Skipper's break rocks Romford

Romford skipper Jack Barry is facing six weeks on the treatment table after breaking his ankle during a 'football day' at the Ryman League's Ford Sports Ground.

Barry will miss the start of the Ryman North season following an operation on Friday, rocking manager Paul Martin's plans. The services of leading scorer Nick Reynolds are also in doubt with the striker attracting interest from elsewhere and yet to commit to the Boro's forthcoming campaign.

Martin told the Romford Recorder: "The football day had some positives, there was over two hours of football under their belts, but the big blow is Jack. He’ll be out for six weeks and that means he’ll miss the start of the season so I’ll have to start looking at some other options."

Boro have added a pre-season friendly with rivals Hornchurch at Ship Lane on Saturday July 27 to take their schedule to ten games in 21 days. The busy spell doesn't concern Martin who is planning to whittle down his players to around a 20 man squad.

He added: "There’s plenty of football for us and that is a good thing. We’ve got at least 22 players at the moment so we can always rotate around. It will be a tough pre-season but the boys need it and hopefully they’ll feel the benefit. The squad will gradually come down to 20 and then you have the reserves to call on as well if and when they are required."

Off the field, Romford have announced that they are set to become the latest club to offer electronic versions of their matchday programmes to fans around the world next season.

Romford are now offering a sample copy to their supporters and planning to charge a one-off fee of £30 to cover the entire season's editions. With the club expecting to play at least 30 games and programmes usually priced at £2, the deal offers fans a 50 per cent saving.

For more information email: barrym277@btinternet.com.