Match report by Simon Williams. Photos by Amanda Protheroe.
Billericay reached the last 32 of the league cup after a convincing win over Enfield Town at a cold New Lodge. A hat-trick from Joe Flack and a goal for Bradley Woods-Garness will give both players renewed confidence as Town head in to what could prove a critical phase of the season.
Town gave starts to a number of players making their way back from injury with Dave Wareham, Wayne Semanshia and Solomon Henry all trying to force their way into the starting XI for he forthcoming league games.
With all the changes from Saturday's game, Billericay took a little while to warm up, but they gave Enfield Town due warning midway through the half when Henry played in Joe Flack whose shot hit the inside of the post before bouncing into the arms of the grateful David Walton.
The same combination brought the Blues their first goal when Henry played a neat cross to Flack. The striker's first touch took him past Walton and he scored with a neat finish.
The visitors had offered little as an attacking force up to this point, but a sloppy five minutes from Billericay just before half time allowed Enfield to show some goal threat of their own. They really should have gone in level at the break, but Darren Reid blazed his shot well wide of the target after a goalmouth scramble.
The second half had barely started when Bradley Woods-Garness doubled the lead, displaying his full range of feints and tricks to beat four Enfield defenders, and Walton, before tapping the ball in from underneath the crossbar.
Once again Billericay went through a sloppy five minutes and this time they were punished by the division one side when Gazmend Dauti's long range shot beat the dive of Tony Tucker to creep inside the post.
Billericay almost hit straight back when Flack hit a shot through Walton's legs but agonisingly it grazed the outside of the post. Any hopes Enfield may have had of getting back into the tie evaporated when, in a moment of madness, David Bastian threw a forearm into the back of Flack's head. The referee couldn't have been more than 5 metres away and had no hesitation in showing the red card.
Billericay added their third when Wareham galloped into the space evacuated by Bastian before crossing to Flack who scored with another cool finish. The final goal of the evening was a moment of pure farce when Chris Wild, who had already been booked, clattered into the back of Harrison Chatting. Wild was so focused on protesting his innocence he forgot to clear the ball and the alert Flack nipped in to complete his hat-trick and wrap up the win for Billericay.
