Boro's best boosts boss

05 February 2010

ROMFORD upset high-flying Thamesmead Town with a 3-0 win to give their Ryman One North survival hopes a huge boost.

Kurt Smith netted twice for Paul Martin's men on Tuesday as they moved up three places in the table ahead of tomorrow's trip to Waltham Forest.

But a delighted Martin was trying to keep his emotions in check, with 16 games still left to play.

"It's our best result of the year - against an in-form team who had only lost once in two months - and it takes the pressure off a bit as it's three points we were not expecting.

"It should pick our season up, but we've got to get our heads back on and keep the momentum," he said.

"We don't want it to be like when we beat East Thurrock, but then lost to Harlow. We've got to take every point we can. We need 14 more for my target so we're not getting carried away just yet."

Martin Heed fired an early chance over from Paul Kavanagh's free-kick and Jack Barry was off-target in similar fashion before Boro broke the deadlock midway through the first half.

James Gammons won possession in midfield and found Barry, who picked out Smith for a low shot into the net via the upright.

Neil Finn denied the home side with a fine save moments later, but the Boro defence stood firm for the most part.

Centre-back Matt Toms stabbed in Boro's second goal from Kavanagh's corner midway through the second half and Smith added a glossy finish four minutes from time with his ninth goal of the season.

Martin added: "Full credit to the players. We did what we haven't been doing - we had a solid 90 minutes and kept a clean sheet against a top team. We've beaten two of the top three now.

"We've got quite a nice squad now and the atmosphere is good. And if we turn up for games, we can get results.

"We've had a more consistent team the past few weeks and our discipline is better. Waltham Forest will be a different ball game, but hopefully this will get our confidence up.

"We're training twice a week now and we're getting fitter."

Romford: Finn, Clayton (Thomas 84), Neville, Truman, Toms, Gammons (Chalk 68), Barry, Smith, Senghore (Protheroe 89), Kavanagh.