Felixstowe's contribution to National League Day could hardly have been more eventful.

Two red cards, a Zak Brown brace, a penalty save from Seasiders' keeper Callum Robinson, a celebrity fan in the stand, visiting Romford arriving late and a new crop of young supporters making themselves heard, all contributed to an end to end, entertaining encounter.

The Seasiders started with a high tempo press and although they constantly broke through Romford's defence they struggled to beat keeper Rob Budd who was outstanding between the sticks.

Bottom club Romford suffered an early set back when centre half Joshua Oxley Banks was shown a red card after he caught Andre Hasanally in the face as they challenged for a ball.

The official levelled things up moments before the break when he dismissed Felixstowe defender Curtley Williams for bringing down Eusebio De Silva in the box.

Robinson saved Eusebio's penalty, which proved to be a vital moment and manager Stuart Boardley earned his corn with his half-time team talk.

"Our keeper was fantastic," said Boardley. "That penalty save just before half time was vital because going in to the break a goal down would have been hard and make us a bit edgy.

"Their keeper was man of the match and made some really top saves.

"We are going through a tough spell with things not dropping for us and we have scored that many goals of late so the longer it went 0-0 the edgier we got.

"We started well and created chances and when we didn't get that opener it got edgy and players started to worry. We reiterated at half time to stay patient keep moving the ball and we got there in the end."

The second half breakthrough came when Brown, returning after a four month injury lay off due to an ankle injury, replaced Josh Hitter and marked his return with a 55th minute strike after a goalmouth scramble following a corner.

If that was a somewhat scrambled opener, his second was a cracking cool finish when he side-footed past the onrushing Budd.

"Zak is getting there," said Boardley. "He has had really tough time and I was delighted he came on because we know if we get Zak Brown on the pitch he will score goals."

Romford got stuck on the A12 so Seasiders supporters, including senior government minister Thérèse Coffey, had an extra half hour enjoying a sunny Goldstar Ground after free entry to all.

The Felixstowe Massive, a group of 10-12 year olds, added to the atmosphere as they sang and cheered from the Dave Ashford stand, underlining the community feel and the club's ethos of encouraging youngsters getting involved.

Boardley added: "Fantastic that the club allowed people to come in for nothing and showed that community spirit. It was good to see Thérèse come down, and many other old faces too. It was good day

"The young lads were brilliant. The youth section is a big part of the club and we hope they will come back and make some more noise for us."

After three defeats in a row, this win keeps Felixstowe in touch with the play-off chasing group, and with Maldon & Tiptree coming to the Goldstar Ground on Tuesday evening, Boardley is hoping the Seasiders can start being more clinical.

He added: "The game ebbed and flowed and just we would have a chance, they would have a chance and I felt we made it hard work for ourselves by not taking our chances first half when we could have been three or four up.

"That has been the story of our season a bit, by not taking our chances and then making it difficult for ourselves. That said we showed resilience and patience to get the goal and that settled."

*Read Felixstowe season-ticket holder Thérèse Coffey's views on the Seasiders' ground improvement plans, the importance of community clubs, why she is a Liverpool supporter and more in Nub News tomorrow.