Good Grief!

By John Rogers7/4/2018 23:19Sat Apr 7 23:19:58 2018

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Today encapsulated so much of our season in a ninety minute period.

Some thrilling attacking, some suspect defending, conceding goals in clusters, giving up 2-goal leads and vital late goals.

For our penalty, I was side on and there was a tug on Jake's shoulder as he looked to be readying himself for a bicycle kick. It was a good spot by the referee as it did impede Jake, but maybe 98 times out of 100 doesn't get pulled.

If we'd managed to hold on at 2-0 a little longer I think we might have been able to go away from Worthing but credit to them for their reaction immediately after Zak's goal.

At 3-1 we should have been able to see the game out, I thought, but in the 15-20 minute before they got their second goal, there were some leggy and tired looking players out there, particularly defensively. It didn't help that Worthing's passing game pulled us every which way and other - it was just brilliant to watch at times the way they moved the ball, a rare thing at this level. It's the sort of football Billericay should be playing with the talent at their disposal but for some reason choose not to.

Strangely, though, it was that passing that was almost their downfall. The insistence to play out from the back from goal-kicks should have been punished on two or three more occasions than just Zak's goal in the first period.

When it went to 3-3, conceding two goals within the space of a minute or three as we did Monday and we have done on a few other occasions, I feared the best we were going to come away with was a point. Actually, the better chances fell to us - Zak forcing a good save from the keeper before Ashley's late late winner.

Going through this season, I make that vital late goals to salvage points or wins in the following matches:

Keagan - A v Met Police (2-1)
Josh - A v Dulwich (1-0)
Josh A v Worthing (2-1)
NIko - H v Tonbridge (2-1)
Zak - H v Burgess Hill (2-2)
Casey - H v Folkestone (3-3)
Ashley - H v Worthing (4-3)

That's a dozen or so points that we wouldn't otherwise have picked up and doesn't take into account the late goals against Wingate H & A in the FA Cup or Kezie's against Slough in the Trophy - or the seemingly countless late goals that have added a bit of gloss to otherwise emphatic scorelines. A real testament to the character, desire and belief these boys have - make no mistake, this is no fluke. Today, James Hammond was the only player starting that was older than 25. Quite something.

Although Staines have 2 games in hand on us, their defeat today leaves us with a six point advantage. It's in our hands. A good performance Tuesday, three points Tuesday and we could be a step closer...

Boy, it's hella exciting isn't it?