Romford boss Paul Martin saw his side come from the brink of defeat on two occasions to take victories.

Romford manager Paul Martin hailed the character of his players after they twice recovered from two-goal deficits to come out on top against Harlow Town and Redbridge over the past week.

Paul Clayton scored a last-minute winner in the Ryman One North game at Harlow on Saturday in his 300th appearance for the club after Hussein Isa’s penalty and a goal by Nick Reynolds wiped out the home side’s 2-0 lead.

And in Tuesday’s Essex Senior Cup visit to Redbridge, second-half goals by Alfie Hilton and Lewis Francis proved enough to take the game into a penalty shoot-out – which Romford won 3-1 to move into the fourth round.

It completed an excellent few days for Boro and their manager had every reason to be delighted with his comeback kings.

Martin said: “It was my first win at Harlow as a manager so that was very nice.

“We were sloppy at the back in the first half but in the second half we got back to playing the way we have in recent times.

“We don’t want to be giving two-goal leads to other teams on a regular basis, but we fought back well and it was great to see us score the late winner.

“I’ve got to say the timing of Paul Clayton’s goal was perfect.”

Martin made seven changes to his starting line-up for the cup trip to struggling Redbridge, electing to rest a few players and take a look at several others.

And he was naturally pleased to see his youngsters perform so well in the 2-2 draw.

He said: “I made seven changes and brought in some fringe players and youngsters I wanted to give a game to.

“Josh Williams did very well and set up the second goal.

“It was also great to see Connor Goldstone, who has been at the club since he was seven and played for us at every age level, come on as a substitute.

“It’s so good to bring through a player who is a local lad and is attached to the club.”

With the cup game going straight to spot-kicks after 90 minutes, Martin admitted that he didn’t fancy his side’s chances given their poor record with penalties.

But Hilton, Port and Joe Turner all converted their efforts to put Romford into the hat for the next round.

Martin said: “We’ve only scored twice from our last 13 penalties – and both of those were taken by Isa.

“So with that in mind it wasn’t looking good for us, but we took three good kicks and it proved enough.”