An immensely frustrating afternoon for Boro on a blisteringly hot afternoon at Mayesbrook Park.

We’ve all seen games like this before: Boro spurned any number of good chances, went ahead, fell behind, looked to have salvaged a point and then lost to a late sucker punch.

Just eleven minutes in and Romford should have been ahead. Had it not been for a premature and misguided whistle by referee Mackenzie Klessa-Smith, they would have been. Jesse Olukolu burst into the Redbridge penalty area where a challenge by ex-Boro defender Nathan Okoye (pictured by Alan Blackholly) saw the ball run to Emmanuel Robe, who tapped home. Romford’s delight turned to shock and disappointment when the referee disallowed the goal to award Boro a penalty.

Boro boss Steve Butterworth was yellow carded for protesting the decision, and Redbridge breathed a huge sigh of relief as Jake Gordon struck his penalty wide of goal.

Gordon nearly redeemed himself with a shot from outside the box that went wide and then Charlie Morris curled a 20-yard shot onto the crossbar.

Robe was narrowly off-target with a clipped effort from a corner after 29 minutes, and then Redbridge’s Jake Brocklebank became the first player to be sin binned in a match involving Romford, and Boro took advantage of their numerical supremacy when good work by Morris on the left set up George Cox, whose shot flew past Wheatley in the Redbridge goal from outside the box.

Even before they were restored to full strength the visitors drew level when Joshua Toya fired in a stunning 20-yarder from the corner of the box after 36 minutes.

Wheatley parried a drive from Robe in the dying seconds of the half as Boro continued to dominate.

The second half was very much a stop-start affair, although it might have been different had Gordon’s header in the first minute of the second forty-five gone in rather than hitting Wheatley’s left hand post.

Jacob Wiggins became the first Boro player ever to be sin binned five minutes into the second half, and Redbridge had the ball in the net only to have the goal ruled out for offside.

The visitors went ahead after 55 minutes when Toya bagged his second from close range after the Boro defence had been pressured out of possession.

Emmanuel Robe looked set to level the scores when clean through after 63 minutes, but he was forced wide and the chance went begging, with Redbridge clearing subsequent pressure. Robe was then booked for kicking the ball away after being harshly penalised for a foul, and Boro assistant Dan Spinks joined him in the referee’s book for his complaints.

Jesse Olukolu, who had a subdued second half, shot over after 68 minutes and then Robe ought to have done better than fire high and wide after a good flick from Martin Touhy had created the chance.

Boro finally drew level with an own goal after 78 minutes. A long cross from the left was headed back across goal by Morris and two Redbridge defenders conspired to sneak the ball over their own goal line.

Martin Touhy became the second Romford player sin binned five minutes from the end, and with 89 minutes of normal time on the clock, a long throw from the right was headed home by Miles Peterkin to give all three points to Redbridge.

While any report that suggests that the performance of the referee was in any way responsible for the outcome of a game may be dismissed as a case of sour grapes, it is undoubtedly the case that Mr Klessa-Smith made hard work of what looked a very easy game to referee.

Boro will play worse than this and win, and on another day might have won this one too, but that’s football.

Romford: Billy Lawlor, Danny Taylor (Martin Touhy, 70m), Danny Hurford, George Cox (Jacob Wiggins, 46m), Tambeson Eyong, Scott Doe, Jesse Olukolu, Alex Balisani, Emmanuel Robe, Jake Gordon (Tyrese Sibanda, 85m), Charlie Morris. Unused subs: John Mbamarah, Toby Barlow.