The most frustrating thing about this game was the way the referee handled the game. I'm not sure we were ever going to win, but we weren't two goals worse than Billericay, and we simply didn't stand a chance with the sheer number of key moments that went against us, mainly the complete ignoring of a string of blatant fouls. Billericay are now top, after Dover slipped up, and they have the meanest defence in the division by a distance with just 21 goals conceded in 27 games. However, they aren't as entertaining to watch as Dover or Cray Valley, who basically attack at every opportunity and challenge opponents to outscore them. Billericay have scored fewer goals than all the other leading contenders, but look better equipped to keep grinding out the results over the final third of the season by just ding what's needed. I was a bit worried about Dillon Barnes after his horror show against Bognor, but he stood no chance with either goal and didn't really have a save to make otherwise, even though Billericay had a lot of shots off target and hit the bar with a header from a corner a few minutes before taking the lead.
Hamlet made the brighter start and Moore did well to test the keeper with a first time shot from an angle that was too fierce to hold, rebounding from his chest, but no one else was close enough to take advantage before he recovered to claim the ball. Wanadio had already turned his man inside out a couple of times, with other defenders snuffing out the danger inside the box. Then he made a run, accelerating away from his marker, only to be very clearly pulled back by the arm just as he crossed the 18 yard line. A blatant penalty, but nothing given, then our man gets booked for dissent. We fell behind on the half hour when a diagonal ball into our box at the near post was expertly trapped by former Hamlet loanee Decarrey Sheriff with his back to goal, before swivelling to hook it into the far corner of the net. One Billericay player might even have seen a straight red card for a shocking late challenge on Ibrahiym right on the touchline that completely flattened our man and left him in a heap without even getting close to the ball, yet incredibly we weren't even awarded a free kick as a different opponent collected the loose ball. The linesman was looking straight at the incident from about 10 yards away but his flag remained motionless.
We didn't really get going again after half time, but were unlucky to fall further behind after another ten minutes. Ross Marshall had to chase a ball over the top and seemed certain to reach it first, but stumbled and fell after appearing to have his heel clipped by a chasing opponent, leaving the forward to run clear with only Barnes to beat before squaring it to Sheriff to fire into the net. Billericay looked likely to pull further ahead for a while with the amount of possessing and chances created, but without actually getting that close to beating Barnes. The introduction of Porter lived up our attack and began asking different questions of the home defence, and he should have had a penalty when chasing a through ball over the top. As he steadied himself to meet the ball dropping from above, he was very clearly brought down by the defender chasing him. Incredibly no penalty was given once again, and once again our man was booked for dissent. Needless to say the same linesman who ignored the foul on Ibrahiym wasn't interested in assisting, although he couldn't wait to wave his flag a few minutes later when Porter won the ball in the corner from an opponent who was trying to shield the ball into touch for a goal kick. The final bizarre incident occurred in the third of 5 additional minutes at the end of the second half after their keeper had collected the ball to end a Hamlet attack. He dropped to one knee, removed a glove, and started pointing at his face. The referee came over, had a cosy chat for a minute or so, then noticed Billericay wanted to make a substitution and waved the new player on before restarting with a dropped ball for the keeper. Are you even allowed to make a substitution at a dropped ball? I can't recall ever seeing it happen before.
That's probably the worst two referees I've see this season for our two matches against Billericay. At least the bloke who did the home game was consistent in showing yellow cards for anything and everything, it was just our bad luck that JBW was the first to get a second yellow, leaving us a man short for 40 minutes on that occasion before one of theirs also walked.
All the factors beyond our control conspired to make our new manager's first game even more difficult than expected against a strong opponent away from home. First signs are that we look more controlled and composed in our play than under Hak. We took more care to keep hold of the ball and were more patient in looking to build attacks. The disadvantage in this is that it's perhaps harder to break down a really well organised defence. I think a Hak team would have created more chances simply by getting the ball into the box more frequently and stretching the defence by using the full width of the pitch, but we'd probably have yielded more chances and perhaps more goals at the other end. A lot of the goals in our games this season, both scored and conceded, seem to have come from quick thrusts out of the middle third rather than from sustained pressure, which is all a bit unpredictable with goals often coming against the run of play. I think we should now get something a bit more stable as a result of repeating good habits, because I still believe we have better individuals than most other teams in the division.
