It was just the two of us on this round for the journey to Essex to follow Hashtag into the 1st Qualifying round against Romford – The Boro. Romford does not have its own ground and so shares with nearby Barking at Mayesbrook Park, a very tidy little ground with the usual clubhouse on arrival and opening onto the one small, covered terrace behind the goal at the clubhouse end.

Being an Essex Derby, the car park was full as we anticipated but plenty of pavement parking locally and we sneaked a vacated space right next to the entrance!

After the mandatory pint, we waited for the players to take to the stage which being Hashtag, was heralded with the social media camera crew recording everything.

It was the usual burly, fast-paced start which at this level we always see given the players can but imagine the dream of playing under the Wembley Arch next May. And it was the lower ranked Romford making the early moves, culminating in Jesse Olukolu after 5 minutes striking a goal-bound shot only for defender Billy Willis to handle, resulting in his very early marching orders and a Romford penalty. The home team jubilation was short-lived though with a fine save from the Hashtag keeper Page diving to his left.

Then on 16 minutes a superb header from Page saw the Boro take the lead which they maintained until 39 minutes. A period of possession play by Romford, probably some 30 passes eventually broke down and Hashtag took full advantage with a short series of counter-attacking passes at speed up the field, rewarded with a fine Emmanuel Okunja shot past the Boro keeper bringing a 1 – 1 half time score.

Off then to check what was on offer for the hungry spectators, with a small food kiosk around the side of the clubhouse serving a quite decent, now standard, cheeseburger and chips. No sign yet of the traditional half-time Pie but then we are still in the South and so probably need to wait for Round 1 for a visit Up North!

We rated 7/10 as was freshly cooked and so had to wait a while, which isn’t a problem for the 167 attendance on the day, but they might struggle if entertaining nearby West Ham United in Round 3.

For the second half we viewed from around different parts of the ground and always a pleasure to stand behind the dug-outs listening to coaching staff comments, which became a tad colourful from the Hashtag bench after Morris fired in a powerful 20 yards shot to once again give The Boro the lead.

The game really took off from this point with regular chances at both ends, culminated in the 88th minute with goal of the game as Jake Gordon skilfully controlled a high cross from the right on a Romford counter-attack and placed the ball into the Clubhouse-end goal.

We still sensed a late surprise as Hashtag certainly were not giving up, and after Charlie Morris hit the post for Romford in injury time, which would have sealed the win, Toby Aromolaran then went close at the other end. Toby finally got his reward for a good game with a close range goal in the final seconds of the 7 minutes added time.

There was some confusion as although the ref blew his whistle for the end of the game, the teams hadn’t re-started at the half-way line after the goal and so not clear if Hashtags goal stood. Didn’t really matter as our short-lived following of Hashtag was over and allegiance now switched over to Romford for the journey into the 2nd Qualifying Round.

Hashtag had played 85 minutes with only 10 men but were the higher ranked side despite only being in existence 6 years as reported in the previous round. Romford on the other hand were actually Quarter-Finalists in the 1881-82 FA Cup; so, on the day FA Cup pedigree clearly saw Romford though!