St Margaretsbury 0 (0) - (2) 4 ROMFORD Attendance 76 - St Margaretsbury Sport Ground

So there we were on a pleasant afternoon at the St Margaretsbury sports ground with Boro preparing for their first match in the most famous domestic cup competition in the world in this new season.

The 2014/15 FA Cup campaign actually started a couple of weeks ago with the Extra Preliminary Round in which all the non league pyramid Step 5 and some Step 6 clubs with suitable facilities participated.

So when it came to our game today in the Preliminary Round, at which all the Step 4 clubs like us enter, the indications were that they were going to be tough opponents and that we could take nothing for granted particularly in view of our somewhat patchy form at this early part of the season.

The game started with a Romford kick off and possession was fairly even with both teams using their wings to mount most of their attacks. The nearest to goal chances for either side came from corners with Jack Barry heading over from a right wing in swinging right wing corner by Abs Seymour on seven minutes and the hosts doing likewise by their central defender Jack Bartlett some fifteen minutes later.

Some three minutes later, however, the deadlock was taken when Boro took the lead, Seymour with one of his typical closing down challenges came away with the ball just inside the home half and bore single handed down on his opponents goal one to one with Saints' keeper Lee Robinson . Although he had assistance to his left he feinted twice and curled the ball into the net to Robinson's right.

At this set-back the home side fought back to get on terms and went close when visitors keeper Aaron Omand saved well from another Bartlett header and another chance went begging for them when Max Mitchell went wide with a curled free kick from the edge of his opponents' area on the half hour mark.

Romford then made them pay for this miss a couple of minutes later when Jamie Dick's long clearance down the left was collected by Ryan Imbert who turned inside and while everyone was expecting a cross he executed a delightful chip over his opposing keeper into the far corner of the net to give the visitors a two goal safety margin.

It took another ten minutes for another goal chance to arrive and this time it fell to the home side with a chance to reduce the deficit when a Romford defensive misunderstanding let Mitchell in on goal but Omand made an outstanding flying save to his left to palm a fierce shot away for a corner.

The final chances of the half both went to Boro with Samuel Kemp heading over when he could have done better and Jack Barry had a great chance to give us a three goal half time margin but went just wide with his across the goal header from a Paul Preston right wing cross.

The second half continued more or less as the first had finished with Romford looking more lively and on sixty minutes Ryan Imbert was unlucky when he burst through but his lobbed attempt on goal came back off the crossbar and no amount of effort by him and his team mates could force the ball into the goal in the melee that followed,

Just after this the visitors' central defender Scott Truman had to be replaced by substitute Matt Toms when he was the victim of a brutal challenge. This is as good a time as any to mention the inconsistency of the man in the middle who did not even talk to the perpetrator of the aforementioned challenge but seemed to penalise any physicality by a Boro player as our yellow card list will show.

Both sides made tactical replacements as the match drew to a close and it was one of the visitors' substitutes who had the next good chance with ten minutes to go when Tom Richardson, who had begun to terrorise his opposite defence with his runs down the right to the dead ball line, got in a good cross which Nick Reynolds could only scoop over the crossbar.

But Nick Reynolds had his reward a couple of minutes later when he turned and converted the rebound from yet another Tom Richardson run and shot.

Tom Richardson then achieved his hat-trick of assists when another of his runs and crosses was slotted in at the far post by Jack Barry to bring the game to a close a few minutes later.

ST MARGARETSBURY (0) 0

ROMFORD (2) 4 ABS SEYMOUR 24, RYAN IMBERT 30, NICK REYNOLDS 84, JACK BARRY 90.

Romford squad: Aaron Omand; Paul Preston (David Ottley 86); Jamie Dicks; Scott Truman (Matt Toms 63); James Ishmail; Paul Clayton; Jack Barry; Abs Seymour; Ryan Imbert (Nick Reynolds 79); Tom Richardson; Samuel Kemp. Substitutes not used: George Cocklin; Reece Tranter; Miguel Lopes Dematos and Davis Boateng (GK).

Romford Yellow Cards: Sam Kemp 49; Tom Richardson 56; Ryan Imbert 66; James Ishmail 76.