Boro tasted defeat on their travels for the first time this season as a determined Stansted team made the most of their numerical second half advantage after Tom Anderson’s 47th minute dismissal. Having kicked down the slope in the first half, Anderson’s red card meant that Romford faced an uphill struggle both literal and metaphorical after the break and found it hard to create chances.

The home side had a great opportunity in only the second minute when ex-Boro striker Robbie Farrell was well found, but having run strongly at goal, could only screw his shot wide of Jake Anderson’s right hand post. Romford responded with a cross from Danny Hurford that Jake Gordon headed just wide, but after 14 minutes, Boro were ahead. Emmanuel Robe – operating on the left in the absence of Charlie Morris, now of Tilbury – was found by a cross field pass, cut in, and surprised James Dillon in the home goal with a shot that beat him at his near post.

Danny Hurford became the first Romford player to earn a mention in the referee’s notebook with a foul on Ash Siddik to concede a free kick that Anderson saved, and Boro then had to defend desperately to clear a Stansted corner.

At the other end, Lewis Smith was off target with shots that were either over the bar or narrowly wide, and Jake Gordon came close to converting a cross by Jesse Olukolu, who had clearly been identified as a man to watch as Stansted doubled up on him.

With just a minute to go in the first half, Tambeson Eyong’s innocuous foul on the half way line saw him became the second Boro player booked, and it proved expensive as the free kick was delivered into the box, headed partially clear, and then volleyed home for the equaliser by Brad Russell.

There was an explosive start to the second half, with Stansted’s Farrell shown a yellow card inside 30 seconds for a foul on Tom Anderson, but when Anderson brought down Russell on the half way line just a minute later, referee Daniel Baines reached immediately for a card of a different colour and Boro were down to ten men.

Six minutes into the second period and Lewis Smith was booked for a foul just outside his own penalty area, and another ex-Romford man, Connor Hammond, drove the resulting free kick narrowly wide. Smith then created a chance for George Cox to shoot from 30 yards, but his effort was just off target.

A flurry of substitutions by both sides broke up the pattern of play, and it was Stansted who next went close with a header that narrowly cleared Anderson’s crossbar from one of a number of long throws that were hurled into the Boro penalty area in the second half.

Seventy five minutes in, and Boro sub Alex Balisani made inroads into the Stansted defence and had a shot from outside the box beaten away by Dillon, from which the home side broke quickly and won a free kick that Carl Conway headed just over.

After 82 minutes the home side went ahead with a goal that owed a little to good fortune, but which they deserved on their overall second half play. An astute ball inside Toby Barlow (a substitute for the limping Danny Hurford) down the right found Stansted substitute George O’Connor. Anderson came off his line to make a good save from O’Connor’s initial effort, but the ball cannoned off the Stansted man and into the net.

It was game over after 86 minutes when another free kick in dangerous territory was swung into the Boro penalty area, headed across goal and finding Hammond who pounced to score from close range. It might have been four in the second minute of stoppage time as Boro dallied at the back, lost possession, and were indebted to Anderson who somehow denied a Stansted forward when it looked as though he had a simple tap in.

Romford: Jake Anderson, Tambeson Eyong, Danny Hurford (Toby Barlow, 80m), Kris Newby, Tom Anderson, George Allen, Jesse Olukolu, George Cox (Jack Glenister, 85m), Jake Gordon (Alex Balisani, 71m), Lewis Smith, Emmanuel Robe. Unused subs: Jacob Wiggins, Bleron Ademi