minute. Four minutes later, a swerving effort from Stones midfielder Brett Lucas struck the underside of the bar, and Boro keeper Joel Wilkinson palmed it over, much to the relief of our travelling supporters. Maidstone could and perhaps should have been two goals ahead after the first half. How long would our luck hold out for?

It held out for just shy of an hour, and then Maidstone finally got what their play deserved. Lucas crossed through a gap between Jay Vassell and George Allen to find Sellens, who outmuscled Connor Dymond on the edge of the six-yard box and applied the finish. Boro left-back George Walters suffered an injury shortly afterwards, though he soldiered on until the 78th minute, when he was substituted. By then, any belief we had in winning the match - or at the very least taking it to penalties - had evaporated. With six minutes to go, we hammered the final nail in our own Isthmian League Cup coffin. Allen was penalised for shoving Jack Page in the area, and Dwayne Campbell confidently scored from the spot to send the Stones into the Quarter Finals. A 2-0 defeat was no less than we deserved after one of our weakest performances of the season.

Maidstone United - 2 (Sellens 60, Campbell pen84)

Romford - 0

Isthmian League Cup Round 4, Attendance 599

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Dymond, Allen, Walters (Hatch), Ademiluyi, Vassell, Neville, Oates (Akindayini), Hartson (Jones), Reynolds. BOOKED: Vassell.

George Allen had captained Romford for the latter stages of the match, but not for the first time this season, the normally reliable defender crumpled under the pressure. On the way back home, I told George that - as a result of his poor form - I would be dropping him from first-team action for the next few weeks. George wasn't too pleased to hear that, but I felt a rest would do him good in the long run.

Defeat in the Isthmian League Cup meant that the rest of our season was all about the Isthmian Premier. Our play-off bid continued at home to 3rd-placed Sutton United, who were looking to return to the Conference South at the first time of asking.

6 December 2014: Romford vs Sutton United

The players were in a relaxed mood for this game, and it showed as they passed the ball more freely than they did at Maidstone. However, they nearly conceded a goal in the 11th minute to Sutton debutant Mark Ricketts, who narrowly missed the target. Three minutes later, Ricketts accidentally headed the ball towards his own net, but goalkeeper Tom Lovelock spared his blushes by tipping it over. Ashley Farrell had an opportunity for Romford in the 16th minute, but pulled his shot wide. We had two major injury concerns later in the first half. Captain Kieron Carroll hurt himself after 33 minutes, when he dived into Sutton defender Patrice Konan whilst trying to reach Danny Newman's cross. Kieron was luckily not hurt too badly, but when Ryan Jones was fouled by Ricketts six minutes later, the Australian midfielder wasn't blessed with similar fortune. Ricketts' challenge left Ryan with a sprained ankle, and he was subsequently ruled out for around six weeks.

The first half ground to a halt without any goals, and the second half was slow to get going. In the 54th minute, Mark Betteridge headed away a dangerous cross from Sutton's Dymon Labonne, but only as far as Declan Hunt, who scuffed a half-volley wide. At the other end, Boro midfielder Callum Crawley struck a shot against the crossbar on 62 minutes. Eight minutes later, Dean O'Halloran brought a moribund game to life. The Irish winger broke clear of the Sutton defenders, and delighted our fans by drilling in his first ever Romford goal! The U's tried to spoil Dean's moment of glory by getting his goal disallowed for offside - and they failed. We would dominate the closing 20 minutes, creating several opportunities to double our advantage, mostly through Daniel Akindayini. Eventually, we settled for a 1-0 win and claimed all three points, despite finishing with 10 men after Kamal Guthmy was injured in added-on time.

Romford - 1 (O'Halloran 70)

Sutton United - 0

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 218 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Sutton Utd 4th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman (Dymond), Hatch, Betteridge, Guthmy, Jones (Vassell), Crawley, Farrell, O'Halloran, Akindayini, Carroll (Hartson).

During the week, I brought in Romford-born centre-back Greg Knock on a four-week trial. The 21-year-old former Leyton Orient trainee had been unattached since his summer departure from Royston Town.

[CFuller]

Our last three matches had all been against higher-ranked teams, and things wouldn't get any easier, with an away trip to Dulwich Hamlet next on the schedule. The Isthmian South winners had stormed up to 2nd place in their first season back in the Isthmian Premier, thanks to their in-form striker Mohammed Dikuiza, and a stubborn defence that includes our old friend Scott Traveller.

