By JOHN CHUBB
Billericay Town staged a superb comeback against Stourbridge of the Evo-Stik Northern Premier Division to seal a place in the last 16 of the FA Trophy, thanks to Billy Bricknell’s injury time winner.
After Matt Paine and Sam Deering had had early chances for the home side it was leading scorer Jake Robinson – back in Blues’ starting line up after sitting out two games with a hamstring injury – who put Glenn Tamplin’s men ahead after 19 minutes, finding Josh Urquhart’s cross and placing the ball into the corner of the net for his 38th goal of the season.
But although Ricay held on to this lead to have the upper hand at the break, their Midlands opponents had other ideas and it was the Glassboys who turned the game on its head in the first five minutes of the second half.
First of all Leon Broadhurst equalised in the 47th minute, then after Stourbridge goalkeeper Matt Gould saved a Joe Kizzi header at the opposite end, Stuart Pierpoint put the visitors in front on 50 minutes.
After Gould’s save from an overhead kick by Billericay’s Danny Waldren, the home side equalised in the 65th minute with Ricky Modeste finding the net from close range.
This set up a tense final quarter of the match as Blues began to push for a winner, home substitute Billy Bricknell forcing another save from Gold and Waldren going very close as he hit the post.
Then with four minutes of time added on by referee Carl Brook, Bricknell pounced in the dying seconds to put the home team through to the 3rd round of the Trophy, for the first time in 13 seasons.
Billericay Town: Alan Julian, Joe Kizzi, Josh Urquhart, Rob Swaine, Dean Inman, Sam Deering, Danny Waldren (Jamie O’Hara 89), Matt Paine (Billy Bricknell 59), Ricky Modeste (Sanchez Watt 79), Jake Robinson, Adam Cunnington.
Stourbridge: Matt Gould, Aris Christophorou (Aaron Forde 26), Darryl Westlake, Paul McCone, Stuart Pierpoint, Tom Tonks, Matt Dodd, Leon Broadhurst, Luke Benbow, Luke Shearer, Connor Gater (Jack Duggan 73).
Attendance: 1081