Martin: All due respect to my players

Romford boss Paul Martin was happy to still be in this year’s FA Cup competition after seeing his side battle to a goalless draw against Kingstonian at Ship Lane.

The visitors hit the woodwork three times during the second qualifying round tie, but Martin felt his players fully deserved another chance against the Ryman Premier Division outfit.

He said: “I’m positive. We parked the bus, I’m not going to lie, and played one up top.

“We knew nothing about them, I think they’ve lost one in 12 games in all competitions and they’ve not scored against us.

“I’ve got to give dues to my boys. We’ve played three FA Cup games now, two against teams from the league above us and kept clean sheets, so I’m positive.”

Boro had beaten Bury Town by a single Jamie Dicks goal in the previous round, but could not seriously test substitute goalkeeper Matt Lovett, who replaced Rob Tolfrey after only 13 minutes.

Abs Seymour had an effort cleared off the line as Tolfrey lay concussed on the turf, while Dicks sent a shot narrowly wide and captain Jack Barry lifted another over from close range.

Ellis Hammond hit a post for K’s, while Andre McCollin twice rattled the crossbar and Martin added: “The FA Cup is a magical day and sometimes you need the woodwork to help you out, but at the end of the day, you hit the woodwork it still doesn’t count as a goal does it?

“It’s like us missing three chances, there’s no difference to hitting the woodwork.

“I’m positive, I didn’t know the replay was Monday which is a bit disappointing as we could’ve done with another days rest.

“We roughed them up a little bit and gave them a good go for their money, how much is their budget to what I don’t get?

“All due respect to our players and ourselves for going out and doing a job.”

Ryan Imbert fought a lonely battle as Boro’s single striker, with Seymour, Dicks and Reece Tranter trying to get forward in support as often as possible.

But Paul Clayton and Matt Toms held firm at the heart of Romford’s defence to ensure a relatively quiet game for keeper Aaron Omand.

Martin said; “We played the one up top and tried to catch them on the counter-attack. I tried to be a little bit crafty and I think we had them worried some times.

“He’s respected us as much as I’ve respected him. In his interview he’d say he should’ve won and took a comfortable result but I don’t think it was a comfortable game for them. The clean sheet proves it right. How many saves has Aaron had to make? One?

“It’s not as if they’ve peppered us, I’m positive because we didn’t make any errors at the back or other areas and we didn’t gift a goal to them.

“If we’d done that all season we’d probably be sitting third in the league. Unfortunately we’ve been making those little blips and it’s costing us.”

The Boro boss will be hoping for another error-free performance in the replay, as his side chase another £4,500 in prize money and a spot in the next round.