Romford were made to battle hard for the points against a lively Takeley side but claimed a deserved victory to put us up to second place in the League. Any concerns that the Station Road pitch would be unfit following Saturday's postponed game there were unfounded, the surface being perfectly playable. But the start was delayed by 5 minutes due to the late arrival of Romford's kit, the team borrowing Takeley's away strip for the pre-match warm up before making a quick change into their more familiar pink ahead of kick-off.

Boro rested leading scorer Hassan Nalbant, with Mikey Faulkner chosen to spearhead the attack, flanked by Charlie Morris and Finlay Dorrell. Scott Doe's return at the centre of the defence saw Remi Sutton move to left back and Junior Luke swapping to the opposite side. Faulkner quickly set out to show that he intended to be a nuisance to the home defence with his pacey, incisive runs but it was Morris who had Boro's first chances, heading over after 14 minutes and getting a shot away a minute later after being played in by Faulkner.

Remi Sutton was relishing his role on the left, showing good pace going forward. It was from one such run on 25 minutes that he played a precision pass into the path of Finlay Dorrell, who made no mistake in slotting the ball past Takeley 'keeper Jack Bull to put Boro ahead.

A free kick on 30 minutes to the home side forced Jake Anderson to make a good save to his left and they went close again with three minutes of the first half remaining as another free kick was headed over. In between, Jake Wiggins was cautioned for handball that interrupted a Takeley attack that was, fortunately not sufficiently advanced to be a goalscoring opportunity! In the final act of the first half, Kris Newby put his free kick wide after Sutton had been fouled.

Charlie Morris failed to appear for the second half, his place being taken by Amaree Robinson-Jones. Less than a minute into the second period, Boro lost another forward when Mikey Faulkner was the victim of a heavy challenge for which the referee seemed reluctant to award a free kick, let alone produce a card of any colour. As Faulkner hobbled off to be replaced by Lee Hursit, Newby's free kick drifted harmlessly wide.

The home side had upped the tempo since the break and were enjoying more of the play but a combination of poor finishing and a solid Romford defence meant that Jake Anderson's goal was rarely under serious threat. Dorrell shot wide on 53 minutes but hobbled out of the action after 66 minutes to be replaced by Toheeb Elegushi, whose first involvement ended with a shot into the side netting after being put through by Ash Siddik.

With no recognised forwards on the pitch, it was left to Siddik and Robinson-Jones to head Boro's attack, both making powerful runs at the home defence. One such run for Siddik ended as he appeared to be tripped just inside the penalty area but claims for a spot kick were denied.

Boro continued to press, earning a succession of corners and, with 9 minuted remaining, Newby delivered another from the left that caused panic in the home defence. Darren Phillips was first to react as the ball fell to the ground, firing home to double Romford's lead and earn some breathing space for the final minutes.

Daniel Nakipov-Getmansky and Reece McGovern replaced Junior Luke and Jake Wiggins on 86 minutes before the game moved into 7 minutes of time added for Faulkner's injury and a plethora of substitutions. There was still time for Robinson-Jones to have a close range effort
deflected wide by Bull, who then saved McGovern's shot from the resulting corner.