Hashtag United 2 Romford 0

Isthmian One North, Sunday October 3rd

Sunday saw me over at The Len Salmon Stadium for some more Isthmian One North action, and it saw Hashtag United net back to back wins for the first time this season after early goals from Harry Haysom & Joe Debell saw them to a comfortable win over Romford.

The hosts came into this one with confidence renewed after a decent 1-0 win at Witham Town in midweek, their first away win of the season and second overall, whilst Romford had suffered a late defeat at home to Tilbury in a game I saw in midweek, meaning they have lost all four games at home this term, however, their away form was much better, having netted two wins in their three matches away from Mayesbrook Park.

Whether or not Romford were still recovering from that tough midweek loss in this one remains to be seen, but they certainly looked like they were suffering a hangover as they just did not turn up in the opening half, and Hashtag toom maximum advantage inside the opening fifteen minutes of this contest as Romford's defence was all over the place.

After seven minutes a hosts corner swung in by Joni Vukaj saw keeper Carlos Simeon fail to come and deal with it, and the ball found centre half Haysom at the back post and he had the simplest of tasks to head the ball home, and then eight minutes after that the Tags doubled their lead as after Harry Honesty and twisted and turned his marker to burst into the box, his shot was saved by Simeon, before Debell then followed in but saw his effort blocked too, before he managed to fire home eventually and give his side a two goal cushion.

The hosts continued to dominate their opponents and could and should have added more, with Honesty and Josh Osude causing havoc down both flanks, the visitors were not helping themselves either with some sloppy play on more than one occasion, and at times woeful defending and passing which put the hosts on the attack, it was possibly one of the worst halves I have seen from an Isthmian League club, so they had to make 100% improvement if they were to have any chance in this one. Hashtag had been decent at times and had done what they needed to do so far.

There was a moment in the second half that threatened to ignite this one when after Romford substitute Germaine Dua, who actually looked their biggest threat in the second period, won the ball back from Tags skipper Ross Gleed, and as he laid the ball off got clattered from behind by the hosts centre half, which caused a rather silly overreaction from some of the visiting players, resulting in a booking for Gleed.

However, it didn't really spark the second half into life and it was a rather flat half in the majority as the hosts were now in cruise control and had taken their foot off gas somewhat, but apart from a few shots at the hosts goal which were fairly comfortable for keeper Anthony Page, their was no real threat for the hosts to really worry about.

Hashtag should have added more in the second half as well, but they found keeper Simeon in decent form to thwart several efforts at his goal, but the hosts had done more than enough to make it back to back wins and climb up to 11th in the Isthmian One North standings, they are beginning to find their feet at this level now so I expect them to at least maintain a mid table position.

For Romford this was not an afternoon to remember, if Wednesday's loss to Tilbury was hard to take then this performance was even harder to take, and they need a huge improvement if they are to avoid another season of struggle this campaign. Work to do as they say...

Full time Hashtag United 2 Romford 0