The third in this short series looks at a team that won promotion from the Thurlow Nunn League last season and whom Boro have played a number of times over the years, but only ever in knock-out competitions.

Harwich & Parkeston FC have a long and illustrious history that stretches back to 1875. they have played at their Royal Oak Ground since 1898 and in the following year they reached the FA Amateur Cup Final, losing 1-0 to Stockton. They reached the Final again in 1953, but were beaten again, 6-0 this time, by Pegasus.

Among the club’s honours are the Athenian League, which they won in 1965, the Essex Senior Cup, won in 1899 and 1937, and the East Anglian Cup which they lifted in 1933 and 1934.

The Shrimpers were founder members of Eastern Counties League in 1935 and were joint champions in the first season. As well as the Eastern Counties League, Harwich have played in the Athenian League and the Isthmian League, but in 2009 they resigned from the Eastern Counties League and spent some seasons in the Essex & Suffolk Border League before rejoining the Eastern Counties League (Thurlow Nunn League) in 2018.

In 2022-23, Harwich finished fourth in the Thurlow Nunn League Division One North but after beating Framlingham Town in the Play-Off Semi-Final, lost to Downham Town in the Final. Having finished outside the Play-Off places in 2023-24, they came third last season and earned promotion by beating Framlingham Town – again - and then Stanway Pegasus in the Final, on penalties.

Next season will be Harwich’s first at Step 5 since 2009-2010 and their first in the Essex Senior League.

Past Meetings:

Romford and Harwich have met competitively just once since 1992. That was an FA Cup Extra-Preliminary Round tie played at The Royal Oak Ground in 2019 which Boro won 2-0 with goals from Rashaad Ogun and an own goal.

The pre-1978 Romford met Harwich 12 times between 1934 and 1977, all in cup competitions with Romford coming out on top with seven wins to Harwich’s two. The 1938 FA Amateur Cup tie at Harwich set the record attendance for The Royal Oak Ground when 5,649 were present to see Romford win 2-0 to reach the Semi-Final, which ended in defeat in a replay against Erith & Belvedere.

The last game before Romford folded in 1978 was an Essex Senior Cup Semi-Final played at Brooklands in March 1977 when a crowd of 612 saw Boro come from behind to win 3-1 thanks to two goals from Micky Hanson and one from Joe Peck.

Photos: Romford Recorder

This coming season’s fixtures will be the first ever league games between the clubs.

Home Ground and How to Get There:

Harwich’s home ground, The Royal Oak, is famous for its grandstand which was erected in November 1948 and opened by then FA secretary Stanley Rous. The full address of the ground is The Royal Oak Ground, Main Road, Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex CO12 4AA and is approximately 64 miles from Romford via the A12 and A120.

By public transport, the nearest station is Dovercourt, which is about half a mile from the ground.