Romford not ruling out play-off finish despite tough start

Romford manager Paul Martin has claimed that his side has the “toughest start of the month” out of all the teams in the Ryman’s Division One North following the release of the 2015/16 fixtures.

The Boro will play last year’s third placed side AFC Sudbury in their opening match before going on to face local rivals and relegated Ryman Premier outfit Hornchurch three days later.

Asked about his thoughts on playing Hornchurch so early in the season, Martin said “It doesn’t matter when we play them, Hornchurch are always going to be a strong team. They have very classy play and they’ve got good goalscorers.

“If we’re going to have any chance in that game then the goalkeeper has got to be solid and the forwards need to stick the ball in the back of the net. It’s as simple as that.”

Romford then go onto face Tilbury at home (August 15) followed by two consecutive away games against Harlow Town (August 22) and Phoenix Sports (August 25). Romford end the month with a visit from last year’s play-off finalists Thurrock (August 31).

“We’ve got to take the fixtures day by day and try and get whatever points we can take. We’ve got the toughest start of the month out of everyone.”

“Every game looks difficult,” he chuckled. “Last year everyone was beating one another because it’s one of them league where that doesn’t seem to be much of a margin in quality.

“I think there’s going to at least 16 teams that are going to be fighting for play-off positions. It’s going to be tight and there’s going to be a lot of upsets.”

Asked if his Romford side, who finished in 20th last year and 34 points adrift of the play-offs, could be one of the sides to cause an upset and win the league, Martin replied “No unfortunately not. We’ve got to be realistic. As long as we come fourth or fifth from bottom then the chairman will be happy with me.”

“Until we get our own facilities and get a reliable source of income, we’re always going to be one of those mid-table teams.”

But optimism is in the air around Ship Lane with the season nearly two weeks away, with Martin adding “But I’m still not going to rule us out for the play-offs. There’s always one small club who aren’t expected to make play-offs who do make play-offs.”