Billericay end The Crusaders Trophy hopes

The injury problems which have beset us recently were emphasised when only 5 of the players who started the game against Billericay just 8 weeks ago, were fit to start this FA Trophy match against the same opponents, and the situation worsened when Alex Wall was sent off and Luke Hopper hobbled painfully off before the end.

Joint managers Jon Boardman and Ian Herring plus all the players, continue to give everything for the club and show no signs of letting up, but confidence, not surprisingly, is low.

Winning and losing at football are a habit which is always difficult to break and we face difficult times, games versus Chelmsford and Dartford , both championship contenders, during the next two weeks will test us further.

This FA Trophy match continued the recent pattern and although this time we were at last awarded an early penalty, we failed from the spot, and by the time that Marcus Beauchamp saved a Billericay penalty, the visitors were already on the way to victory and a place in the next round.
We started well on a bright sunny day, although a bitterly cold wind chilled everyone, and Luke Hopper soon broke away and was brought down by Joseph Kizzi, took the penalty himself, but his spot-kick lacked power and Alan Julian dived to his right to save. We had a half-chance as Hopper chased a long ball but could not bring it under control, but Beauchanmp came quickly off his line to stop Jake Robinson as the two teams continued to be evenly matched, but the visitors took the lead 10 minutes before the interval when Robinson sent a speculative looping header into the goalmouth, which eluded everyone and dropped in at the far post.
Alex Wall dived into a melee and was given a straight red card, whilst Kizzi, who appeared to be badly hurt,carried on with no sign of injury.

Things got worse when Hopper was seen to be limping badly and he soon hobbled painfully off and there looked to be no way back for us. Beauchamp kept us in the game by saving Sam Deering’s penalty but the result was made certain after 81 minutes when Sanchez Watt and Louie Theophanous combined for a “tap-in” goal which earned the visitors a spot in the next round next round and left us all bemoaning the fact that “Lady Luck” seems to have deserted us.

Team; Marcus Beauchamp, Rhys Tyler, Paul Stonehouse (Nicholas Bignall),James Rusby, Darnell Smith, Ritchie Whittingham, James Clark(Dan Bailey), Anton Rogers, Luke Hopper(Owen Cummins),
Alex Wall, Louie Soares.
Subs; Charlie Knight, Gary MacDonald.