After a two week hiatus, Romford are back in action tomorrow as Basildon United come to Mayesbrook Park for the first meeting between the sides since April 2022, and Boro will be hoping that The Bees will be the first team this season to leave all three points behind!

Romford are by no means the only side who have not won a home league game this season. Hullbridge Sports, West Essex, and Athletic Newham have also yet to record a victory on their own grounds, but remarkably every single Essex Senior League side has won at least once on their travels. In Basildon’s case, they won 3-0 at Athletic Newham in their last away fixture.

Basildon United return to the Essex Senior League this season after seven seasons in Isthmian League North, to which they gained promotion after finishing second in the Essex Senior League behind champions Great Wakering Rovers in 2018. In their seven Isthmian campaigns, their best season was 2023-24 when they finished ninth.

The Bees began last season well and were briefly top of the Isthmian League North table before embarking on a terrible run of form that saw them slide down the table and ultimately finish 21st having not recorded a single win in their last 31 games.

Previous Meetings:

Romford have met Basildon United 33 times since 1992 with Boro recording 19 wins and just 7 defeats. The majority (28) of these games have been in either the Essex Senior League or Isthmian League North.

The first time that Boro played Basildon was in 1992, when The Bees won an Essex Senior League game played at Gardiners Close with the score 3-1. It wasn’t until the sixth meeting that Romford managed a victory; that game ended 1-0 with Boro then unbeaten in the next nine encounters.

The most recent meetings between the teams came during the 2021-22 season when Boro lost 3-0 at Basildon and drew 1-1 at home in Isthmian League fixtures. There was also an Isthmian League Cup tie, played just three days after the league defeat, which Boro won 3-2.

Boro celebrate Tami Ogunnowo’s goal in the 1-1 draw in April 2022

This season:

Following their relegation at the end of last season, Basildon appointed the highly experienced George Christou, who was formerly in charge at Redbridge, as manager as they sought an immediate return to Step 4. Christou has subsequently departed and was named as Tilbury’s new manager a week or so ago.

After an opening day 1-0 defeat at Barking, Tilbury bounced back with a 3-0 win over Benfleet but subsequently went nine games without a win in all competitions in a run of eight defeats including six consecutive matches in which they failed to score before they ended that sequence with a 3-2 win over White Ensign. This week they were in action in the Errington Challenge Cup, losing 3-0 at Little Oakley. They are currently fifteenth in the table with eleven points from twelve games.

Like Boro, cup success has eluded Basildon this season and they exited the FA Cup in the Extra-Preliminary Round in which they lost 3-1 at Hullbridge Sports, while in the FA Vase they were beaten 1-0 at home by Buckhurst Hill in the First Qualifying Round.

This weekend’s Essex Senior League fixtures:

Saturday 25th October:
3pm Athletic Newham v Frenford
3pm Benfleet v White Ensign
3pm Great Wakering Rovers v Woodford Town
3pm Hackney Wick v Buckhurst Hill
3pm Halstead Town v Little Oakley
3pm Harwich & Parkeston v Soul Tower Hamlets
3pm Ilford v Hullbridge Sports
3pm Romford v Basildon United
3pm Saffron Walden Town v Barking
3pm Sporting Bengal United v West Essex