All jokes aside, this competition is the only realistic chance for a team of Hullbridge’s stature to dream of striding out onto the hallowed Wembley turf, and before you start rolling around the floor laughing, don’t forget Romford and GWR! So, bearing that in mind, it was nice to cruise through the First Qualifying Round and set up a Second Qualifying Round tie at Harlow Town.

Overall, Saturday’s game was a relatively straightforward win for The Bridge, although that could have been a bit different if Nathan Scarborough, our old mate ‘Scarbs’, had tucked away an early chance, receiving a superb through ball from Michael Mignot, that left him one-on-one with Dom Alexandrou. In the end, Dom didn’t have to do anything as ‘Scarbs’ skyed his shot high over the bar, and The Bridge survived. From then on, the hosts were well in charge, and eleven attempts on target compared to two tame efforts and a really well saved one from the visitors proved it.

After that initial scare, The Bridge took control of the game, and with Jack Hauser superb in midfield and Tobias Braney (or Barney if you believe the tannoy announcer!) linking well with The Bridge midfield and wide-men Taylor Jacobi and George Briton-Watkins, they were too strong for their step six opponents and went on to claim an emphatic victory.

Jacobi was getting in his usual runs down the wing and causing problems, although the final ball was not quite there, and Briton-Watkins on the other wing caused early panic in the Stansted defence with a cross into the box that The Airportmen scrambled clear. Stansted had a couple of long-range efforts that didn’t cause any problems, and Braney had a shot blocked by a defender in green before picking up a yellow card for an enthusiastic challenge.

Neither side could find the target at this point, and a run by Braney was defended for a corner that Sam Carter got on the end of, but his header went up in the air rather than goalwards. Meanwhile, the visitors had a harmless free-kick caught by Alexandru before Jacobi’s cross was deflected for a corner that was headed over the bar by Connor Hart. Another Jacobi cross was caught by the Stansted keeper, Samuel Butler, but soon the deadlock was broken when Sam Carter’s well-delivered through ball found Braney, and Tobias rounded the keeper and slotted the ball home for 1-0.

Taylor Jacobi was involved again with a run that finished with a blocked shot, and then he followed that up with a cross that the Stansted defence cleared, but they could do nothing about the next cross from George Briton-Wilkins as Tobias sneaked between defenders and slid home number two. He nearly had number three when Jack Hauser fed Briton-Wilkins, who again found Tobias, but his shot was blocked almost on the line.

Soon it would be three, though, as Braney played another ball to Jacobi, who crossed for Jack Hauser to volley home number three. Number four nearly followed too, as Braney and Jacobi combined again, and Taylor found Sam Carter charging in, but Sam couldn’t quite get his shot on target. As half-time approached, another Jacobi cross, this time fell to Connor Hart and his shot was redirected into goal via Braney’s head, but the flag went up for offside and the half ended with The Bridge well on top and 3-0 ahead.

The second half started with The Bridge again in the ascendancy, and Braney’s cross found Briton-Wilkins, but his shot was deflected wide. There was some discussion over the outcome of the deflection, and Michael Mignot was sent to the sin-bin, making Stansted’s task even more difficult. Braney’s cross was then cleared, and Reece Barnett’s long-range effort went wide. The Bridge then had a couple of corners, and John Sonuga headed one of them over the bar.

Taylor Jacobi was next to aim for goal, but his shot went over the bar, and soon after, Callum Knowlden went down under challenge, and as we waited for the game to restart, another discussion between Stansted and the referee saw Scarborough awarded a red card for some sort of dissent!

This was now a serious damage limitation exercise for the visitors as The Bridge pressed for further goals to add to their tally, and Braney and Jake Wiggins went close, and Jack Hauser’s effort was held by the keeper following a Jacobi run and pass. Stansted’s best effort from Michael Mignot was soon after, and Dom Alexandru made an excellent flying save, and the rebound went wide.

Nik Zlatev came on for Tobias, and it was his turn to join in the fun when Stansted gave the ball away to Jacobi, who slotted Nik in, and he rolled home number four. As the game neared its end, Callum Knowlden went on a marauding run and played off Jacobi before slotting the ball to Zlatev, who prodded home his second and the fifth Bridge goal of the day. Still, there were a couple more Hullbridge half-chances before the game ended at 5-0.

A good day for The Bridge, deserved winners, and a day of good Hullbridge performances, and although Stansted never gave up, they were outclassed on the day, and The Bridge will now meet Harlow Town of the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division (Step 5) in the next round.

Jack’s “In Da Haus” and ruling that midfield! He’s not always made the starting eleven recently, but today he was everywhere, showing some lovely touches and generally bossing that midfield. Top performance, Hauser!