13 December 2014: Dulwich Hamlet vs Romford

Nicky Reynolds put an effort just wide of the post for Romford in the 7th minute. Dulwich captain Charlie Holness tried to find the target with a piledriver two minutes later... but he instead found the corner flag! Hamlet's top scorer Mohammed Dikuiza went closer in the 21st minute, as his header was caught by Joel Wilkinson. The hosts opened the scoring four minutes later - but it wasn't Dikuiza who found the net. It was Josh Burge, who curled the ball home shortly after he had a free-kick cleared. At 1-0 down, we needed our star attackers to hit form quickly. On 34 minutes, a fantastic long pass from Kieron Carroll sent Reynolds through on goal, but instead of having a shot at goal himself, he waited for Dean O'Halloran to come in from the right. When Dean did get into the penalty area, Nicky's pass to the Irishman was intercepted by Dulwich defender Sam Pemberton. Nicky's refusal to be greedy would be very costly. In the 37th minute, Dulwich controversially won a penalty after Burge went down under what I thought was a tame tackle from Carroll. While I vented my anger at the fourth official, Nigerian midfielder Peter Adeniyi thrashed in the penalty to give Hamlet a two-goal cushion. Carroll didn't recover mentally from that incident, and I substituted him just before half-time. His replacement Jay Vassell had little time to make an impact before the referee blew for time, at which point the men in pink were sitting pretty.

25 seconds into the second half, Vassell passed to Reynolds on the edge of the Dulwich 'D', and Nicky narrowly missed the target. Reynolds was having another stinker, and he too was subbed. Our two attacking substitutions combined well in the 63rd minute, when Nicky's replacement James Hartson volleyed home from Vassell's headed pass. Sadly, James was miles offside, and we remained 2-0 down. As for the third Romford substitute, debutant trialist Greg Knock looked solid in the centre of defence after replacing the struggling Mark Betteridge at half-time. In the 75th minute, Knock tried to claim a penalty after an incident with Pemberton in the Dulwich area, but the ref said nothing doing. A couple of minutes later, Hartson's vicious strike stung the palms of his former team-mate Scott Traveller. Joe Oates then placed the rebound into the net, briefly giving us a ray of hope. Despite that, a comeback never looked likely against high-flying Hamlet. Three minutes from time, Dulwich winger Rory Hill struck the woodwork with a shot that, if it had been just a few inches to the left, would've made it 3-1. As it was, the hosts still won by the narrow scoreline of 2-1. Not for the first time, we had been punished for our profligacy.

Dulwich Hamlet - 2 (Burge 25, Adeniyi pen37)

Romford - 1 (Oates 77)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 412 - POSITIONS: Dulwich Hamlet 2nd, Romford 11th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman, Dymond, Betteridge (Knock), Walters, Crawley, Carroll (Vassell), Farrell, O'Halloran, Oates, Reynolds (Hartson). BOOKED: O'Halloran, Dymond.

A week later, we found ourselves - for once - playing against a team struggling at the wrong end of the table. We were at Enfield Town, who had vastly underperformed since we caned them 4-0 back in August and were residing in the relegation zone.

20 December 2014: Enfield Town vs Romford

Tim Rivers was at the heart of an Enfield attack in the very first minute, but a well-crafted team move resulted in him missing the target. After bang on two minutes, full Romford debutant Greg Knock played a fine cross to Kieron Carroll in the Enfield Town penalty area. However, the Boro skipper's header was easily gathered by his counterpart Simon Overland. In the 7th minute, an Enfield corner caused concern in our six-yard box before Dean O'Halloran saved the day with a last-ditch clearance from Max Wright's header. The hosts launched their next attack after 25 minutes - to devastating effect. They sliced passes through our defence before Rivers played in left midfielder Michael Scott, who found the target with his first goal for Town. We were a goal behind, and our predicament could've worsened two minutes later. Joel Wilkinson fumbled a drilled effort from Dwayne Coultress, and was fortunate that Anthony Chapman got to the loose ball first. The score remained 1-0 to Enfield Town at half-time, and it was looking like another bad day at the office for us. I was feeling as hopeless as David Brent.

