I have been a fan for 25 years and never believed I would be privileged to be part of such a fantastic season. On Tuesday 24th April we beat Harlow Town 2-0 and confirmed promotion to the National League South in front of one of the season’s biggest crowds of 1600+.
Photo courtesy of Nicky Hayes
Saturday 28th April was a day for celebrating when we played Folkestone at home in front of the club’s biggest ever league crowd of 2200+. It was an entertaining game between two good teams, Billericay were losing 2-1 with a few minutes left when Jamie O’Hara scored with a long range shot which was probably one of the best goals of the season, final score 2-2.
It was a time to celebrate at the end of the game, apart from winning the league, the club have also won the League Cup, the Essex Senior Cup, had their best ever run in the FA Trophy reaching the Quarter Final and equalled their best ever FA Cup run.
(It was good to see players during celebrations/presentations wearing shirts in memory of ❤️Nigel Harris❤️ long term fan who sadly died in December 2017, he will always be remembered).
The team have been coached/managed well throughout the season by Harry Wheeler and Danny Hazle. I was pleased to see it announced after the game on Saturday Harry would manage the team, assisted by Danny for the season 2018/19.
When Glenn Tamplin took ownership of the club in December 2016 part of his plan was to win promotion in his first full season, he’s achieved that + a lot more. I believe we are lucky that he has invested in our club, he has also built a ground to be proud of going forward into the National League South.
We have played 74 games during the season, since losing 1-0 to Kingstonian in the first game of the season the team have scored in all the other 73 games, a record. Jake Robinson has scored 57 goals a season total record (7 hat tricks), 34 of those goals in the league equalling Leon Gutzmore’s record. Billy Bricknell scored 34 (4 hat tricks) A total of 198 league and cup goals were scored in the season another club record.
Average attendances for the season were 1057, this is better than any team in the National League South, Dartford the promoted club (1022) Chelmsford (861) and Braintree (531).
It’s good to see the club continuing their ‘Schools in the Community Project’ encouraging the fans of the future. A lot of people have worked hard behind the scenes to promote and run the club, a big thank you to all of them, everyone has helped towards a very successful season.
The league playoffs will take place between Dulwich v Leiston and Folkestone v Hendon. It will be interesting to follow developments during the summer regarding playing staff, without doubt we have had a great squad of players this season, they have worked hard to achieve the treble in difficult circumstances, playing 3 games a week, 13 games in a month, well done all of them. The pitch was the only disappointment, hopefully this will be resolved in the summer.
I don’t want to wish the summer away but I am so looking forward to next season.
