BBC Essex Women's Cup Final, Thursday 13th April
My first game back on UK soil after a few weeks saw me back at Jobserve
Community Stadium, the home of Colchester United, for another county cup final,
this time the BBC Women’s Cup Final between FAWNL Southern Premier Billericay
Town and FAWNL Reserve Southeast & Central Division Hashtag United
Reserves.
Billericay sit seventh out of twelve in their division having won eight,
drawn three and lost nine of their twenty league games thus far, whilst in this
competition they only needed to win a couple of games to reach this evenings
final, they netted a massive 11-1 win over their clubs Development team before
squeezing past Hashtag United’s First Team 9-8 on penalties after a 2-2 draw
after extra time. So, it was very nearly an all Hasthtag United final!!!
Hashtag United’s reserve team, who go into this contest as massive underdogs,
sit eighth out of eleven sides in their division having won five, drawn one and
lost eleven of their seventeen games, had to start way back in the First Round
of this tournament, they defeated Toby 5-0 before netting a 6-3 win away at
Grays Athletic after extra time.
They then won another away tie, this time at Lawford 3-2 before a Quarter
Final win away at Hutton 3-2 and then a semi final win against Barking by the
scoreline of 1-0 saw them into the final, an amazing and almost unbelievable
effort for a Reserve side to reach a final of this magnitude, and they had won
as many games in this competition as they had won in the league all season to
reach it as well, remarkable. As said though they were going to have their work
cut out to beat this Billericay Town side who play in the third tier of the
women’s game in this country.
Weirdly though this was Blues second cup final in twenty-four hours after
they contested the Reposs Isthmian Women’s Cup Final against Charlton Athletic
U21s at The Dripping Pan in Lewes the day before this game, and after losing
that one on penalties, they were going to make damn sure they were not going to
slip up and be shocked by the Hashtag Reserve side, you would have thought so
anyway.
And after three minutes it looked like it would be a long night for the underdogs when Billericay went in front after a superb long ball forward saw Ruby Sealey run onto it, compose herself before sending an accomplished finish beyond Tags keeper Christie Hale, and you kind of feared for Hashtag at this point as many expected The Blues to go on and win comfortably.
This never really happened though, yes The Blues dominated possession and all the play in the opening forty five minutes, but they did turn this into goals and a comfortable lead, and whilst the game remained 1-0 The Tags were always in the game, and after the break they certainly made things far more difficult for their opponents and saw much more of the ball in the second period.
Billericay struggled more in the second period themselves, with the efforts of the cup final the night before probably catching up with them, and you could sense the Tags gaining more and more confidence as the half went on, but they were unable to really trouble Town keeper Alex Baker, who didn't have much to do during the contest if truth be told.
The Blues did have chances or openings to seal the deal as well, on one such occasion skying well over the bar from inside the box when it looked nailed on they would score, and they also found a Tags keeper in Hale very accomplished in her role between the sticks, often reading the game well and making things look very easy indeed.
Both teams had given their all though, and both looked out on their feet by the end of it, not the best cup final in terms of quality, but you could not fault the effort of both sides who certainly gave their all, but it was Billericay who proved to be the winners on the night and take the honours, so well done to them.
Full time Billericay Town 1 Hashtag United Reserves 0
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