Tenants Boro host Thurrock in FA Trophy tie

Romford boss Paul Martin will be going out of his way to upset his landlords tomorrow (Saturday).

Boro will use the home dressing room as they face Thurrock in the FA Trophy at Ship Lane and both sides go into the tie on a high.

A last-gasp Lewis Francis penalty earned Martin’s men a Ryman Division One North point at Needham Market last weekend, while Premier Division Fleet progressed in the FA Cup.

And Martin prefers to be the underdog, saying: “We’d rather play Thurrock than Ilford. We up the tempo against the bigger teams.

“Waltham Forest wiped the floor with us, but then we wiped the floor with Dulwich. It’s a strange one. We took a lot of points off top-10 teams last year and lost points to teams at the bottom.”

Thurrock have been struggling in the league this season, but Martin will not concern himself with that.

He added: “You surf the internet and read a few reports and they’ve gone very young. It might be too much of a big step for some of them in the Ryman Premier, but they’ve brought a few other players in.

“Whoever turns up on the day and puts in a performance will get the result.

“We get on really well with Thurrock. I’ve got a lot of time for Tommy South and we said we’re not talking all week until Saturday comes!

“Whoever wins, there’s no spite there. But we need the money more than them. The boys let us down a bit in the FA Cup, so hopefully we can generate a few quid in the Trophy.”

Boro go into the match without the suspended Joe Oates, but have everyone else available.

Not all members of the squad are entirely happy at present and Martin himself has not been best pleased with the men in the middle recently.

He said: “It has been frustrating the last few weeks. If officials will let the game flow, it will be a good game.

“They need to go back to the old school and let it flow so we can see football being played. Stop-start ruins the game.

“The other week, the referee let it all go in the first half, then booked eight or nine in the second.

“It doesn’t make sense and it’s frustrating. You just wish they would take their foot off and let the game flow and not make so many decisions.”