BTFC met their match under the lights at the AGP last night incurring a heavy loss against a talented West Ham U-23 side. Whilst a 4-0 home defeat will smart, Blues need not take too much heed from the poor result against a team of the quality they are unlikely to meet again in the season ahead in the National South.
With news filtering through pre-match of a serious accident on the M25 causing significant traffic disruption, five Billericay players spent the evening in gridlock. Manager, Harry Wheeler, also caught by the road closure, arrived for the final quarter of the game, having staged a dramatic dash to be there.
With first half chances few and far between, Harry’s successful quest to get to the AGP, which involved the scaling of a bridge, sprint through fields, and summoning of an Uber, proved to be an entertaining side-show. With West Ham youngsters in command, particularly in the second half, it was a good day to not be at the office. Harry made it in time for the third and fourth Hammers goals.
The opening half was fairly even and saw few clear chances for either side. Billericay Town had the first opportunity through Sam Deering on ‘5 minutes but he could not convert from a tight angle after winning the tackle that made the chance. In response, in the 16th minute, Nathan Holland, who impressed with his ability to carry the ball forward, fired in a curling shot just wide of the post.
As the half progressed, West Ham’s technical quality became increasingly apparent. Holland supplied a superb cross-field ball to the right wing for Oladapo Afolayan who fired a fierce shot which was blocked. Alfie Lewis was also influential, showing excellent movement, combining with Hector-Ingram, going close with a curling shot. BTFC held firm as the youngsters looked good on the ball but were held in check by the centre-back partnership of Gerring and Doe.
The best chance of the half would fall to the home side. A neat turn from Coombes in the box, who showed good trickery on several occasions, fed Deering with the opportunity of a shot on goal. Unfortunately, when well placed at the far post, he skewed his shot disappointingly wide.
The second half would see Terry Westley’s academy side take command. Just after the re-start, Jahmal Hector-Ingram, opened the scoring with a well-taken finish smashed past Blues goal-keeper, Strizovic. West Ham visibly filled with confidence after the goal and started to put together some superb passing combinations across midfield, which show-cased their talent to the 2,662 crowd.
Although Holland served ample warning of the increasing Hammers threat with several bursts of pace taking him into dangerous territory, it would be superb play from the academy goal-keeper Anang that brought the second goal. His pass to Alfie Lewis came straight from the Pep Guardiola class of distribution as his quick kick saw Holland gallop into space on the Billericay right-hand side.
Driving forward, he slid the ball across to the waiting Sean Adarkwa who, on ’65 minutes, needed no second invitation to dispatch the ball into the net from six yards. Adarkwa who had only entered as a substitute 7 minutes earlier impressed from the start with his movement and contribution to the precise, measured West Ham passing that dominated the second period.
Adarkwa didn’t wait long for his second, and West Ham’s third, combining neatly with Lewis, to take the return ball and, on ‘77 minutes, coolly side-foot home across the diving Strizovic into the far corner. BTFC fought back and the lively Cunnington fashioned a chance for Coombes who forced a full length diving save from Anang.
With West Ham’s dominance in midfield clear, a fourth goal came via an 87th minute penalty converted by Joe Powell. With Eyong caught in possession on the half-way line by Lewis, the ball was fed to Bernando Rosa who was caught by Howells when preparing to shoot. Strizovic had no chance with the driven penalty to his right.
It was only right that the last word would be for West Ham who had treated the crowd to a display of flowing, attacking football. Those who resisted the lure of staying at home to watch the live-stream of the West Ham first team match versus Mainz were treated to a shining example of what the “West Ham Way” is all about. BTFC proved worthy opponents but were undone by the speed of thought, agility, and technical skill of gifted Premiership academy players.
After a strong pre-season, BTFC can go into their Saturday game versus Truro City with confidence. Although the composition of the Blues side was disrupted by motorway grid-lock, the team did not play badly against a very strong opponent. Gerring and Coombes caught the eye as the best performers on the Billericay side last night and a tough game before the big kick-off was needed.
As for the Hammers, West Ham U-23’s are undoubtedly one of the best teams that I have seen in a while play the Blues. The hope for the future is that these young players can make the breakthrough at the London Stadium and feature in the first eleven. The future production line of talent looks promising for the club.
Goals: West Ham U-23’s ’46 Hector-Ingram, ’65 Adarkwa, ’77 Adarkwa, ’87 Powell (pen).
Billericay Town FC Starting Line Up:
13 Joshua Strizovic 2 Tambeson Eyong 3 Jake Howells 4 Scott Doe 5 Ben Gerring 6 Sam Deering (’80 Hunte) 7 Ricky Modeste (’69 Emmanuel) 8 Simon Walton (’51 Waldren) 9 Jake Robinson (’69 Cunnington) 10 Adam Coombes 11 Jamie O’Hara
West Ham United U-23’s Starting Line Up:
1 Joseph Anang 2 Mason Barrett 3 Joe Powell 4 Kristian Belic (’58 Rosa) 5 Reece Oxford 6 Ajibola Alese (’58 Adarkwa) 7 Oladapo Afolayan (’72 Ngakia) 8 Conor Coventry (’51 Johnson) 9 Jamal Hector-Ingram (’58 Akinola) 10 Alfie Lewis 11 Nathan Holland
