DARREN Manning hailed his Hullbridge Sports side after they overturned a three-goal deficit to record an extraordinary 4-3 win at Brentwood Town.

First half goals from Anthony Furlonge, Sewa Marah and Connor Hogan resulted in Brentwood being in the driving seat.

But a Joe Wright brace, along with efforts from Tim Monsheju and Luke Hornsley, in the space of 23 second half minutes resulted in Sports completing a memorable comeback to clinch all three Isthmian North points.

Hullbridge boss Manning said: “We were abysmal in the first half and gave away three goals from our own mistakes.

“I felt as though we did the opposite of everything we have been doing well over the course of the last few weeks.

“We told the players some home truths at half-time and then we went back to how we have been playing recently.

“It was like the players had woken up at half-time and started doing the right things.

“The substitutes made an impact as well, which is always nice.

“It was great to see the heart, desire and never-say-die attitude in the second half and it was a fantastic comeback.”

Although Sports found themselves three goals adrift at the interval, Manning insists he always believed his side would come away with a positive result.

“I knew if we got the next goal after half-time, we had a chance,” added Manning.

“We went into the game knowing they have been quite vulnerable to goals late on, so I knew a bit of doubt would creep in if we had scored before the game had reached the final 10 minutes.

“With us being back at 3-3 by then, I knew there was only going to be one winner.”

The victory also saw Hornsley score his 100th goal for the club and Manning was keen to heap praise on the frontman.

“Scoring 100 goals in 164 games is a phenomenal achievement,” admitted Manning.

“No-one deserves that accolade more and that record has arguably been tarnished by how I played him as a winger last season.

“He has been with Hullbridge at difficult times, moved on and came back.

“But he is a true Hullbridge legend.”