At around five o’clock in the afternoon, on Saturday 6th April, my Fitbit bleeped at me. My heart rate was apparently 131bpm and the device couldn’t detect me being active. Frankly I’m surprised it was only 131bpm because I was watching my team taking part in a penalty shoot-out with a place at Wembley Stadium in the Final of the Isuzu FA Vase at stake!
After eleven penalties apiece, the score was 9-9. Lincoln United’s Matthew Cotton – who had scored from the spot a week before in the First Leg of the Semi-Final, but who had had his first kick in the shoot-out saved by Romford keeper Jake Anderson – missed the target to hand Boro the advantage. Up stepped Jamie Hursit, who had come on as a substitute just minutes from the end and had scored his first spot-kick in the shoot-out. Hursit scored and for the first and possibly only time in my lifetime, Romford would be playing in the final of a national competition at the national stadium.
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| Jamie Hursit tucks away the winning penalty at Lincoln. |
When I started watching Romford, back in the 1960s, their chances of
playing in a Wembley final were zero. As a non-League team, there was
absolutely no chance of getting there in the FA Cup, and as they were a
semi-professional club, the FA Amateur Cup – in which Romford had played at
Wembley in the first final there in 1949 – wasn’t open to them. Even after The
FA abolished amateur status in 1974, replacing the Amateur Cup with the FA
Trophy and the FA Vase, the best that Romford had done was in 1996-97 when the
last sixteen of the FA Vase had been reached.
How did we get here? Well, last season Romford made it to the 4th
Round of the FA Vase before being gored by the Jersey Bulls in St Helier, but
reward for that was an exemption from the first three rounds in this season’s
competition, which started with a fairly low key 2nd Round game at
home to Crawley Green. The Spartan South Midlands League side were despatched
2-0 with the first goal after just 52 seconds from Michael Turner and another
just 12 minutes later (a Kris Newby penalty), although Boro keeper Jake
Anderson did have to save a late penalty to preserve his clean sheet.
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| Michael Turner (number 6) heads Boro's first goal against Crawley Green |
Next to come to Boro’s new home at Rookery Hill (more on that later), were Mildenhall Town, second in their league and with a miserly defence according to their statistics. They went home beaten 3-0 – Ash Siddik, Hassan Nalbant, and Bradley Mott scoring Romford’s goals.
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| Action from the game against Mildenhall Town |
Stanway Pegasus – who play one league below Boro at Step 6 in the Thurlow Nunn League Division One North – were next and Boro’s margin of victory should have been much more than 2-1 as numerous chances were created but not converted. A combination of narrowly off-target shots and good saves by Stanway keeper Sam Felgate restricted Boro to a two goal lead, and when Pegasus pulled one back eighteen minutes from the end, it meant for a nervy finish in which both teams were reduced to ten men. Finlay Dorrell and Charlie Morris (with a penalty that Pegasus vehemently contested long after the game had ended) scored the Boro goals.
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| Finlay Dorrell nets Boro's first goal against Stanway Pegasus |
The draw for the Fifth Round pitted Romford against Hilltop of the
Combined Counties League and immediately the draw was made it became clear
that this wasn’t going to be an easy game to arrange, let alone play. Hilltop
share at Hillingdon Borough, who were at home on the date of the Fifth Round.
The rules of the competition state, “If for any reason a tie is unable to be
played on the ground of the first drawn Club on a Saturday, the tie must be
played on either the day before, i.e. on Friday, or the day after, i.e. on
Sunday on the ground of the first drawn Club.” Hilltop announced that the
game would be played at Uxbridge’s ground on the Sunday but after some
wrangling, it was moved to Cobham FC’s ground and switched back to the
Saturday. After conceding an early goal, Romford equalised through Ash Siddik
just before half-time and two second half Charlie Morris goals clinched a 3-1 win
to take Boro into the Quarter-Finals and a trip to North Greenford United,
uncharted territory in every respect.
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| Charlie Morris (partly hidden) scores against Hilltop |
A week before the North Greenford game, Boro were dealt a body blow when
two players – leading scorer Hassan Nalbant and defender Junior Luke – were
sent off in a 2-0 league win at Barking resulting in their being suspended for
the Quarter Final. Add a suspension for influential midfield player Kris Newby,
and preparations were by no means ideal. As it turned out, a virtuoso
performance from defender Darren Phillips, thrust into an attacking role,
helped Boro to a 1-0 win thanks to a goal by Remi Sutton.
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| Darren Phillips celebrates the Quarter-Final Win |
Rookery Hill has only been Boro’s home since November 2023 when the club took over the lease from East Thurrock United, who had sadly folded in August 2023. A home of the club’s own and the income from bar and catering that was missing in the groundshares the club has had over the years was certainly a benefit, but the game itself started in horrendous fashion. Within ten minutes, Romford had had a player sent off and conceded a goal to a penalty; hardly ideal. A second half goal from Finlay Dorrell drew Boro level only for Lincoln to score again right at the death, but in time added on Boro equalised through Ash Siddik: 2-2 going into the Second Leg.
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| Ash Siddik receives his team-mates' congratulations after his equalising goal against Lincoln |
The sun shone for the second game and Romford dominated proceedings - especially in the second half despite playing into a strong wind - carving out some decent chances but being thwarted by the Lincoln goalkeeper on a number of occasions. It ended goal-less, and the penalty shoot-out seemed to favour Lincoln, who had already won seven shoot-outs including four in their Vase run.
Which is where we started, as wonderfully, incredibly, Boro won the shoot-out (thank God for the Hursits, we said afterwards as they had scored three of Boro’s ten penalties) but despite objectively knowing that we were going to Wembley, did we actually believe it? No, of course not, and even now it’s hard to accept.
Naturally, Lincoln were mightily disappointed, but it says a lot for the character of their players, officials, and supporters that they were gracious in defeat. The two Semi-Final ties were a brilliant showcase for non-League football, two cracking games played in good spirits, two sets of fans mingling, chatting, and drinking together.
The other Semi-Final took an extra week to settle as the game at Worcester City was postponed, but after a penalty shoot-out of their own, Great Wakering Rovers made it through. The last time an Essex Senior League team reached Wembley was 1984 and it’s only the fifth time in 50 years that two teams from the same league have contested the Final.
Unusually, considering how tense I can sometimes get before even the most routine of league games or mundane cup ties, I have been preternaturally calm throughout this cup run. At no point have I gone to a game expecting anything other than a Romford victory. Okay, it’s easier to feel that way when your team are winning more often than not, which Romford have this season, but even so, it has been remarkably out of character for me. How calm I’ll be when I see Romford step out onto the Wembley turf on Saturday, 11th May, remains to be seen.
Some useful links:
Romford FC website: https://www.romfordfc.com/
Romford FC Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/RomfordFC
The FA – FA Vase page: https://www.thefa.com/competitions/fa-vase
Non-League Finals Ticket Sales: https://www.wembleystadium.com/events/2024/Non-League-Finals-Day-2024
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