Billericay Town v Maidstone

This weeks blog is a guest post from the good man that is Bob Smith, he who is of course Non-League Touring alongside me.  Enjoy.

"The next part of our non league tour was the New Lodge in Billericay for the Ryman Premier league game between Billericay Town and Maidstone United.

During research for the game we discovered that Billericay Town have an awful website which made it difficult to find out too much about them. However, using their site and other sources we discovered that the club had a couple of notable players:


Striker Bertie Brayley was one of the brightest prospects in the West Ham youth team that “hammered” Coventry City 9-0 on aggregate in the 1999 youth cup final. Brayley scored 3 goals over the 2 legs, playing alongside future England internationals Michael Carrick and Joe Cole. His career went downhill following his release by the Hammers, he failed to make an impact at QPR or Swindon. Brayley then dropped into non league football initially with Canvey Island. Following 2 years with Canvey he then bounced around the non league scene, failing to settle at numerous clubs. Brayley (now 29) signed for Billericay Town in the summer and committed his future to the club in October. Bertie’s character may be slightly called into question as the club’s own website describe him as having “gained a reputation as a bit of a mercenary”.

Town’s other high profile player is former Jamaica international Micah Hyde who played in the premier league for Watford. Hyde also had a notable youth team career, playing for Brimsdown Rovers, alongside David Beckham.


The visitors Maidstone United (The Stones) seemed to be a more professional outfit judging by their website. They even boast the Maidstone United Hotline (09068 800691), however at 60p per minute I doubt too many people take advantage of the service. United also boast the best Non league fanzine 2009.
Stones striker Danny Hockton played 67 games for Billericay, scoring 35 goals between 2003 and 2005.
Goalkeeper Andy Walker also played for Billericay, however he failed to break into the first team and moved to Maidstone on loan before making a permanent move last year.

Notable former players include Ian Selly and Trinidad and Tobago international Ian Cox who wound down their careers with the Stones, however their most notable former player is current Manchester United defender Chris Smalling who started his career at Maidstone, playing 11 games for the club. Smalling then signed for Fulham in 2008 before making his £10M move to United in January 2010. Sadly for Maidstone, Smalling did not have a playing contract for the club and they therefore did not get a sell on fee from Fulham. Ironically Smalling’s only Maidstone goal came against East Thurrock United, the last club on our tour.

We set out for the New Lodge with plenty of time to spare, giving ourselves over an hour to make the 16 minute trip. However as we’ve found on our tour, non league grounds are very poorly signposted and this was no different, so our journey took double the time Google maps had predicted as we drove around the back streets of Billericay. Luckily we saw some floodlights in the distance and we were on our way. The approach to the ground was one single lane road. As we drove up to the entrance 4 men were standing outside and seemed genuinely surprised to see us. I rolled down the window and asked where to park and one of the men, who was wearing a Billericay town scarf directed us to the world’s smallest car park. Something about this man didn’t seem quite right and I think looking back it was his thick west country accent.

After purchasing our tickets and customary program we did our usual lap of the pitch to find the best viewing spots. We were immediately hit by how cold it was. The ground has one small seated stand, which looked like a temporary stand which had been used for several decades. Other than the “main” stand there were concrete terraces coverered with corrugated iron roofs, behind which were fences, and when I say fences I mean actual fence panels like you would find in any garden. The metal parts of the ground were rusting and the concrete no always stable, with one area behind a goal coned off. The whole ground looked quite dirty and outdated. The club did have a very nice clubhouse though and we handed over £5.80 to the barman for a pint of lager and a pint of cider whilst we sat in the warm watching highlights of Genoa vs AC Milan.

Perusing the program we discovered that although mid table, Billericay were on a 5 game unbeaten run, whereas the visitors sat second bottom despite a decent away record. This was probably due to the fact that they had yet to win any of their 15 home games, which is quite some record. We were also pleased to see that the Stones had a player called Adrian Stone.

With just minutes left until kick off we ventured back outside into the cold to get some much needed pre match food. However the players were just about to come out of the makeshift tunnel (2 large gates) which meant our route was blocked to the food shed on the other side and we had an agonising wait while the overly officious officials kept the players (and us) waiting. During this wait we got our first glimpse of the players and in particular skipper Micah Hyde. Hyde looked nothing like I remembered him, his skin was much lighter and he did not have the kind smiling face I had remembered. Certainly not the laid-back Jamaican I had remembered from the old days at Watford. Then as all of the players were just about ready to make their way onto the hallowed turf, Micah let out a loud captain’s roar of “Come on boys, let’s go to work!”

