Goals from Moses
Emmanuel, Joe Kizzi and Adam Coombes saw Billericay Town to victory over Slough
Town at New Lodge on a wet and snowy evening in Essex.
The hosts, who had recently seen Harry Wheeler take charge
for a second spell as manager, were looking to close the gap to the top four and
strengthen their play-off position at the same time.
Slough, who sat in mid-table, were looking for the points to
bring them within touching distance of the play-offs, so it was an important game
for both. Slough’s preparations weren’t helped
by traffic issues meaning some of their personal were late arriving, but they
did all manage to get there in time to start the game at the scheduled 7:45pm.
The opening exchanges saw Billericay spurn two clear cut
chances, firstly when Kieron Cadogan burst clear and found himself one on one
with visiting keeper Jack Turner, but the attacker could only dink the ball
disappointingly into the keeper’s hands, and then another chance saw a cut-back
totally missed by Emmanuel.
Slough themselves had a couple of sighters from long range,
one going wide whilst the other was straight at home keeper Alan Julian, before
the visitors then saw a decent effort beaten away by Julian for a corner, and
it had been a decent start despite the goalless score line.
Billericay then went close when a header across goal went
just wide of the far post, but the hosts then almost gifted the visitors the
lead when a poor back pass towards his own goal by Danny Waldren went straight
to Slough forward Matthew Lench but Julian saved to spare Waldren’s blushes.
Emmanuel then struck wide for the hosts before Slough went
oh so close to taking the lead when Ben Harris saw his free-kick deflect onto
the inside of the hosts post before going across goal and out for a corner, and
moments later a ball across the face of goal from the visitors missed all
coming in and Billericay could breathe a sigh of relief.
But five minutes before the break Billericay opening the
scoring as after the hosts had seen an effort saved, the next attack saw
Emmanuel burst into the box, see an effort blocked before he blasted home the
loose ball into the roof of the net, but that lead would not last too long.
This is because the visiting Slough found a leveller three minutes
later when Ben Harris swivelled on the edge of the box before sending a lovely effort
beyond Julian into the bottom corner.
Billericay headed over a corner late on in the half, but it meant the
sides went into the break all square with everything still to play for.
Half Time Billericay
Town 1 Slough Town 1
The majority of the 509 inside the stadium were hoping for the
hosts to go on and win this game no doubt, and four minutes into the second
period they re-took the lead when after an effort was deflected wide, the
resulting corner saw Kizzi rise to power home a header and give the Blues fans
some more cheer.
They could of made it three as well when a high looping
cross saw keeper Turner flap at it and the loose ball was then fired over by
substitute Alfie Potter, who had only just come on minutes before, whilst down
the other end Slough saw a decent effort beaten away by Julian before the
follow up was scrambled out for a corner.
But on 70 minutes came a moment of magic from Coombes, who
struck a brilliant dipping free-kick in off the underside of the bar and give
the hosts breathing space with a two-goal cushion. It looked like it was going over until the
vicious dip came in, it really was a fantastic strike and had everyone up on
their feet for sure.
The game then seemed to drift a bit as the snow started to
come down, but with three minutes left Slough suddenly made it an interesting
last few minutes when a cross saw Ben Harris nod home for his second of the
contest, and it was very much game on.
Sam Deering came on for the final part of the game, and he
almost sealed the win for the hosts when sending a brilliant effort against the
bar, before his follow up with blocked on the line, but Slough could not find a
leveller meaning the hosts held on for a well-earned three points.
Full Time Billericay
Town 3 Slough Town 2
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