We upped the tempo in the second half, hoping to catch Enfield Town off their guard. In the 60th minute, George Walters blasted the ball upfield to Kieron Carroll, who flicked a pass to Daniel Akindayini in the penalty area. Lewis Dark blocked Akindayini's path, but inadvertently knocked the ball to Carroll, who buried his shot into the corner and equalised! That would be a rare highlight in another unproductive performance from us. Enfield started attacking again after losing the lead, but they too struggled. Coultress missed by a long way in the 71st minute, and Rivers was caught offside four minutes later, while Greig Stewart's shot in the 82nd minute only troubled the advertising hoards. In the end, a draw was perhaps a fair result for all concerned.

Enfield Town - 1 (Scott 25)

Romford - 1 (Carroll 60)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 214 - POSITIONS: Enfield Town 22nd, Romford 11th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Chapman, Dymond, Knock, Walters, O'Halloran (Farrell), Crawley, Vassell, Hunt (Oates), Carroll, Hartson (Akindayini).

It was the season to be jolly, but we badly needed cheering up. After winning just one of our last six league games, we were losing ground on the other play-off contenders. We needed to get our spark back quickly.

As luck would have it, our next match was against the team sitting right at the bottom of the table.

[CFuller]

We were originally scheduled to visit Cray Wanderers on the opening day of the Isthmian Premier season four months ago, on 25 August. Then we were drawn into the very first round of the Isthmian League Cup, and the Cray game was moved back to September. More cup matches meant that it was moved to October, and then to 23 December - just three days before we were due to HOST Cray Wanderers!

When that day finally arrived, we were all fully prepared, and we boarded the coach for an hour-long drive to Bromley. But when we arrived at Hayes Lane, we were horrified to discover that the pitch was absolutely drenched! It was more suitable for a game of Marco Polo than football!

The match was, of course, called off and moved to another date. That meant that what was meant to be our season-opener was now scheduled for 2 January 2015 - more than four months later than originally planned!

As we drove back home to Romford greatly disappointed, Joe Oates - who wasn't on board - phoned me out of the blue to say that he was leaving the club. Joe had found a new job in Bedfordshire, and he had also agreed to sign for Leighton Town... who were dead last in the Southern League Premier Division.

I wasn't too happy about losing Joe, who had played exactly 100 games under my management and scored eight goals. Despite only being 21, he was one of our longest-serving players, and I was hoping that he would be with us for many more years.

Joe's sudden departure also meant that I had to appoint a new vice-captain. I went for 17-year-old defensive midfielder Ashley Farrell. Although his first-team performances this season have not exactly been remarkable, Ashley has a great attitude both on and off the pitch, and he has already skippered us a few times already when neither Kieron Carroll nor Oates started. If his development continues, he has all the hallmarks of a future Romford captain.

Nicky Reynolds was now the only remaining member of my original squad, and he was promoted to third-choice skipper behind Kieron and Ashley.

After celebrating Christmas, we played host to Cray Wanderers on Boxing Day. It was important to me that we beat the struggling Wands to give us fresh confidence ahead of our away match against them a week later.

26 December 2014: Romford vs Cray Wanderers

Kieron Carroll is supposed to be renowned for his long-range shooting, but his 9th-minute effort from 25 yards out went a long way wide. On 17 minutes, Cray keeper Carl Pentney made a brilliant save to stop Ashley Farrell from heading in Callum Crawley's corner. The Wands then countered, with Mitch Harding dribbling all the way from their penalty area to the edge of ours, but a terrific solo run was followed up by a terrible strike. Our next attack came after 27 minutes. Crawley intercepted a poor Ryan Case clearance and passed to Daniel Akindayini, whose first-time shot was caught by Pentney. Nine minutes later, Romford right-back Danny Newman made a fantastic challenge on Gregory Ariyibi and exchanged passes with Carroll before going through on goal. Sadly, the post denied Danny his first senior goal. After Kieron wasted another chance in the 42nd minute, we went into half-time with the game still goalless.

Carroll missed a third chance to break the deadlock four minutes into the second half. In the 54th minute, Crawley swung a corner to Mark Betteridge, whose header was tipped over at point-blank range by Pentney. That meant another corner. This time, Mark's header from Callum's delivery beat the keeper, and we were at last in the lead! But Cray and their American winger Ariyibi soon threatened to get back on level terms. Ariyibi forced a save out of Joel Wilkinson in the 57th minute, and eight minutes later, he brilliantly turned past Sean Hunt before sending a dreadful effort off target. Cray found it tough to create any more chances after that, and with nine minutes to go, we built a comfortable 2-0 lead. Farrell crossed into the middle of the penalty area, and a half-volley from substitute Kamal Guthmy effectively wrapped up the three points. We now had our minds set on keeping a clean sheet, but Joey Butlin denied us that with a consolation goal for the Wands in the second minute of injury time.

