Our first fix of Friday Night Football at home in the 2025/26 season ended in defeat against Romford, who had won just one game in five Essex Senior League matches before kick-off at Ashton's, whilst it also marked our first league defeat of the campaign, after six matches.

The visitors took the lead through Flynn Hamilton's finish inside five minutes, but we responded well to falling behind early on. Mike Agboola was forced off after 10 minutes, with Miles Mitchell-Nelson replacing him, but that didn't deter us from trying to get back on level terms. Dimi Christou's corner hit the top of the crossbar before David Gokou fired just over from close range. Our number seven was involved once again, this time, smashing the rebound way over from just five yards out after Ollie Sotoyinbo's deflected effort was brilliantly saved by Bradley Davison in the Boro goal.

Despite ramping up the pressure, Romford managed to add a second against the run of play, just before the half-time whistle, thanks to Nick Reynolds' header from a corner. As we searched for a way back into the contest, we hit the woodwork again, as Myles John saw a volley crash off the underside of the bar and away, and we headed into the interval trailing by two.

With just over an hour played, Luke Steele was sent off for a second bookable offence, receiving both yellow cards within ten minutes. But, with fifteen minutes left on the clock, the togetherness and spirit within the team showed, as Gokou provided us with a lifeline. Gabriel Ipanga switched the ball across the box, Gokou beat his man before driving a powerful effort under Davison and into the back of the net to reduce the deficit.

We had further chances to equalise, with Gokou coming closest, before chaos unfolded. An off-the-ball incident in the Romford technical area led to a mass brawl involving nearly every participant and resulted in Boro Manager Kris Newby being sent off. Deep into added time, we continued to come forward, but after 16 stoppage time minutes, the whistle blew and we suffered our first defeat of the campaign, and first home defeat since February.

Starting XI: E. Agboola (GK); Steele, Kirwan-Meade, M. Agboola (Mitchell-Nelson - 10' (Johnston - 66')), John; Owusu (C), Kebi (Toussaint - 66'); Kozak (Ipanga - 66'), Christou, Gokou; Sotoyinbo (Michael-Percil - 81').

Unused substitutes: N/A