Billericay take big step towards league safety

WALTHAM ABBEY 0

BILLERICAY TOWN 2

(Ryman League Premier Division)

BILLERICAY took a giant stride towards securing their Ryman League Premier Division status with a hard fought win at Waltham Abbey on Saturday.

Goals in each half from Danny Charge and Dave Wareham secured the win, but Town were grateful to goalkeeper Paul Nicholls for some fine saves.

Town made the short journey round the M25 in the midst of something of an injury crisis with Greg Oates, Billy Bricknell and Jamie England all ruled out with injuries sustained at Carshalton Athletic on Thursday.

Simon Thomas, Chris Wild and Ryan O'Rawe were called in to replace the injured trio, while Danny Green was preferred to Harrison Chatting in midfield.

The home side are struggling at the foot of the table, but they made a quick start, clearly intent on exposing Town's re-jigged team.

On a hard, rutted surface that made passing football difficult, Abbey showed the advantage of finding their front players early, and James Elmes almost profited forcing Nicholls to make an important save.

Lee Sontag was also denied by Nicholls who then produced an acrobatic stop to push former Blues striker Billy Holland's header over.

Billericay had struggled to impose themselves on the game up to this point but they then took the lead, somewhat against the run of play.

A quick counter attack on the Blues' right eventually saw a looping cross into the box where the uneven bounce seemed to deceive attackers, defenders and 'keeper alike until it fell to Danny Charge at the far post who smashed his shot into the back of the net.

The goal settled Billericay and they enjoyed their best spell of the game, almost grabbing a second when Lee Kersey powered a header against the crossbar.

The second half got off to something of a slow start, with Billericay's back four looking a lot more secure than at the start of the first half.

Waltham Abbey looked strong at set pieces, but their chances of getting back into the game were all but ended when Dave Wareham escaped down the left and his well struck shot from a tight angle seemed to go straight through Harry Ricketts.

The second goal seemed to knock some of the stuffing out of the home side, although they did have a goal ruled out for offside, and Billericay's celebrations at the final whistle showed how important this result was to them.

Town lost 1-0 on Thursday night to Carshalton after conceding a goal on the hour mark.

Both Greg Oates and Billy Bricknell hobbled off injured.