The weather wiped out most of the Essex Senior League’s midweek programme with both Saffron Walden (who had been due to visit Halstead Town) and Romford (who were scheduled to play at FC Clacton) seeing waterlogged pitches put paid to their games. Boro’s trip to Clacton has been rescheduled for Tuesday 25th February, by the way.

In the games that were played in midweek, Barking beat Takeley 2-1 on Tuesday and our landlords would no doubt have been delighted with the outcome of the game that took place 24 hours later in which Ilford beat Great Wakering Rovers 2-0, a result that prevented Rovers leapfrogging Barking and back into the Play-Off places.

Saffron Walden come to Mayesbrook Park on Saturday sitting in fourth place in the league with 52 points from their 26 games, some seven points behind second placed Takeley and eleven behind leaders Stanway Rovers. Last Saturday Saffron Walden hosted fellow Play-Off contenders Barking, whom they beat 2-1 with the winning goal coming ten minutes from the end.

Match Sponsors:

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Previous Meetings:

There have been 11 previous meetings between Boro and The Bloods, 7 in the Essex Senior League and 4 in various cup competitions. Romford have won 7 of the games so far and came away with a 3-1 win from the match played at Catons Lane earlier in the season. On that occasion Boro trailed 1-0 at the interval but came back to win with two goals from Chris Millar and one from Jake Gordon.

Last season’s league games both ended in Boro victories. On the opening day of the season Boro beat Saffron Walden 5-1 at Mayesbrook Park; Finlay Dorrell netted a hat-trick and Bruno Gomes and Sonny Shilling each scored once, while at Saffron Walden, an own goal earned Romford a 1-0 win. The teams also met in an Errington Challenge Cup Semi-Final tie played at Catons Lane and once more Boro were the winners, 4-2 this time.

Current Form:

Saffron Walden have accumulated 20 points from their last 10 league games, losing just twice. Their defeats came at the hands of White Ensign, who won 3-1 at Catons Lane, and at Little Oakley where they were beaten 4-1.

Away from home, Saffron Walden have been beaten just twice in the league; apart from that recent defeat at Little Oakley, the only other game win which they have tasted defeat on their travels was at Barking, where the lost 3-1.

Top scorer this season for Saffron Walden is Solomon Ofori, who has 12 goals to his name. The next five players in their goalscoring charts – Roman Campbell, Correy Davidson, Ross Wall, Charlie Morris, and Darren Phillips – are no longer with the club.

Morris and Phillips are just two of a number of players who have featured for both Boro and The Bloods in recent months. Of the former Boro players who started the season at Catons Lane, only Sam Deering and Lee and Jamie Hursit remain, although another former Boro man, Tambeson Eyong, has recently joined the club.

This weekend’s Essex Senior League fixtures:

Unusually there are no Friday night games this week with Woodford Town having a rare Saturday afternoon home fixture. Saturday’s games are:

2pm Benfleet v Stanway Rovers
3pm Buckhurst Hill v Barking
3pm Frenford v Great Wakering Rovers
3pm Halstead Town v Sawbridgeworth Town
3pm Hullbridge Sports v Ilford
3pm Little Oakley v Takeley
3pm Romford v Saffron Walden Town
3pm West Essex v Athletic Newham
2pm White Ensign v FC Clacton
3pm Woodford Town v Stansted