Kris Newby was left scratching his head after Saturday's draw with Athletic Newham, having assembled a squad of individuals who came with impressive records but who, to date, had failed to produce the results and performances he had hoped for in Boro's opening games of the season.

A friendly match at Heybridge Swifts presented the opportunity for Newby to take a look at several trialists in a match situation, with the home side similarly fielding a mixture of regular first team players and new faces. Kris's team selection also presented the younger squad members with opportunities to impress the boss.

Just one trialist lined up for Boro in the first half, George Cornwell playing wide on the right and linking well with Ellis Devereux to present Boro's leading scorer with a couple of chances to test the Swifts 'keeper. Romford matched the home side for pace in an evenly contested half, with Reece McGovern playing a deeper role than when he came on against Clapton and Flynn Hamilton adding steel to the midfield. Dhillon Sandhu-Nelson linked well with the always impressive Teddy Desmond on the left and Ramzi Mahmoudi completing a strong Boro midfield.

Boro were perhaps unfortunate to go behind after 22 minutes when a goalmouth scramble resulted in the ball ending up in Brad Davison's net, the last touch being attributed to Nick Reynolds. A minute later, Heybridge doubled their lead through one of their own trialists and took the two goal advantage into the break.

Reece McGovern, Teddy Desmond, Ramzi Mahmoudi and Ellis Devereux were replaced for the second half by Ezra Agyiri, Fabio Co, Joe Damrell and a second trialist, Kevin Musimami, with Agyiri's pace wide on the right causing problems for the home defence and Co, playing slightly deeper than the newly introduced Musimami, beginning to take control of the game. Co grabbed a goal back for Romford on 50 minutes (photo above), meeting Joe Damrell's cross from the left and, two minutes later, Boro were level as Musimami fired home a shot from the right.

More substitutions just before the hour introduced three more trialists, including Emmanuel Balogun and Charlie Ford, son of former Boro defender Rob Ford, with Flynn Hamilton, Jake Gordon and George Cornwell making way. Romford's pace and midfield domination, notably missing from recent games, were causing problems for Swifts as Boro looked the stronger side, so it was against the run of play that Heybridge restored their lead on 67 minutes through Andrew Fennell.

Romford were quick to respond, though, with Co netting for the second time with a shot from close range on 73 minutes to level the scores and Boro wrapped up an entertaining game in the dying minutes, Ezra Agyiri getting a goal on 90 minutes that his performance deserved and Kevin Musimami scoring his second in the third minute of added time.

This much improved Boro performance will give Kris Newby a different kind of problem to last Saturday as he ponders who to select for Friday's visit to Woodford Town. It's not easy to know just how strong a side the level 4 home team was fielding, but the expression on the face of Newby's opposite number, the former West Ham legend Julian Dicks, as he left the pitch at the end of the game would suggest that he expected much better from his players!

Romford starting line-up: Brad Davison, Ryan Sammons, Nick Reynolds, Teddy Desmond, Ramzi Mahmoudi, Flynn Hamilton, Reece McGovern, Dhillon Sandhu-Nelson, Jake Gordon, George Cornwell (Trialist), Ellis Devereux. Used substitutes: Ezra Adeyimi, Fabio Co, Joe Damrell, Kevin Musimami (Trialist), Charlie Ford, Emmanuel Balogun (Trialist), Trialist 12.