Romford boss Paul Martin (Gavin Ellis/TGS)

Boro look to arrest slump at Ilford

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Ryman Division One North

Ilford v Romford (7.45pm)

Romford manager Paul Martin will ring the changes for his side’s Ryman Division One North clash at Ilford tonight.

Boro were beaten 4-0 at home by Potters Bar on Saturday and have now taken only four points from a possible 21 since their Boxing Day success at Grays.

But Martin had few complaints about their latest reverse and revealed he would keep searching for answers.

He said: “I think the result flattered Potters Bar on Saturday. We played some good stuff and if we had taken our chances in the first half it might’ve been a different game.

“We could’ve been 2-0 up, instead of it being 0-0, and then two mistakes in the second half cost us.

“We’re creating, but we’re not scoring. We’ve only scored two in our last seven games and I’ve got three or four really good forwards, but we just need a bit of confidence and a bit of composure.

“We need goals from elsewhere too. Defenders, midfielders, they all need to nick goals.”

Captain Paul Clayton and Jamie Dicks remain sidelined due to suspension, but new signing Hussein Isa — who was used as a body double for Lionel Messi in a TV advert — comes into the squad.

Martin added: “We’ll probably make six changes tonight. Not because of any bad performances, but we’ll keep changing it until we get it right.

“I’ll tinker with it, alter it here and there and try and find the right formula.

“The hardest thing is trying to motivate the squad when we can’t get promoted or relegated.

“If we had won on Saturday we might’ve still been in touching distance of the play-offs, but the gap is too hard to close up now.

“I’m still not ruling out relegation and I’ve told the boys I want 20 points from the last 14 games to beat last year’s total.

“I don’t want to go through the motions. There are a lot of games still to go and I’ve set us a target.”