Romford need maximum points against struggling sides

Boro head to lowly Stanway Rovers on Saturday, then face Takeley, Coggeshall Town and Ilford on the following three weekends before hosting current leaders Woodford on November 8.

And he sees no margin for error, with his third-placed side now six points off top spot after a 6-3 defeat at second-placed West Essex in midweek.

“The scoreline doesn’t represent the game and their manager will vouch for that,” said Spinks.

“It was a good battle between two good sides.

“We’ve now got four games against four of the bottom five and we have got to get 12 points and see where we are.

“If we want to get to where we want to be we have to win these games.”

Boro fell behind to a fine Zak Oliver finish and saw Hassan Nalbant hit a post before the break.

George Cox sent Ash Siddik clear to round the home keeper and level soon after the restart, but Junior Luke was dismissed on 49 minutes for a second bookable offence – having just returned from a three-game suspension.

“Junior, his first game back, was a bit rusty but he deserved to be sent off. The second one was a bit orange to be honest,” added Spinks.

“If we’d kept 11 on the pitch, we wouldn’t have lost. But even with 10 men, we gave it a really good go.”

Cox put 10-man Boro 2-1 up midway through the second half, but Greg Frederick and Ike Olaiya netted a quick double to turn things around.

And although Kris Newby fired home to make it 3-3 on 84 minutes, West Essex saw Oliver head home his second and, after Ruben Bartlett-Antwi struck in the third minute of injury time, complete his hat-trick before the final whistle.

“They scored a free-kick in the 87th minute, where we could’ve done better, and then I left just one at the back to try and get something and they got away twice in injury time,” said Spinks.

“But I was more pleased with Tuesday than Saturday.”

Boro had beaten Little Oakley 3-1 at the Lawtech Stadium at the weekend, thanks to a late brace from Nalbant.

Young striker Finlay Dorrell was stretchered off in the opening half-hour, before Newby converted from the spot in first-half stoppage time.

Harry Mann volleyed home an equaliser on the hour, but Nalbant restored Romford’s lead on 74 minutes and made sure of the points five minutes later with his 12th of the season.

“Hassan is firing. It wasn’t his best game but he still popped up with a couple of goals to get us the three points and that’s his job,” added Spinks.

“It wasn’t our best performance of the season, but we deserved it. I want a bit more to be honest.”

As for the damage suffered by young Dorrell – three days after hitting a hat-trick for Barking in their 9-1 FA Youth Cup win over Dagenham & Redbridge – the boss said: “It’s better than we first thought.

“When he went down I feared the worst, I thought it was end of season, end of everything.

“But we’ve spoken twice since and he is getting treatment. We’re just waiting for the swelling to go right down on his knee.”