Late drama as Hungerford see three points stolen

Billericay were given a bumpy ride as Dean Inman scored a dramatic late equaliser to deny Hungerford a deserved win over the league leaders. It was a thrilling encounter that could have produced more goals as our visitors clearly had eyes on next week’s Fa cup 1st round replay. The hosts started the brighter and Romone Rose headed an early chance over from a free kick. Just minutes later Danilo Orsi-Dadomo found himself one on one with the defender but could only curl straight into the arms of Alan Julian. They were punished for missing those chances a a short corner routine caught Hungerford napping as Inman headed in his first of the game just before the 20 minute mark. The Crusaders were unable to break down a sturdy visiting defence and Jake Robinson should’ve done better when he found the ball at his feet inside the penalty box. The ever-running and skill full winger Ricky Modeste was causing problems for opposing left back Matt Jones.

After the interval Robinson ran through on goal but was again denied by the on-rushing goalkeeper Jacob Weaver. The league’s top scorer was there on quiet all afternoon as the Hungerford back line stayed strong. Romone Rose then pulled Hungerford level on 65 minutes with a curling and dipping strike over Julian. It sparked the hosts into life and they were arguably the better side from there on and with more composure they should have capitalised on the Blues now disjointed defence on the attack. However, they almost gifted Billericay a goal when a long ball forward was spilled by Weaver into the path of Adam Coombes but defender Marcus Johnson-Schuster made a last-ditch challenge to deny a certain goal. It was all Hungerford in the final 10 minutes as Billericay looked rocked and no one could have predicted they started the day top of the league but Jamie O’Hara did miss a late chance for the visitors before five minutes of drama in added time. Firstly, Hungerford’s Josh Martin reacted quickest to slam the ball home from a corner in the last minute of additional time to spark wild scenes amongst all home fans, players and coaches. It looked like a deserved win but the referee found two additional minutes from somewhere (1 minute for us celebrating, 45 seconds for subs and 15 seconds for our goalkeeper hanging onto the ball too long) and defender Inman headed home his second of the game (bang on the added two minutes of the additional five first summoned) to leave the hosts deflated but with a more than deserved point.