I for one was certainly pleased that they players were about to start work as it meant that the tunnel was removed and we could make our way to get some food. Several delights were on the menu, including pies and steak rolls, however we were advised by the lady serving us that they only had burgers, hot dogs and chips available which was rather disappointing. We both ordered a cheeseburger and chips and to our surprise the chips were being kept warm in a cardboard box, the sort that multiple packs of paper come in. Health and safety clearly hadn’t been to this snack hut for a while and neither had the food delivery men!



Appetising menu - but nothing seemed to be in stock!

We watched the first half in one corner of the ground, towards the end Billericay were attacking. To our surprise the former West Ham man Bertie Brayley had been left on the bench as Town had opted instead for a front pairing of Cedric Ngakam and Tony Boot. We immediately warmed to “Booty”, who showed some nice touches early on and it wasn’t long before he forced the Stones keeper into a save, Boot flicking the ball over the head of a defender a la Paul Gasgoigne vs Scotland but with more time than he realised his shot was poor. We hoped that this might spark the game into life, however the first half continued without much real incident. From the very first minute the Stones keeper Andy Walker was very vocal, constantly shouting encouragement and tips to his team mates. He kept this up for almost the whole game. Both midfields were bypassed as the long ball was favoured. Hyde did show some composure but didn’t really stand out and was very quiet for a captain, bar his pre-match rallying call, perhaps he was Hyde-ing.

0-0 at half time, and neither side had really looked like scoring.

We took a similar position in the second half, in the opposite corner, towards the end Billericay were attacking. The Maidstone left back must have thought we were following him. We had hoped that the second half would be more entertaining than the first but for much of the half we were disappointed. It didn’t take long for Town to bring on Bertie Brayley for a disappointed Tony Boot. This struck us as odd, despite not doing too much with the ball, Booty looked far more dangerous than the quiet Cedric Ngakam. Brayley looked like a decent player who linked up well and actually tried to pass the ball, sometimes even on the ground. His team mates were again not so keen on the whole “passing” fad and both sides continued trying to out-hoof eachother. As footballing incidents were rare we found ourselves noticing some other things, such as Brayley’s shorts being inside out, was this a superstition or was his mum not there to dress him? We’ll never know. Maidstone’s centre back Abraham also drew our attention as he was wearing some awful pink boots. However the main source of entertainment was the 5 teenagers who amused themselves by shouting gentle abuse at the linesman for most of the half. With around 5 minutes to go the game sprang into life and the next 8 minutes were more action packed than the previous 85 put together, which to be honest really isn’t saying much. First Billericay put together the best move of the game when they strung together a massive 4 passes in a row which almost led to a chance. Minutes later Town whipped a corner into the near post and Ngakam rose unmarked from 3 yards out, and connected with a combination of his neck and shoulder to somehow put the ball wide. Town had the better of the play by this point and worried the Stones keeper Walker with some dangerous corners. Then in the 92nd minute Walker rushed out of his goal to try and keep the ball in play, however the linesman adjudged that the ball had gone out for a corner. Opinion was mixed amongst the supporters as to whether the ball had actually gone out of play. This didn’t bother Bertie Brayley who curled the resulting corner into the six yard box, Walker was nowhere and Ngakam made up for his earlier miss by scrambling the ball home. There was a slight delay before the celebrations, whether this was due to nobody quite being sure if there was a foul on the keeper or just shock that the ball had found the net but the referee signalled a goal and the crowd went wild. 1-0! The goalkeeper was clearly disappointed with conceding the goal and for the first time all evening he was silent as he had a sit down in his goal to recover for 30 seconds, dejected and alone as his opponents celebrated.

For the first time in the game, the Billericay crowd actually made some noise as they cheered what would surely be the winner! Stoppage time was nearly up when Ngakam, with his new found confidence robbed a Maidstone defender and strode towards goal, could this be his second? No. His shot going just wide.

The Billericay fans were in high spirits as the final whistle blew. All it took was a goal for them to find their voices, if only it had come earlier."