Harlow Town Reserves 2 Billericay Town Reserves 1

Essex Senior League Reserves League Divisional Cup Final, Sunday 24th April

Sunday saw me over at a bright and sunny Cappershots in Waltham Abbey as Harlow Town came from behind to defeat newly crowned Division One champions Billericay Town to take League Divisional Cup honours for the 2021/22 season in front of a healthy 165 crowd.

Before we get into the final itself, shall we see how both these sides got to this final and take a look back at the competition for the season, a competition set up for the Division One sides, which saw eight sides enter with two groups making up the group stages:-

Group A

Results

Hashtag United 4-1 Witham Town

Waltham Abbey 3-2 Concord Rangers

Hashtag United 0-1 Waltham Abbey

Concord Rangers A-W Witham Town

Witham Town 3-3 Waltham Abbey

Concord Rangers A-W Hashtag United

Table

Group B

Results

Harlow Town 3-2 Billericay Town

Grays Athletic 2-1 Brentwood Town

Harlow Town 4-0 Brentwood Town

Grays Athletic 1-4 Billericay Town

Harlow Town 2-0 Grays Athletic 

Billericay Town 0-2 Brentwood Town

Table

Quarter Finals

Billericay Town 2-1 Witham Town

Grays Athletic 2-3 Waltham Abbey

Harlow Town 5-2 Concord Rangers

Hashtag United 0-1 Brentwood Town

Semi Finals

Billericay Town 3-0 Waltham Abbey

Harlow Town 2-1 Brentwood Town

So, that is how we got to this final stage of this tournament, Harlow Town's cup form in this competition was unrecognisable from their Division One form where they only won two of their fourteen league games to finish second bottom in the division, whereas in this cup they had won every game to reach this stage.

Billericay in contrast had just been crowned Division One Champions after nine wins in the campaign and finishing two points ahead of Hashtag United, but their form in this competition saw them lose two of their three three group matches before managing to win through to the final.

So, if you look at the Division One table and see Billericay as champs and Harlow Town finishing second bottom, you would say the Blues would surely win this final, however Harlow's 100% record in the competition would suggest otherwise, and it was a cup final so normally form and stats go right out of the window don't they.

On a very decent April afternoon in Waltham Abbey, a decent crowd of 165 turned up to support their sides, with many fans, parents, friends etc cheering on their players, boys, friends etc to see if they could claim a trophy, Billericay themselves were going for a second one in less than a week, but could Harlow claim one themselves and end the season on a high.

Just past the half hour mark it was The Blues who edged themselves in front when the dangerous Gabriel Ipanga Mbambo went down the left and seem to mis hit a cross which ended up being a perfect lob over keeper Rob Horgan who despite scrambling desperately back to keep the ball out, saw it squeeze inside the near post, it may have even gone in off the post, but it went in that was the main thing.

Harlow needed a response, and boy did they find one, as just three minutes after going behind restored parity when a lovely ball from Henry Clark released Marko Protic who ran into the box before sliding a lovely finish under keeper Jordan Williams and into the net, and it meant the sides went into the break all square after a pretty decent half of football.

The second half didn't quite reach the heights of the first period, turning into a typical cup final where both teams probably realised the enormity of the situation, so the contest became scrappy and tight, with neither side wanting to make that mistake that could potentially cost them the final, both had chances to win it, Jordan Williams made a superb double save to keep The Hawks out, whilst the Blues saw Louie Vosper somehow fire over down the other end.

Extra time loomed large then, but with five minutes of the ninety to go, Harlow struck the winner, as a decent ball to full back Sammy Bayon saw him cut inside onto his left foot and strike a low effort into the near corner and send the Hawks players and bench wild with delight, as well as the majority of the crowd watching on too.

The eventual nine or ten remaining minutes that followed saw Billericay attempt to find a leveller, but Harlow stood firm and held on for a magnificent win to take the League Divisional Cup honours for the 2021/22 season.    

Full time Harlow Town Reserves 2 Billericay Town Reserves 1