Martin hopes Ilford game goes ahead

Romford boss Paul Martin will be on his guard against Ilford on Monday - if the Ryman One North derby gets the green light.

Boro are hoping their Mill Field pitch is playable for the Bank Holiday encounter, as they look to maintain a play-off push.

But Martin, after seeing his side’s four-month unbeaten run in the league ended by leaders East Thurrock, is taking nothing for granted against an Ilford side with only one win in their last 13 matches.

He said: “You could see on their faces, East Thurrock were delighted to beat us, which shows how we’ve progressed.

“Ilford have not had the best of starts to the season, but it’ll be a tough one. “They’ve just signed Clydie Roberts and everyone wants to beat the ‘big’ teams. It’s nice for us to be considered as a big team now.

“Sometimes we’ve struggled against teams at the bottom, but that has been the difference this year. We’ve been getting results against those teams.”

Boro go into Christmas in sixth place, with 31 points from 15 games, and have games in hand on most of their promotion rivals.

And Martin is not concerned about a potential fixture pile-up in the new year.

He added: “I can’t complain at where we are. We’re punching well above our weight.

“There are 27 games to go and we’ve got quite a big squad to be able to rotate.”