Lee Newton’s 60th minute penalty settled this friendly in Romford’s favour. Newton stepped up and drove his spot-kick straight down the middle as Brightlingsea keeper Turner dived in vain to his right after Sean Bonnet-Johnson had been brought down in the box.

Romford had the better of the early exchanges but neither side created a chance worthy of note until the 19th minute when Brightlingsea’s Khris Oti had a shot blocked and then blasted the rebound over the bar.

Despite continuing to dominate proceedings, Romford’s best chances came in the final minutes of the half. Jay May skied the ball over the bar after Ridwan Ajala had dispossessed a home defender and slipped the ball invitingly across goal, and then in stoppage time, Youssef Bamba controlled a long cross field ball, cut inside but shot rather tamely at Turner.

Brightlingsea opened the second half with a quick break following a Romford corner which ended with one of the trialists in their side shooting straight at Cafer.

Almost immediately after Romford had scored, the home side created a decent chance when Oti shot wide from the edge of the box, but the better chances in the remaining twenty minutes fell to Romford, who made a number of changes personnel changes, the most significance of which was the withdrawal of May through injury. On 72 minutes Matthew Parsons had a fierce shot parried by Turner in the home goal, and then in the closing minutes, Malaki Toussaint’s fierce shot from outside the box cannoned off the crossbar.

This was another decent workout for Boro in the final friendly before the league season starts at Canvey Island.

Picture shows the foul on Sean Bonnet-Johnson that earned the penalty (Photo: Alan Blackholly)

Romford (Starting XI): Matthew Cafer; Marvin McCoy, Adrian Cascaval, Dave Winfield, Matthew Parsons; Ridwan Ajala, Sean Bonnet-Johnson, Remi Nelson, Youssef Bamba; Lee Newton, Jay May