Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round, Sunday 9th August
My third and final game of an FA Cup triple header this weekend came from Park View Road, Welling, as South East Counties Premier outfit Erith & Belvedere were hosting Southern Combination Premier side Billinghurst who had made the trip from their little village in West Sussex to what was a sweltering South East London (been saying that quite a bit lately!!!).
The hosts had only played one game thus far competitively this season in the league, and had lost that 2-1, Billinghurst, who had won promotion via the play offs from Step Six last season, had began their Premier Division campaign with a loss and a draw in their two outings, but how this one would go was hard to call really not knowing much about either side, but with the prize of the next round of the cup on offer, no doubt both sides were up for the fight.
A decent crowd of 201 had showed up for this one, and it was clear to see early on that the hosts were the ones who had settled the better, and in the 17th minute they grabbed the lead, a ball laid back to Casey Dudley (no he is not related to me, as far as I know!!!) who sent a lovely first time finish beyond visiting keeper Ollie Courtney and into the bottom corner, 1-0 to the hosts.
Erith continued to dominate proceedings and duly doubled their lead in the 33rd minute, Dudley turning provider this time, waltzing through some challenges before the ball was eventually laid off to Freddie Baker who side footed a lovely finish across goal into the far corner, and then five minutes later Clarence Tambe pinched the ball off an opponent before running forward, cutting side onto his right foot and belting a effort past Courtney into the visitors net, 3-0 after 38 minutes, you felt it was pretty much game done and dusted already.
Erith had totally dominated the opening forty five minutes and could easily have had more than the three goals they had managed to muster, visiting keeper Courtney certainly made some decent saves to thwart the hosts, but unless Billinghurst drastically improved in the second period they were likely to suffer a very heavy loss.
However, after what was probably a very honest chat amongst themselves in the dressing room at the break, they came out a different side for the opening exchanges of the second half, and in the 53rd minute grabbed a goal back to give them some hope, Tom Edwards breaking in behind to fire across home keeper Danny Alexander to find the bottom corner, and for a time Erith looked slightly worried that their opponents could get themselves right back in this contest.
Had they grabbed another goal back it would have been very much on, this didn't happen though and after Erith had got over that initial shock, they began to create plenty of chances to pull away from their opponents, but they were wasteful in front of goal as well as some superb blocks from defenders and saves from the keeper, but the visitors at least were a lot more on it in this half then the first, and did give Erith more to think about than they had done in the first period.
Erith though seemed more and more relaxed as the time ticked by and knew they were getting closer and closer to the finish line, and a minute into seven added on at the end of the game, Tambe managed to flick a ball across to substitute Connor French who sent a first time effort beyond Courtney and seal what was largely a dominant win for the home side who could have easily got double what they ended up with.
Erith's reward for winning today is another home tie, likely to be on Sunday 23rd August, against Isthmian One South East side Sittingbourne, that will be a much tougher test for sure, but some prize money earned today and a fairly comfortable FA Cup win to end their weekend.
Full time Erith & Belvedere 4 Billinghurst 1
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