A Busy Weekend
It's a busy weekend for Romford and an early chance to put Tuesday night's disappointing result behind us. First up is a trip to the Essex coast to play Harwich & Parkeston FC in the Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round, a tie that is worth £2,890 to the winners, with the losers picking up a £960 consolation prize.
Harwich reached this stage with a 2-1 win at Ilford in the Extra-Preliminary Round, which is their only win in four competitive games this season as they have drawn two and lost one of their Thurlow Nunn First Division South games. Despite that, Harwich - who had scouts watching Boro at Basildon on Tuesday - will no doubt provide stiff opposition.
Romford have met Harwich & Parkeston in the FA Cup before, but not since the 1950s. In 1954, Romford beat Harwich 4-1 at Brooklands in a Preliminary Round tie, and prior to that the sides met in successive seasons during the 1930s. In 1934, a 1-1 draw at Brooklands was followed by a 3-2 Harwich victory in the replay, while in 1935 Romford won 4-1 at Brooklands. The sides were drawn against one another again in 1936, and Harwich won a replay on their own turf by 6-2 after a 1-1 draw at Romford.
Most recently, the sides met in competitive action in the 1977 Essex Senior Cup Semi-Final at Brooklands, which Boro won 3-1. Since Romford reformed in 1992, the clubs have met once, in a pre-season friendly in 2004.
There's a coach to this game, which leaves Football First on the Eastern Avenue in Romford at noon, and picks up at the Brentwood Hotel fifteen minutes later. Fares, £15 and £12 for club members.

On Bank Holiday Monday, it's our friends, neighbours, and former landlords, Aveley FC who make the short trip to The Arena for a league game. The Millers are unbeaten in two league games, however they will probably be a little disappointed to only have two points on board, following a 2-2 draw at Dereham Town (where they trailed 2-0 at the interval) on the opening day of the season, followed by a 0-0 draw at Parkside against newly-promoted Hullbridge Sports. Aveley were rocked this week by the shock resignation of their management team, Danny Dafter and Gary Haywood.
Both sides will be looking to pick up their first league win of the season, so it's likely to be a great game. A repeat of last season, when goals from Max Bolton and Nick Reynolds secured a 2-0 win for Boro at Rookery Hill would go down well!