Romford face Heybridge Swifts tomorrow, fresh from Wednesday night’s 1-0 win over Tilbury, a result that lifted Boro off the bottom of the table for the first time since the first weekend of the season, back in August.

Boro’s visit to Scraley Road for the first fixture this season ended in a 5-1 win for Swifts, with Alex Teniola scoring a hat-trick for the hosts; Warren Kayembe scored Boro’s solitary goal. That game proved to be Paul Martin’s final game as Romford manager following the events of the ensuing days, in which Glenn Tamplin took over.

Heybridge Swifts are currently fourth in the table, trailing leaders and near neighbours Maldon & Tiptree by a massive 15 points, and having played three games more. Swifts will be hoping for a play-off place this season, and that it will be ‘third time lucky’ having been beaten 2-0 by Haringey Borough in the Semi-Final in 2017-18, and despite having beaten Maldon & Tiptree on penalties in last season’s final, when they missed out on promotion due to the arcane structure that meant that there were more play-off winners than promotion places.

In last season’s home fixture, Romford were beaten 5-1 by Swifts, with Reece Hewitt scoring Boro’s goal on a very wet afternoon at Rookery Hill. Our picture, by Swifts’ photographer Alan Edmunds, shows Jonathon Nzengo on the ball during that game.

Romford and Heybridge Swifts have met 24 times in all competitions, with Romford winning 8, but losing 13, with three drawn. One of those draws – in March 2017 – saw Boro trail 3-1 with the game entering injury time at Ship Lane, only for Ryan Mallett and James Ishmail to haul their side back and earn a 3-3 result. David Fallah, with his only goal for the club, was Romford’s other scorer that day.

Tomorrow’s game will be played at Witham Town FC due to the ongoing problems that mean that The Arena remains closed. For anyone unfamiliar with our temporary home for this game, directions are as follows:

By road: Take the A12 to junction 21 and then merge onto the Hatfield Road (B1389). At the first roundabout take the first exit staying on the B1389. At the traffic lights turn left onto Spinks Lane, carry on onto Highfields Road then bear left onto Spa Road. The entrance to the ground is on the left-hand side. The Post Code is CM8 1UN
By public transport: The nearest station is Witham on the line from Shenfield. From the station the ground is a 20-minute walk, or you can get a cab if not feeling energetic, as there is no bus service from station to ground. Be warned, however that there are engineering works on the railways affecting TfL and Greater Anglia services this weekend, so check their websites for details. There are no TfL services between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, and Greater Anglia services to and from Norwich, Ipswich and Clacton will turn around at Ingatestone, so Rail Replacement Bus services are the order of the day for much of the journey.

It would be nice to think that this could be a trouble free weekend so far as the weather is concerned, but there are no guarantees, so keep an eye on this website and social media for news of any pitch inspections.

As ever, BetVictor are offering odds for this weekend’s game.
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