Romford boss ‘realistic’ about play-offs

Romford boss Paul Martin felt his side blew their chance of reaching the Ryman One North play-offs after conceding an injury-time winner to Waltham Abbey in midweek.

Defeat left Boro seven points adrift of fifth-placed Wingate, with only one game in hand, and they host Brentwood tomorrow (Saturday) before visiting Redbridge on Tuesday.

But Martin feels their hopes are over and said: “There’s still six games to go, but realistically I think we’re out of the play-offs now.

“We’re not mathematically out of it, but we look tired.

“We didn’t deserve anything from the game anyway. I praised the boys after Saturday, but we were lethargic.

“The only positive is it was probably our worst performance of the season and we only lost 3-2 in the last minute.”

Striker Petrit Elbi suffered a dislocated shoulder during the match and is out for the rest of the season.

And as a self-employed night worker, the club are trying to help him as best they can.

Martin added: “We’ll be having a whipround for Petrit as he could be off work for three or four months now.

“These boys are dedicated with their football and they’re playing for the love of the game. We’re hoping the league will also be able to help with insurance.”

With Alex Read having suffered a concussion in the match at Harlow and Toran Senghore now at Great Wakering, where he netted both their goals in a 2-1 win at Grays on Wednesday, Martin’s options in attack are now limited.

But he remains upbeat, adding: “We’ve overachieved this season. I think we’re an established Ryman club now.

“People expected us to go straight back down last season, but we didn’t. But we really need our own ground so we can start getting more money into the club.”