Romford boss unfazed by four defeats

Romford manager Paul Martin will not panic, despite seeing his side extend their losing run to four games.

Boro slipped to a pair of 3-1 home defeats against title-chasing Needham Market and play-off rivals Potters Bar and host in-form duo Ware today (Saturday) and Redbridge on Tuesday.

But Martin is keeping the faith in his men and asking for some understanding.

He said: “Everyone will have a bad run. There’s probably one two teams in the league who haven’t had a blip yet. We’ve been bad since the new year, although we managed to grind out a couple of wins [at Cheshunt and Heybridge].

“It’s one of those things, but hard to put a finger on it. We had a good start to the season and we’re at the halfway mark now.

“We’ve overachieved already and I don’t want people to expect too much now. We’ve lost a few and there has been a few comments here and there.

“Fair enough, the fans pay their money and if I was a fan I’d probably ask for my money back because we haven’t been good enough.

“But we’ve lost three league games on the spin [and a league cup tie at Dulwich] and we’re still sixth. We’re not fighting relegation, so there’s no need to panic.”

Striker Petrit Elbi has returned to the club and made an appearance as a substitute in midweek.

And Martin believes his squad can make use of their games in hand and keep their play-off bid alive.

He added: “The boys have got to work out how to get back to winning. We’ve got the same players and the same attitude, so we’ve got to take this on the chin.

“I back the players to turn it around again, but you do start to wonder where the next result is coming from.

“We need to up our game again and compete. We’ve lost a bit of confidence when it comes to passing it around, but I’ve got a group of forwards other clubs would love to have.

“They’re not scoring at the moment – and we’re not defending too well – but once one does manage to get a goal, you expect a few more will come.

“But you can’t expect any easy results. Everyone beats everyone in this league and we’re up against two form teams. Then we’ve got Grays and East Thurrock, so it’s a hard run of games and if we nick some points now, they’re a bonus.”