Match report home v Billericay league cup via Mr Anthony Mercer.

Tilbury 1 Billericay Town 1 (Att 112) Billericay Town win 4-2 on penalties

TILBURY were knocked out of the Alan Turvey Trophy on Tuesday night having gone into the break with a one goal lead. Their Ryman Premier opponents had won eight games in a row going into this one and showed their mettle by equalising early in the second half - before going on to win their ninth game in a row when they were victorious in the penalty shoot-out. Tilbury will feel disappointed, but remain unbeaten on open play for 7 games. 

The game from the offset looked like it may be one in which speedy forwards were going to carry the day. Barely a minute had been played when Dwade James sprinted towards the Billericay goal, requiring ex-Docker Jack Giddens to charge out of his box to clear the ball away. Seconds later and the ball was at the other end, when in rather similar circumstances a ball over the top allowed Goldy Capela to out speed the Tilbury defence and fire off a shot.

After such a flurry of early activity the game then became bogged down in midfield with both defences keeping the opposing forwards under lock and key. Danny Smith and Lewis Jaggs both put in crunching tackles to halt any Billericay attacks, while Dwade James was identified early on by the Blues defence as a potential dangerman and he found himself jostled, shoved and sternly tackled anytime he got himself near the Blues penalty area. Other than a couple of long throw-ins from Jimmy Cook the Dockers found themselves having spent twenty minutes keeping the ball and passing it nicely in the midfield area without creating much in way of chances for their forwards to feast on.

Billericay themselves had hardly threatened the Tilbury goal until the 22nd minute when a deep run from Joshua Oyinsan required some fine defensive work from Cook. There was still a corner to defend and Oyinsan was able to get a header over to Kamal Guthny but his overhead kick, whilst showing fine acrobatic skills, didn't connect with the ball too cleanly and therefore Tilbury's goal wasn't unduly threatened.

Another Dockers passing manoeuvre on 25 minutes almost bore fruit though. James was involved, using his speed and guile to tease the ball into the box, but a sturdy tackle took the ball out of his control. The danger wasn't fully removed though as he was able to battle again for the ball, managing to pass to Neil Richmond, who shook off two challenges before shooting towards the near post that forced Giddens to dive to his right to push the effort away. It was the first real chance of the game and even though Jack Carlile, Kurt Smith, Lewis Jaggs and Toby Aromolaran had all demonstrated good passing skills, the Billericay goal had not been too heavily bombarded.

That was until the final ten minutes of the first half when the Dockers started finding themselves getting nearer to Gidden's goal. A Smith free-kick was tipped away by Giddens and then a sublime diagonal cross into the box was met by a powerful header by the same player that produced a quality save from the Blues custodian. It really came as no surprise when the Dockers finally broke the deadlock in the 41st minute. Richmond burst into the Blues box, played the ball out right to Aromolaran; his centred ball ran into the path of Lewis Jaggs, who coolly stroked it past Giddens after Jmes effort was blocked. .

The Blues brought on Greg Cundle and Quentin Monville to start the second half and both made an instant contribution, adding a bit of buoyancy to the Billericay frontline. Monville carved out the opportunity that lead to Billericay's equaliser in the 52nd minute when he charged down the right touchline and floated in a delightful cross that allowed Kamal Guthny to knock it past Butcher, putting Billericay back on level terms.

The equaliser perked up the Blues and goal scorer Guthny almost played the role of provider two minutes later when he cut in from the left and directed a cross to the back post that was scrambled away by Butcher for a corner. Sam Cross also sent over two free-kicks that resulted in Pierre Hazet and Alex Stephenson both having chances. The first was a shot that Peddie blocked, the second involved Stephenson getting his head onto the ball but directing his header high over the crossbar. Tilbury's defence were now under pressure as the Blues frontline suddenly started getting themselves busy. Butcher certainly had to keep his wits about him when he punched clear a well-directed cross from Gabby Adelowo as Guthny lurked.

Other than a decent Smith free-kick, that was looking goal-bound until Giddens tipped it over the bar, there had been little threat from Tilbury. All that changed in the 76th minute when Wale Odedoyin was brought off the subs bench. His first contribution came four minutes after his introduction when he used his speed to latch onto a through ball, leaving the Billericay defence in his tracks; his powerful shot was parried by Giddens. Smith had another well taken free-kick cut out by the Billericay keeper and he also foiled Jaggs, who hit a shot towards the bottom right hand corner after Odedoyin had acted the provider, but the Billericay stopper showed quick reflexes to dive low to his left to knock the ball to safety.

The last ten minutes belonged to Billericay who camped themselves near the Tilbury box and Krasniqi and Monville were passing and moving delightfully, but much like Tilbury had experienced in the first half, the Blues for all their quality passing couldn't create many goal scoring opportunities. However in the dying stages of normal time a three pass manoeuvre fell to Stephenson. His shot from just outside the left of the penalty area looked like it was creeping into the net, until a frantic dive from Butcher resulted in him not only catching the ball, but also colliding with the post in the process. Mr Finnigan then blew for full-time and the two teams then went straight into a penalty shoot-out to determine who went in the hat for the next round.

Kurt Smith opened the shootout for the Dockers with a finely taken penalty; the next one from Neil Richmond had Giddens well beaten but crashed the crossbar and bounced away. Giddens then tipped away Danny Smith's effort. Jack Carlile was able to convert his penalty - smashing it past Giddens. Up stepped Greg Cundle and his penalty won the game for the Blues after Stappleton, Guthny and Stephenson had converted their ones. It was a sad way for Tilbury to get knocked out - but they have little time to dwell on that as they are in FA Trophy action on Saturday, travelling down to Sussex to play Lewes from the Ryman South in good spirit.  

Tilbury: Butcher, Willis, J Cook, D Smith, Peddie, Jaggs, Aromolaran, Carlile, Richmond, James (Odedoyin 76), K Smith

Unused subs:  Beniot, C Mead and Singh