Romford extended their unbeaten away record with a 2-1 win at Stansted on Saturday - and manager Kris Newby pointed to his playing squad as the sole reason to the club’s success on the road.
On a stodgy pitch, strikes from Chris Millar and Toheeb Elegushi saw Boro race away from the home side with only a late consolation a slight cause for concern for Newby.
“I couldn’t believe how bad the pitch was for so early on in the season!” the former Boro captain told the Recorder, ahead of a home date with FC Clacton at the Lawtech Stadium this weekend.
“We’re trying to emphasise playing out from the back by using that as our style of play.
"When I walked out on the pitch, I said to the boys there’s no way they’ll be able to play out from the back on here. It’s going to be whoever wins the second ball, and whoever wins the majority of those.
“For the first five or ten minutes we struggled to get to terms with that. The boys dug in and got us through to half-time. We had a couple of good moments in the first half, so in the half-time team talk I just said to them – keep doing what you’ve done in the last 15 minutes of that half and then you’ll come out on top,” he continued.
“We scored two goals in two great periods of the game for us. It took the sting out of them a little bit, and then unfortunately it’s never easy at Romford - we seem to always want to concede and make it a bit more interesting!
"We conceded in the 86th minute which gave me and Lee a late scare, but we came through it.”
Romford are currently unbeaten away from home in the Essex Senior League, and Newby lauded his players’ commitment to the cause after several tricky fixtures on the road.
“I put it down to the boys. We’ve had some tough away fixtures which have not been the most local and they’ve managed to arrive on time, prepare correctly and go into it with utmost respect for the opponents,” said Newby.
“The pitch wasn’t great, but the way they adapted to their game by knuckling down, they grinded it out and listened to the information that me and Lee provided them with and they’ve executed the game plan.
"So it’s all down to our squad of players. They’re doing exactly what we’re asking of them.”
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