Billericay Town U18s  6    v    1  Bishop Stortford U18s.

The Under 18s kicked off 2011 in fine style with a 6-1 dismantling of Hertfordshire Pride Bishop Stortford in the Eastern Junior Alliance League Cup.This was the Blues first game since mid November but it took only 5 minutes to get into their scoring mode when after some fine play from Tom Vickers found Brody Horne who shook off the Stortford defender and drilled the ball past the oncoming Keeper.Billericay continued to press with Jake Swift and Lewis Pether going close before a fine solo run from Luke Snoad in the 25^th minute found Brody Horne with an inch perfect pass who again showed great composure and slotted the ball into the back of the net from 12 yards out.Stortford seemed to use the 2^nd goal as a wake up call and could have pulled a goal back on a couple of occasions but for some great timed tackles from defenders Kane Branson, Ricky Brown, Luke Snoad and Tom Vickers and some good saves from Jack Avery.The third and fourth goals came in quick succession both from Billy Radley who latched onto a very accurate goal kick from Blues keeper Avery, Radley control of the ball, rounded the keeper and coolly slotted the ball into the empty net on 33 minutes. Then 2 minutes later, Radley found himself just inside the area with time to take a touch and drill the ball home through a crowded area into the top right hand corner of the net to take the hosts into a well-deserved 4 nil lead at half time.

Blues Manager Paul Moody made 2 forced changes just after the break with Brodie Horne being replaced by Paul Addison & Tom Vickers replaced by Sam Burton. Both teams seemed to suffer a bit in the 2^nd half from having lengthy lay off’s with most of the football being now played in the middle of the park with several half chances being spurned. But then on 66 minutes Billericay were awarded a spot kick when Lewis Pether was brought down in the Stortford area, hence allowing Radley the opportunity to converted the penalty kick for his hat trick.  This in turn led to continue pressure and several chances from Billericay who eventually did scored their 6^th on 74 minutes when a well-flighted corner from Bradley Hooper found the very on-form head of Radley who guided the ball into the corner of the net from just 3 yards out to claim his forth of the match.To give Bishop Stortford credit they never gave up and were denied twice in final several minutes of the match with some brave goal keeping from Avery, and then on 86 minutes the visitors did get their rewards for their brave efforts with a well-taken goal.Yet ANOTHER great performance from the young Blues in front of just a faithful few and after such a long lay off.Town will now play Maldon & Tiptree in the next round.

TEAM:  Jack Avery, Luke Snoad, Tom Vickers (Sam Burton), Ricky Brown, Kane Branson (Capt) (Jack Shepherd), Bradley Hooper, Lewis Pether, Billy Radley, Brody Horne (Paul Addison), Jake Swift