Billericay 1-2aet Havant

[Simon BTFC]

Tight opening spell - Russell Penn gave us the lead following a corner.

 

Turning point after 35 mins Mooro sent off for a handball on the line - spoke to him after the game and he said it hit just below the shoulder. Irelevent where it hit him as there had been a blatent foul on JJ moments before but the ref was dire all night and missed pretty much everything. Penalty blasted against bar.

 

Billericay reorganise with 10 men, Russell went back into centre back with Wallo and Roy dropping off. We held out until deep into injury time at end of 1st half when Havant grab an equaliser.

 

2nd half of 90 we were superb, repelling everything Havant threw at us and creating marginally the better chances. DJ brought on and is fouled every time he gets near the ball but the ref ignores most.

 

Havant grab winner soon after start of injury time when a shot creeps in off the post.

 

DJ has a couple of good chances, 1 saved by keeper from tight angle and 1 header flashed wide. Ref misses a late pen for us when havant defender handles in box.

 

Overall quite proud of the team. Russ and Ollie were superb at the heart of defense, Richard Graham was everywhere putting in tackles and running at the havant defense.

[GazzaBTFC]

I thought the team play with fire and loads of heart. Certainly didn't deserve to lose like that. A fine performance and every one of the team can take pride in their preformance.

 

One point though which makes me wonder. Subs? Why don't we like using them? With ten players on the field, running their lungs out, putting on a performance which more than made up for playing with one man down, they are gonna get tired. So why weren't the subs used earlier? I suppose making that point and asking the question someone will accuse me of not supporting the team or the management but it is only a small point I would like answered. I know we did use 2 eventually but maybe fresher legs earlier might have changed the game? As I said, just a small point, I'm certainly NOT complaining about the commitment, effort and skill shown last night.

 

Seems strange and funny to say this but....well done lads. You did yourselves proud.

[BTFC Martin]

I thought it was a good battling performance considering we played with 10 men for 90 minutes.

 

As for the sending off, thought JJ dropped the ball on landing (not in best position to see it, really needed to be behind his goal to see) and Chris Moore pulled off a good save on the line, unfortunately with his arm.

[Gareth J]

I think Gazza is spot on. I know it's being picky after the event, but if we had used some subs on Saturday maybe last night we could have been playing Harlow!!

 

Big congrats to the team though who really put their all into it. Shame about the result, but we could not have asked for more (except perhaps a couple more goals!! <img src="/forums/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" /> ). At least we went down fighting all the way to the end - well done guys.

[Ryan.c]

Proud of the way our players battled and worked last night. Havant a fanville were a decent side and made the extra man tell in extra time. Over the first 90 minutes though, thought we were unlucky not to have won. As for the subs issue, thought DJ came on at just the right time. Would've brought Juho on a lot earlier and soon as they scored in ET I'd have gambled on giving Merrick a run. How the ref missed the foul on Willo for a penalty and the handball right at the death, I'll never know? Got to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down and give the Beavers a damn good licking on saturday!

[jl]

i thought of the 3 games agst havant this was by far our best performance and that the players should be proud of their efforts, they never gave up and battled to the line. if we can continue to show these qualities we still have plenty to play for.

 

 

 

[pc27]

Agree thought we played well, was a little surprised that we never took off a forward and covered ourselves at the back by bringing Juho on but overall I think the lads worked hard leaving no questions about commitment etc.

havant were well organised and did the classic away team performance against us.

Well dont to the players and supporters who made a great atmosphere.