Managers look ahead to weekend action

Hornchurch travel to high-flying Basingstoke in Conference South, looking up at the rest of the division from last place.

Urchins slumped to the bottom of the pile after a 4-0 defeat at Bromley in midweek, which left boss Jimmy McFarlane feeling as low as at any time in his managerial career.

He said: “When I took over two and a half years ago we lost 7-1 to Tonbridge and I tried to erase it — it’s as bad as I have felt since that day.

“That performance let down the club, the chairman, directors and I felt sorry for the fans that I thought were absolutely outstanding.

“It hurts and I hope it hurts the players,” added McFarlane. “I changed it after that Tonbridge game and I’ll change it again. I learnt more then I have in two and half years as a manager.”

Centre-back Paul Goodacre was injured in the warm-up at Bromley, while striker Martin Tuohy limped off before half-time.

McFarlane added: “I was under no illusion how tough this league is. I knew we were going to have a hard time but you have to worked hard at any league at any level.”

Romford manager Paul Martin, meanwhile, denies his players will have a psychological advantage when they entertain Ilford on Saturday, less than a fortnight after their 2-0 win at Cricklefield.

The two sides meet again so soon after both being knocked out of the FA Cup and Boro will look to complete a double after Hussain Isa and Toran Senghore netted in their previous meeting on Bank Holiday Monday.

That remains Romford’s only win of the season but Martin said: “There’s no psychological advantage for us.

“If players turn up on the day and do their jobs then they will get the result, but if they don’t then they won’t.

“It’s not really happening for us at the moment because the squad isn’t getting results and we need to work on a few things.

“We’re a bit Jekyll and Hyde at the moment and the fact is that we haven’t played a top team yet.

“We’ve played several sides at our sort of level but we’ve not got enough from those games.”