Billericay and Wealdstone played out a highly entertaining goalless draw on Saturday in a game which either side could easily have won. There were plenty of chances for both teams and it was perhaps ultimately surprising that neither keeper was beaten.

Town made a couple of changes from Saturday's FA Cup side with Craig Edwards and David Knight both starting.

Billericay started the better and largely dominated the first half. An early direct free kick saw Sam Berry drive a low shot just wide of Jonathan North’s post, before Benson Kpaka showed good strength to hold up the ball for David Knight whose shot was held by North. Billericay had a very strong penalty shout turned down when Wes Parker stuck out a hand to push Paul Semakula’s shot behind for a corner. At another free kick North missed the ball only for Chris Wild to head narrowly wide.

Gradually the visitors began to put together a few attacking moves of their own, and went very close to opening the deadlock when Lee Chappell broke clear before crossing to Richard Jolly who, under pressure from Wild, headed against the bar. Scott McCubbin then wasted another good opportunity when he found himself in plenty of space only to curl his shot wide.

In injury time at the end of the half, Billericay went back on the attack with Knight denied when North saved with his legs, before North saved point blank from a Rob Swaine header then Jay May’s effort on the follow up was cleared off the line.

The start of the second half was delayed by floodlight problems, but when it started Wealdstone were very much on the front foot, most notably when David Hicks fired a dipping shot against the bar. Fortunately for the home side, the ball bounced down and over the head of Jolly who was following up.

The final quarter of the game saw Billericay back on the attack. A Sam Berry corner saw Wild go close when his header was hit team-mate Craig Edwards on the line with the midfielder unable to get out of the way. Jay May fired in a low cross-come-shot that beat everyone and was merely inches past the post.

After the game Billericay boss Craig Edwards was typically frank in his assessment of the game. “It was a funny old game, we’ve started very well and they only got into it at the end of the first half. We had a couple of what I thought were stone wall penalties that he’s not given and their keepers made a great save. The kerfuffle with the lights meant that we didn’t really start the second half well and they had their best spell of the game with a great shot against the bar and they played some nice football. I thought we dominated the final twenty minutes but it was just one of those days when the ball wouldn’t go in the net.”

Billericay

Brightley, Berry, Hawes, Kpaka, Swaine, Wild, Luke (Chatting), Edwards, May, Knight (White), Semakula

Subs not used: Radley, Halle, Ottley