Billericay Town U18s 8-1 Coggeshall U18s
Sunday 13th December 2009
Pelly Cup 3rd Round

Match report by John Mifsud.

As the Great Japanese Admiral Yamamoto said after the attack on Pearl Harbour 'I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant.'

No sooner had the early morning sun begun thawing out the New Lodge pitch, the young Blues kicked off - playing their only game in just under a month in this eagerly awaited encounter.

Coggeshall must thought the holidays began early this year, when they were given an early Xmas present when a through ball saw the Blues keeper Lockyer lobbed from 20 yards out. This turned out to be just as good as the smell of strong black coffee to wake up those Billericay sleepy heads, as those young but rusty joints started to self-oil themselves, kick-starting into gear the start of a Demolishing machine, playing some excellent short sharp passes, cutting deep into Coggeshall defence and on 13 minutes, Hooper found Radley with a pin point 30 yard cross field pass which Radley took down with his right foot and smashed the ball across the Coggeshall keeper to make the score 1-1.

Then the look on the faces of the visitors said it all?  The Honeymoon period was over! The pressure was now on, with the visitors now firmly pinned back into their own half. On 20 mins Mike Marsh made it 2-1 with a superb header from a well delivered corner from Deval. Ten mins later Kessi went on a solo run beating 5 players to slide the ball in from the tightest of angles to make the score line 3-1 at HT.

The second half was a combination of excellent, slick, one touch passing which resulted in a further hat-full of goals for the hosts, but it wasn't until the 75th minute that the fourth goal was scored, when Alex Kent got his first of the day with a well taken header from Hooper’s driven corner leaving the poor Coggeshall keeper stranded. The 5th goal was almost identical to the last, with this time Kent leaping like a salmon to bag his second.

It was polite and time for our guests to get a glimpse and taste of what True Blue Steel really feels like? So,  three changes were made and in no time the lights went out on Coggeshall as Ashman finished a great move with a header  from another perfect Radley cross.

On 80 minutes Hooper scored a great solo goal cutting in from the right hand side and slotting the ball passed the oncoming keeper. Kent finally grabbed his Hat-trick and final goal of the day when Ashman put him clean through with a one on one with the keeper, coolly slotting home the Eight endorsing a superb performance by the whole side.

Team: Lockyer, Branson, Field (Kaza 75m), Gutsell, Laing, Deval, Hooper, Kent, Radley, Marsh (Smith 75m), Kessi (Ashman)

Subs Not Used: Dunlop, Harper-Penman.