Romford - 2 (Betteridge 55, Guthmy 81)

Cray Wanderers - 1 (Butlin 90)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 150 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Cray 24th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Wilkinson, Newman (Knock), Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, Neville (Guthmy), Crawley, Farrell, Akindayini (Ademiluyi), Hunt, Carroll.

We had another home game on the eve of New Year's Eve, and I expected Billericay Town to put up more of a fight than Cray did. That said, Billericay's confidence was at rock bottom after they picked up just two points from their previous nine games - a run of form that had seen them go from early play-off contenders to possible candidates for relegation.

30 December 2014: Romford vs Billericay Town

In an exciting start to the match, Billericay goalkeeper Dave Watson tipped over Daniel Akindayini's curling effort after just two minutes. Our keeper also made an early save in the sixth minute, when the recalled Kieron Thorp caught from William Miller. Kieron's Irish compatriot Dean O'Halloran had a great chance to put us ahead in the 17th minute, but the winger scooped his shot over the crossbar. Four minutes later, O'Halloran headed Kamal Guthmy's cross into the six-yard box, and Watson brilliantly palmed the ball over just as Akindayini was about to nod it into the net. On 27 minutes, Mark Betteridge went down in the Ricay area under a challenge from Miller, but our penalty claims were waved away. We were over Billericay like a rash, and our visitors struggled to cope, so guess what happened in the 35th minute. That's right - Billericay scored. A rare Ricay attack culminated in Miller's through-ball finding Sam Lechmere and being drilled into the bottom corner by the Town winger. To go 1-0 down having controlled the first half-hour felt gutting. After Callum Crawley flighted an injury-time free-kick over, we headed into the dressing room needing to sort things out for the second half.

Billericay came out for the second half with a desire to build on their 1-0 lead. Lechmere had a 49th-minute shot saved by Thorp, but an even greater opportunity would come Ricay's way five minutes later. We made little attempt to clear Chris Henderson's throw-in from the penalty area, and Lechmere got on the end of it in a crowded six-yard box. He pulled it back to Dan Sweeney, who had much of the goal to aim at but instead sent his shot inches past the far post! To say that was a let-off would be a great understatement. Sweeney had another near-miss on the hour as Billericay continued to control the second half. Our first great chance to equalise was in the 77th minute, when Guthmy's cross looked like swinging into the net, but Town defender Moussa Diarra nodded it off the line. For the first time, that unbeaten home league record of ours was in serious jeopardy. As the minutes ticked away, I ordered the players to throw the kitchen sink at Billericay, and I hoped for the best.

The first sign of vulnerability in the Billericay backline came when Watson parried from Guthmy in the 86th minute. A minute later, Crawley's free-kick rebounded back to the Boro midfielder. Callum passed to Betteridge, whose subsequent cross was volleyed in by James Hartson! Ricay cried offside, though, and we had to wait to see if the officials would allow the goal. Eventually, they decided that James was onside. Much to Billericay's chagrin, we'd equalised! Then, in the final seconds of normal time, O'Halloran drilled a cross to the far post - and Guthmy poked it in from close range! 2-1 to Romford!! In the space of four minutes, we had turned the game on its head and stolen all three points! This was deja vu all over again for the visitors, because 12 months ago, we recovered from 1-0 down to beat them 2-1 with two late goals!

Romford - 2 (Hartson 87, Guthmy 90)

Billericay Town - 1 (Lechmere 35)

Isthmian League Premier Division, Attendance 184 - POSITIONS: Romford 7th, Billericay 17th

ROMFORD LINE-UP: Thorp, Newman (Knock), Dymond, Betteridge, Walters, O'Halloran, Crawley, Farrell (Vassell), Guthmy, Akindayini (Hartson), Reynolds.

That was a massive result - not in terms of the scoreline, but in that it sparked us back to life after an otherwise poor month. We could now head into the New Year with the belief that we might just reach the play-offs!

[CFuller]

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

[Crackers786]

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