On The Road With Romford – Part Three – Norwich United

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 third part, we are back in Norfolk.

If Romford’s trip to Wroxham in 2013 (featured in the first blog in this series) has passed into Boro folklore, then the trip to Norwich United on Tuesday 10^th October 2017 is very much the stuff of legend.

The fact that Romford had to make a 200-mile round trip in midweek had arisen because on the Saturday when the fixture was originally scheduled, Romford had been involved in an FA Cup tie against local rivals AFC Hornchurch. Midweek trips of this sort of distance can be problematic for teams at Romford’s level, with players having to get time off work to travel, and so it was that when players and supporters gathered to catch the coach, the thinness of the Romford squad was noticeable. There were a bare twelve players available so when the team was announced, the subs bench consisted of one regular player - Ben Clarke – plus manager Paul Martin and his assistant, Mark Lord; the combined age of the bench was 117 years!

The age of Romford's subs at Norwich was worthy of a photo opportunity that appeared in the next home programme.

Norwich United’s ground at Plantation Park is only seven miles from the centre of the city, but the location is rural and on an autumnal Tuesday evening, not the most inspiring. The ground, like many at this level, is quite basic with cover on one side, a clubhouse and changing room building behind one goal, and open fields behind the other and along one side. Romford’s only previous visit had resulted in a 4-1 defeat, given this, the thinness of the squad and the club’s league position did not fill Boro fans with optimism.

The game was between the two bottom markers in the Bostik League North. Norwich United had just four points to their name from ten games, while Romford had just one more, but the home side would have been quietly confident that they would be able to lift themselves off the foot of the table on this evening.

It may not actually be the case, but it always seems to me that the moment Romford set foot in Norfolk they concede a penalty (Boro conceded three penalties in their first two visits to Dereham Town, for instance), and after fifteen minutes at Norwich, the referee was pointing to the spot (rather too eagerly in the view of some Romford supporters). Norwich’s Henery sent Boro keeper Stephen Reynolds the wrong way with his penalty.

Romford had a goal ruled out for a foul on the Norwich keeper (Boro fans were of the opinion that the Norwich goalkeeper had brought the foul on himself by rushing from his line and running into a Romford player), and then had a penalty appeal waved away when Vlad Sighiartau was brought down. To add insult to injury, Sighiartau was yellow carded.

There was no little grumbling and groaning among the Romford supporters at half-time, about the penalty that was given, and the one that wasn’t, and the goal that was ruled out. A certain amount of hostility towards the officials was festering, and even though indignation at the performance of referees tends to abate in the cold light of day after games, this was a display of refereeing which no amount of hindsight could throw into a favourable light.

The antipathy towards the officials grew during the second half as Romford were denied another penalty claim and various, sundry 50/50 decisions seemed to go against them. With limited options to change things from the bench – the only regular player, Ben Clarke, was introduced in place of Vlad Sighiartau after 67 minutes – it seemed, as the game entered the last five minutes, that Romford would slip to the foot of the table. Three minutes from time, manager Paul Martin brought himself on to replace Connor Hammond. Paul Martin had played for Romford’s reserve side more than ten years previously before taking up the role as first assistant manager, and then manager of the stiffs. He took over as first-team manager in 2008 and guided Romford to the Essex Senior League championship in his first full season. He had not played for the first team before (or since, come to that), so even most loyal of Romford supporters were doubtful whether his introduction could, or would salvage anything from the game.

If memory serves me correctly, Paul Martin made three contributions, the last of which – as he was keen to point out to us supporters after the game – would prove crucial. His first contribution was to concede a free-kick, his second was to take one. His third came off the ball, as he implored Romford striker Nick Reynolds to shoot for goal as the game entered stoppage time. Reynolds shot, Norwich keeper Wilton saved, but the ball escaped his grasp, with Boro midfielder James Ishmail bearing down on him. Collectively, Romford fans held their breath. Ishmail got to the ball first and fired the ball into the net. Cue – as they say – pandemonium!

Skipper Danny Cossington leads his team off at the end. Manager Paul Martin is on the right.

Boro manager Paul Martin praised the fans for their support in the local paper that week, and we gave the team a rousing reception as they left the field. Any uncommitted spectators – and maybe some Norwich fans – in the ground probably wondered why we were virtually delirious having picked up just a point against a team as poorly placed as ourselves. There was huge relief involved, and as most football fans will know, a point -especially one gained against the odds, can be as satisfying as a win. Drawn games are like that, some are as rewarding as victories, some as deflating as defeats.

The coach deposited us back in Romford in the early hours of Wednesday, and for a few days there was room for optimism, but Romford lost the next three and were soon bottom of the pile, a position they shared with Norwich United and, for a brief spell, Cheshunt for the rest of the season. The final week of the season saw Romford trail Norwich United by six points with each side having two games left. Two defeats for Norwich and two wins for Romford saw Boro pull off The Great Escape and avoid relegation by a single point.

That final week deserves a chapter of this blog all to itself, but in the final analysis, this point on an autumn evening in Norfolk was crucial in keeping Romford up, and its memory will stick in the minds of all the Romford faithful who were there.