It’s no exaggeration to say that Romford could have been five goals to the good before West Essex got their first after 85 minutes, and the home side’s second – in the sixth minute of second half stoppage time – made the game look a lot closer than it actually was.

Romford gave a debut to former Royston Town defender Michael Turner alongside Scott Doe in the centre of defence, while Junior Luke moved to left-back and added an extra dimension to the Boro attack with his willingness to get forward at every opportunity. It was Luke who had the game’s first effort at goal, shooting wide after four minutes having himself won the ball in midfield.

Hassan Nalbant was on the end of three chances inside the first 25 minutes, shooting over after 12 minutes following good work by Camilo Restrepo, having a shot pushed wide for a corner by West Essex keeper Arthur Leblond after 16 minutes, and then shooting across the face of the goal after 26 minutes when Finlay Dorrell had chased down a clearance to set up the chance for his strike partner.

Boro turned their early supremacy into a goal after 28 minutes. Kris Newby won the ball in midfield, Camilo Restrepo drove on and set up Junior Luke, who lashed a fierce shot past Leblond. Boro’s dominance was such that it wasn’t until the 36th minute that Jake Anderson was called into action, and that was when he dived to his right to push a shot away.

Finlay Dorrell was a constant thorn in the side of the home defence and was particularly unlucky to be on the wrong end of some contentious offside decisions, but his persistence won Boro a penalty in the last minute of the half, winning the ball back off West Essex defender Saliu Lo-Seye, who pulled him down as he ran at goal. Hassan Nalbant stepped up and despatched the penalty past Leblond’s right hand.

West Essex keeper Leblond was injured immediately after the interval and was clearly in trouble as the ball was played back to him just two minutes into the second half, and his attempted clearance cannoned off Nalbant as he closed the keeper down, the ball rebounding past Leblond and into the net for 3-0.

Dorrell almost made it four after 57 minutes, reaching a long forward pass before Leblond and chipping the ball goalward, only for Rodney Dame to clear off the line. The struggling Leblond was immediately substituted with defender Mitch Arthur taking over in goal for the home team. Arthur was immediately in the action, adroitly turning aside a shot from Dorrell.

Junior Luke hobbled off to be replaced by Toby Barlow, and Jack Glenister replaced Kris Newby, who had taken a knock. The home side now began to assert themselves, having much more possession than they had previously had, albeit that it was Romford who were creating the better chances. Dorrell fired a low shot across the face of goal after 71 minutes and Nalbant’s header from a corner came back off a post into the grateful arms of Arthur eleven minutes later.

A rare shot from West Essex forced Anderson into a save after 84 minutes, but a minute after that, the home side pulled one back with an improvised volley by Ezequil Franchi from a right wing cross. Anderson then had to dive to his left to parry a fierce shot two minutes into stoppage time, and with 96 minutes on the clock, Franchi took advantage of a loose ball in the Boro penalty area to drive home his second.

The final whistle went after eight minutes of stoppage time to mark Boro’s first league win since the 1-0 win at Little Oakley in early February. If Boro can repeat performances of this quality, there will be a few more maximum point hauls before the season is out.

Romford: Jake Anderson, Jamie Hursit, Junior Luke (Toby Barlow, 67m), Kris Newby (Jack Glenister, 75m), Scott Doe, Michael Turner, Henry Hart, Luke Hervell, Hassan Nalbant, Finlay Dorrell, Camilo Restrepo (Praise Ogbebor, 83m). Unused subs: Bleron Ademi, Daniel Nakipov-Getmanski