On The Road With Romford – Part Four – Horsham

Supporting a football team is not all about winning trophies. Sure, that’s what all clubs, and all of their fans, want, but realistically only a handful of teams are every likely to win the Premier League or the FA Cup. In fact, at all levels there are only a few teams that will realistically challenge for silverware. The rest may dream, but for their fans it isn’t always about winning pots, it’s about the memories.

Going to football is not just about the ninety minutes in my view. I would hate to just go to a game, watch it alone and go home again. Football is for me, as much about meeting friends, and sometimes the trip, if it’s an away game.

As a diversion from current events, I thought that I would take a trip down memory lane, and revisit some of the away games that I have experienced watching Romford. In this, the fourth part, it’s an autumnal Sunday afternoon in West Sussex.

For novelty value, Romford’s visit to Horsham on 30^th October 2016 ticked more than a few boxes. It was a Sunday, the day after the clocks had gone back, with an earlier than usual kick-off, and it is the only football match I have ever been to that I have come home from with a Bible.

Playing a game the day after the clocks changed, and with a different from normal kick-off time was possibly tempting fate, but so far as I’m aware, no one turned up just as the final whistle blew. The match was played on a Sunday due to Horsham being tenants of Horsham YMCA, whose home game on the Saturday took precedence, having been scheduled before Romford’s trip there for this FA Trophy game. Horsham have since moved out and have their own, brand new ground a couple of miles away.

  

Neither Romford nor Horsham are clubs who are likely ever to win the FA Trophy, for them the aim is to go as far as possible and accumulate as much prize money as possible. Having won 3-1 at Molesey in the previous round, Romford had won £2,500 to date, and a further £2,700 was at stake in this fixture.

It is a bit of a non-League cliché, but one of the very enjoyable aspects of the game at this level is the freedom with which fans of rival teams mix and enjoy each other’s company, but it’s true, it does happen, and the matchday experience is all the better for it. Having arrived at Horsham on the coach – which had a bit of a job negotiating the narrow entrance to the ground - with the players, supporters repaired to the bar for a pre-match cordial and the opportunity to chat to Horsham’s officials and some of their supporters. Romford manager Paul Martin had come prepared with a huge tub of sweets to distribute to the younger members of the crowd as an early Halloween treat.

A tight squeeze at the entrance to Horsham's then home at Goring's Mead. Picture from Google Maps

 

Romford manager Paul Martin distributed some pre-Halloween sweets to the locals

With Romford’s opponents being in a different division, the relative strengths of the two sides was difficult to gauge. Romford were experiencing an up and down season, with good wins at Bury Town and at home to Norwich United balance by disappointing, and heavy defeats at Aveley (where they were abject) and Bowers & Pitsea. While Romford sat 20^th in their division, Ryman North, Horsham were 14^th in Ryman South.

One thing that Romford had going for them was the form of striker Chinedu McKenzie, who had ten goals to his name in all competitions before this match. McKenzie would go on to score 29 for the season, including three hat-tricks, one of which he would bag that afternoon.

The weather that October afternoon was mild and sunny, the sort of weather that can make Autumn such a joy, with the leaves just beginning to turn golden, and an invigorating freshness in the air that never threatened to turn to cold.

Thirteen minutes had been played when Chinedu McKenzie got the first of his three goals, forcing the ball over the line after Ryan Mallett’s header from Jamie Dicks’s corner had come back of the crossbar and Matt Toms had headed the rebound goalwards. It was a close call, with the linesman flagging that the ball had crossed the line. McKenzie’s second was a stunning right foot shot from outside the penalty area, and Romford – despite having plenty of defending to do – were cruising towards the interval when, in the very last minute of the half, they were reduced to ten men. Full-back Tarren Dhariwal, who was making his Romford debut, found himself last man, and the wrong side of a Horsham forward, who went to ground as Dhariwal challenged. The referee’s verdict was a red card and so Romford were left to face the second forty-five minutes a man light.

Romford's Tarren Dhariwal (in Blue) brings down a Horsham forward and picks up a red card/. Photo: John Lines

Despite the numerical disadvantage, and despite Romford keeper Callum Chafer being called upon to make some smart saves in the second half, Boro didn’t just hang on for grim death, they actually put the game beyond doubt within eight minutes of the restart when Ayo Olukoga intercepted a poor pass in the home defence, found McKenzie and the in-form striker buried his shot into the net.

Horsham got one back with half-an-hour remaining, but Romford’s defence held firm and the team were roundly cheered off by their supporters at the final whistle. Some of the locals seemed a mite perplexed at the fervour with which the Romford supporters lauded their team, but as much as having seen their favourite’s produce an excellent result, there was also the little of an extra £2,700 finding its way into the cash-strapped club’s coffers to cheer.

The Horsham branch of Gideons were handing out Bibles after the game, ostensibly to Horsham’s players and committee, but they seemed to have overestimated demand, and there were plenty lying about, which we were encouraged to take.

With a place in the next round and the prize money secured, it was a happy coach journey home, even a queue of a few miles to get through the Dartford Tunnel didn’t dampen our spirits.

Romford’s reward was a trip to AFC Sudbury in the next round, and with the home side then a division above Boro, it was a fruitless trip as Romford went down 4-0. As much as I like going to Sudbury, that was one trip I didn't enjoy so much.