HULLBRIDGE Sports boss Darren Manning is relishing going head-to-head with former Billericay Town owner Glenn Tamplin tomorrow.

Tamplin stepped away from National League South outfit Billericay in September and chose to move back into football ownership at Romford just two months later.

Within 24 hours of completing his takeover of the Isthmian North’s bottom side, Tamplin installed himself as manager after sacking long-serving boss Paul Martin and undertook a complete squad overhaul.

While postponements and a string of transfers have seen Romford struggling for consistency, they head to the Ryan’s Heating Stadium having notched back-to-back wins and Manning is relishing the challenge.

“It’s easy to say we are playing them at the wrong time because of their upturn in form, but it is what it is regarding the fixtures,” said Manning.

“They were very good when we played them a couple of weeks ago and we expect another extremely tough game.

“It’s no secret the quality they have but we need to focus on us and executing our game plan as well as possible.”

Romford boast a number of former Billericay stars in their squad, including Danny Waldren and Louie Theophanous.

A host of players have moved down the non-league pyramid to join Tamplin’s side, but Manning is keen for his squad to show why they should be competing at a higher level.

“It’s always good to test yourself against the best,” added Manning.

“I believe the group of players I have can play at a higher level and there is no better way to test that than by playing against a squad that, on paper, should be doing that.

“We will be going into the game very confident.

“On paper they will be the favourites due to their resources and the quality in their squad, but games of football are not won or lost on paper.”

Manning has completed the loan signings of George Rose and Rhamar Garrett-Douglas in recent days.

But Manning is not looking to add more fresh faces to his squad.

“We have had to look at recruiting due to a couple of injuries,” admitted Manning.

“Luckily, we have contacts at clubs at higher levels and that has allowed us to get these deals over the line.

“I’m extremely happy with the squad but recruitment is injury dependent to a certain degree at this time of the year.”