After Saturday’s FA Cup exit, it’s time for a different cup tomorrow as Boro face Eastern Counties League Division One South side Coggeshall United in the BBC Essex Senior Cup 1st Round.

The current holders of the Essex Senior Cup are Billericay Town, who beat Bowers & Pitsea 1-0 in the 2022 Final. Romford entered the competition at the 3rd Round stage last season, but failed to progress any further, being beaten 1-0 by a last-minute goal by Hashtag United at Crown Avenue. Coggeshall United went out in the Preliminary Round in 2021-22, beaten 2-1 at home by Harwich & Parkeston.

Earlier incarnations of Romford FC won the Essex Senior Cup five times, in 1911-12, 1931-32, 1933-34, 1937-38, and 1946-47, but the furthest that the current club have progressed was in 2017-18, when Boro were beaten 6-1 by Billericay Town in the Semi-Final.

Our visitors:

Coggeshall United are a very new club, having been formed only in 2017. Their first season saw them finish as runners-up in the Essex & Suffolk Border League, after which they successfully applied to join the newly created Division One South of the Eastern Counties League. In their debut season of 2018-19 they finished second to Hashtag United. The next two seasons were lost to Covid-19, and last season they ended the campaign in fifteenth place.

The club were originally managed by Cliff Akurang, who is now club chairman, and is also manager of Isthmian League North side Coggeshall Town, whose ground United share. The club’s nickname of The Weavers presumably stems from the historically highly prized local wool. The arrival of Cistercian monks in Coggeshall in 1147 transformed the keeping of sheep and turned Coggeshall wool into an item of international trade. In 1733 one of weaving’s greatest inventions, the flying shuttle, was developed by John Kay in Coggeshall.

Tomorrow’s game will be the first ever meeting between the clubs, but there are players with Boro connections in the Coggeshall United camp, namely Justin Bailey and Greg Akpele, who both featured in Coggeshall United’s most recent game, a 4-2 defeat at Sporting Bengal United last Saturday.

This season:

Coggeshall United are currently 14th in their division with nine points from ten games. Those points were gained in wins over Wivenhoe Town (6-1, away) and Cannons Wood (2-0 at home), and from draws with Newbury Forest, Park View, and Burnham Ramblers.

Coggeshall United were not eligible for the FA Cup this season, and after a bye in the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Vase, they were beaten in the 2nd on penalties by Barkingside. The Weavers have reached this stage of the Essex Senior Cup following a penalty shoot-out win over Essex Senior League opposition in White Ensign after a 2-2 draw at the end of 90 minutes.

Results so far in the BBC Essex Senior Cup this season are:

Preliminary Round:
Holland 3, Cannons Wood 1
Benfleet 0, Stanway Pegasus 1
Takeley 5, Newbury Forest 1
Stanway Rovers 3, Barkingside 3 (Barkingside won 3-2 on penalties)
Frenford 3, Wivenhoe Town 4
FC Clacton 2, Barking 3
Basildon Town 5, Harwich & Parkeston 0
Coggeshall United 2, White Ensign 2 (Coggeshall United won 4-3 on penalties)
Halstead Town 1, Burnham Ramblers 3
Little Oakley 3, May & Baker EC 4

First Round:
May & Baker EC 0, Stanway Pegasus 5
Saffron Walden Town 1, Woodford Town 1 (Saffron Walden Town won 10-9 on penalties)

First Round Fixtures:
4th October
Buckhurst Hill v Stansted

5th October
West Essex v Holland
Romford v Coggeshall United

10th October
Ilford v Redbridge

11th October
Burnham Ramblers v Southend Manor

12th October
Athletic Newham v Wivenhoe Town
Takeley v Barkingside

The tie between Barking and Basildon Town has not yet been arranged.

Tomorrow night’s tie will be settled on penalties in the event of the scores being level after 90 minutes, and the winners will be at home to Stanway Pegasus in the 2nd Round.