Billericay Town Match Preview
City make their final league trip of the season on Saturday when they travel to Essex to face Billericay Town.
Following their fine win at Hungerford on Easter Monday they can banish all fears of relegation with another victory as bottom placed Ricay would be unable to overtake the 41 points in their remaining three matches.
The two teams met way back in August at Twerton Park in the opening game of the season with the home team getting off to a great start.
Goals from Mo Touray, Cody Cooke and Alex Fletcher secured a 3-0 win to send 1180 fans home happy and full of anticipation for the season.
However the warning signs were certainly there for the visitors and the defeat was one of five in their first six matches.
They have spent most of the season rooted to the foot of the table, never rising above 18th.
A surprise 4-1 win at Hungerford in March was followed by excellent home victories over St Albans and Oxford but that revival quickly came to an end and they have lost their last four.
Following a decisive defeat at neighbours Chelmsford on Monday the Club decided to part company with manager Jody Brown and replace him with interim boss Dan Brown.
Ricay have won just four of their 18 home fixtures with a total of 17 points won.
Surprisingly Dulwich, St Albans and Oxford all returned pointless from New Lodge but heavy defeats have been suffered to Eastbourne, Hungerford and Dorking.
City made a couple of visits to New Lodge to play ground sharing Chelmsford at the start of the century but we have only played three fixtures there against Billericay, the first in 2012.
Each club has collected four points from those games with goals from Robbie Cundy and Tom Smith securing a 2-0 win in April 2019.
That final match of the season ended the home club’s hopes of entering the play offs which saw City entertain Wealdstone a few days later.
Due to Covid that proved to be our last visit in the League although a few months later we returned to suffer a 4-2 defeat in the FA Cup.
In the years since our early visits there have been significant changes to the ground and it is now one of the neatest in the division.
Former owner Glenn Tamplin has moved on but his time at the Club can still be remembered in the murals at the entrance to the ground!
Supporters travelling to the match should note that New Lodge is a cashless stadium and purchases in the refreshment outlets and shop are only by card.
The same usually applies to ground admission but due to a technical fault this week there will be a turnstile accepting cash payments.
Tickets can be bought in advance from the Billericay website.
There is a sizeable clubhouse while Billericay High Street is around 20 minutes walk away, where a number of pubs can be found.
The 160 mile trip from Bath will take around 3.5 hours and a Supporters Club coach is running.
Full details can be found at its website.
The train trip from Bath Spa will take around three hours, changing at Paddington and Liverpool Street, and the ground is one mile from Billericay station.
Whichever means of travel you use to get to the match, have a safe journey and hopefully the reward of a City win to end all mentions of the R word!
