Martin: My jaw dropped

Romford boss Paul Martin admitted he was shocked by the quality of David Ottley’s strike as he watched his team beat Harlow in Ryman Division One North on Saturday.

Full back Ottley opening the scoring in the 2-0 victory at Ship Lane with a 30-yard screamer, and the effort certainly surprised his manager.

Martin said: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him hit the target before!

“To be honest even my jaw dropped on the floor when he struck that.

“What a goal. We scored another good goal, but if that would’ve been the winning goal it would have been fantastic.”

Despite the win, Martin conceded he was disappointed his side could not play their usual style of football, but suspected it was just one of those days.

It was Romford’s third match in a week, and Martin admitted there were a few tired legs.

He added: “It was a scrappy game but it was always going to be, it is a nice flat playing surface but we didn’t turn up, we weren’t good.

“That was our downfall. We didn’t play the football we can play.

“There were a few tired legs, and it was one of those days at the office

“We’ve got away with it and come away with a 2-0 win and three points.

“It could have gone either way, but we are happy to take three points.”

The victory moved Romford up to 11th in the table and saw them reach the 50-point mark, something that thoroughly pleased Martin.

“Yeah, the 50 points mark (reached),” he added.

“And three points at home where we have struggled this year, so it was good.”