Football frequently takes us from despair to elation and back again. On Saturday we got the elation bit for the second week in a row. After a great win at GWR last week, The Bridge followed it up with another great win against Romford. Six, probably unexpected points, from two very tough away games and The Bridge are suddenly flying!

What’s changed? Well, in my humble opinion, we’ve brought in a solid centre-back (Eli) and a solid right-back (Billy Willis, again!) that’s allowed Connor Hart to move back into midfield to form a partnership with Oscar Jones. Partly because of that, we’ve started to control midfield in games and we’ve got excellent movement up front from Darnell Williams, Piers Hatcliff and Beau Macdonald, and, on Saturday, Louis Bragg. Bearing that in mind, let’s talk about the win on Saturday at Barking (or Dagenham) but vs Romford.

Despite the win at GWR, I wasn’t confident that we could win at Romford but we started the game well. A couple of early Bridge crosses came to nothing before a Romford free kick found the head of big Brian Moses whose free header was off target. For a while, not much happened until The Bridge were awarded a free kick for yet another foul on Piers Hatcliff. Beau Macdonald’s excellent free-kick caused panic in the Romford box and Connor Hart headed the ball home. Cue a bit of jumping up and down from the Hullbridge contingent on the touchline.

The Bridge were looking fluid, with Darnell Williams, Piers Hatcliff and Louis Bragg interchanging positions and soon Darnell had a decent effort saved by keeper Jake Anderson. Romford were not creating much, although Ashaan Siddik was trying to get things going in midfield and Brian Moses did have a header at goal cleared by the Bridge defence.

The Bridge were creating chances but, frustratingly, were not able to finish them. Anderson saved a shot from Jack Nolde and a number of crosses were cleared by the home defence or saved by the Romford keeper. Beau Macdonald was influential at this stage of the game and when he fed Piers Hatcliff, Piers shot went just wide but only thanks to a great tip from Anderson. The corner was only half cleared and Darnell Williams shot went over the bar.

As we approached half time, wondering how The Bridge were only one up, suddenly they weren’t as Shermin Artmeladze was free in The Bridge box and he finished well to level the scores. Shortly after, the half-time whistle blew and we were left bewildered that the half had finished 1-1.

I’ve always believed that if you have seven or eight players playing well you will win games. In that first half, The Bridge had that and more, so heading into the second 45 I was still hopeful of a Bridge victory. Romford needed to up their game and they did as the second forty-five started. Another cross found Moses’ head but was cleared before Artmaladze’s shot was saved by Laurence Whymark. Sam Park then had a shot go over the bar and then The Bridge should have gone back in front. Darnell Williams’ shot was saved by Anderson and the rebound came back to Piers Hatcliff with the goal wide open but somehow Piers put the ball over the bar.

Despite this, the visitors still looked likely winners and soon they gained more hope of victory as Piers broke free and Ashaan Siddik pulled him down just outside the Romford box. As last man, Siddik saw red and was off. Piers took the free kick and it hit the wall before It bounced back to Jack Nolde who smashed a shot from around 25 yards that smacked the underside of the bar and bounced back to Darnell Williams who missed the open goal, probably making Piers feel a bit better but no one else!

Hullbridge continued to press for the winner, although the home side were doing ok with ten. Oscar Jones, who has been performing well in midfield in recent games, then decided to take it up a level and when he received the ball in midfield and pushed forward, he arrowed a left-foot rocket into the bottom corner from about 25 yards.

As The Bridge players headed to the corner flag to celebrate, the watching Bridge fans on the sidelines were in jumping up and down mode again! Robbo & The Ranger made some changes to keep things solid in front of the back four and Romford, to their credit, pushed for the equaliser. Harry Brown’s shot was saved by Laurence Whymark and Jake Gordon’s free-kick was headed clear. Still, Romford pressured the Hullbridge goal and Shermandin Artmeladze broke through but Whymark saved and then remarkably saved the rebound from Harry Brown.

After that remarkable double save, you sensed that Romford's hopes were crushed and The Bridge dug in and held on. A great win that should have been by more but was well deserved despite a spirited effort from the Romford ten men in the second half. Things are starting to look good and we’re playing some good stuff and, at last, getting some reward for those good performances…ah, football, sometimes it just makes you feel good, especially as we are…

Some games this season, it’s been difficult to award the MOM as there hasn’t been an outstanding performance. On Saturday it was difficult as there were loads!

Laurence Whymark could have got it for that double save alone and the whole team put in a great effort and most names were in the frame but, ultimately, we went for Oscar Jones. A great midfield display and then he scores a left-foot rocket to win the game and the MOM award. Nice one Oscar and well played everybody else.