Match report by Ryan Connell.
Photos by Amanda Protheroe.

Billericay reached the third round of the Championship Manager Cup on Tuesday night with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Ryman Division One North side Leyton.

The Blues will now travel to another Division One North side Concord Rangers where they will get the chance to avenge last seasons FA Trophy defeat inflicted on them by the Island based side.

It was all change again in the Blues starting line-up with manager Brian Statham given more options due to player eligibility and those players returning from injury. Lee Kersey made his debut at the heart of the Blues defence whilst Gareth Street was handed his first start in the centre of midfield. Michael Shinn made a return from injury whilst Harrison Chatting kept his place in the starting line-up.

Leyton started the game brightly and forced Andy Walker into an early regulation save. The hosts forced a couple of early corners but this was to be their only real pressure on the Blues defence in the entire game. The Blues gradually took a stranglehold of the match and began to dominate possession on a playing surface more akin to the oval shaped ball game. The
Leyton defence was finding it hard to cope with the trickery of Danny Green and Bradley Woods-Garness and they committed a succession of fouls on both.  Twice Green fired in tempting crosses only for Harrison Chatting to be agonisingly short of converting. But the pressure soon told when Chatting himself turned provider and crossed for Danny Green to smash home from close range for his fourth goal in five games. Green almost doubled the lead minutes later when his skill gave him an opportunity at goal, but his shot went well wide.

The second half was almost entirely dominated by the Blues. But they had to wait until fifteen minutes from time to wrap the game up when Bradley Woods-Garness punished the big Leyton centre-half's mistake by coolly nipping in and converting past the despairing dive of the keeper. The game was then held up for a few minutes as the Leyton bench scrambled around for a ball after a series of hoofs put all the others out the ground! When play resumed, Woods-Garness, Green and Street could have all increased the lead further but were wasteful with their chances.

Manager Brian Statham and the meagre travelling away support will have been happy with the effort and commitment shown by the Blues and avoiding a potential banana skin.


LEYTON

Team: Elliot Justham, Steve Sheehan, Kamil Erkarslan, Lefty Mbiami (c), Metin Mehmet, Abu Kargbo, Howard Ajoodha (Olenka Massala 77m), Taris Ogboru (Olatunde Bolaji 63m), Lucien Ntolla, Murphy Dugo (Luis Valencia 53m), Chetin Ali

Subs Not Used: Ola Shennowo, David Okeowo

Goalscorers: None

Yellow Cards: Lefty Mbiami (68m), Chetin Ali (78m), Kamil Erkarslan

Red Cards: None


BILLERICAY TOWN

Team: Andy Walker, Dave McSweeney (Tommy Osborne 63m), Ian Cousins(C), Michael Shinn, Chris Wild, Lee Kersey, Danny Green, Gareth Street, Danny Slatter (Dave Wareham 84m), Bradley Woods-Garness, Harrison Chatting (Luca Frankis 73m)

Subs Not Used: Russell Pond, Adam Bailey-Dennis

Goalscorers: Danny Green (35m), Bradley Woods-Garness (75m)

Yellow Cards: None

Red Cards: None


HT: 0-1
Attendance: 77


Referee: J. Hillier
Assistant Referees: L. Wood, A.Davies