Boro cruised into the Essex Senior Cup 2nd Round to earn a home tie against Stanway Pegasus with a nap hand against Eastern Counties Leaguers Coggeshall United.

In what was almost a reversal of Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Chelmsford City, Boro were denied for much of the first half by their lower league opponents, but once the first goal went in, there was little likelihood of an upset.

In an open game, it was the visitors who created the first decent chances, with former Boro favourite Greg Akpele firing a shot over Billy Lawlor’s crossbar after five minutes, and then winning a free-kick on the edge of the home penalty area following a good run after 13 minutes. Between those two incidents, Lawlor had to turn a header from Stef Atidzah over the crossbar.

A glancing header by Martin Tuohy from Toby Barlow’s cross was well saved by Coggeshall keeper Samuel Kingston - who had a busy evening - after 15 minutes, and after 28, Lewis Smith cut in from the right and drove in a shot that Kingston pushed away for a corner.

Romford were frequently carving through the Coggeshall defence now, and Alex Balisani had a shot from outside the box parried by Kingston, and then a ball in from George Cox was met by a shot on the turn by Martin Tuohy that Kingston saved at the expense of a corner. Tuohy was then denied again by Kingston when he got on the end of a low cross from Smith after 38 minutes, but two minutes later Boro were ahead when George Allen bundled in a cross from the right at the far post. There was an element of luck as the ball came up off his boot and went in off his body with Coggeshall appealing for handball.

Having held out for 40 minutes, Coggeshall conceded a second in the last minute of the half when Kingston could only parry a header from a corner and George Cox followed up to thump the ball home from close range.

The second half was just eight minutes old when Jake Gordon scored Boro’s third. The visiting defence was missing in action as Gordon took possession on the edge of the box and slid the ball under Kingston.

Substitute Tyrese Sibanda, on for Lewis Smith, had a low shot saved by Kingston after 62 minutes, but a minute later Boro were 4-0 to the good when a free-kick from the left was turned into the net by a Coggeshall defender.

A rare chance from Coggeshall saw an Akpele shot clear the crossbar after 64 minutes, and four minutes later Gordon looked nailed on to score when he had only Kingston to beat, but a covering defender somehow got his body in the way of the goalbound shot. That only delayed a fifth goal by 60 seconds however, as Cox netted his second of the evening after 69 minutes, again taking advantage of a half-cleared corner to score.

The final ten minutes belonged to the visitors, and after Lawlor had been forced into a good save from Revel Erastus -Obilo’s shot on the turn, they scored what was probably the best goal of the night after 87 minutes when Razvat Vladut’s long range effort flew into the top corner. A minute later they further reduced the arrears when Erastus-Obilo scored from the edge of the penalty area.

Romford: Billy Lawlor, George Cox, Toby Barlow, Jacob Wiggins (Jack Glenister, 54m), George Allen, Danny Hurford, Jake Gordon, Camilio Restrepo (Emmanuel Robe, 76m), Martin Tuohy, Alex Balisani, Lewis Smith (Tyrese Sibanda, 61m). Unused subs: Scott Doe, Charlie Morris.