ROOKS ARE ROCKED BY 5-STAR RICAY
BILLERICAY Town dismantled Lewes with a five-star thumping in the meeting between the two in-form sides in the division.
The Blues raced into a three-goal lead in the first half thanks to goals from Moses Emmanuel, a Jake Elliot own goal and Alfie Cerulli. After Elliot scored another own goal, Frankie Merrifield got on the scoresheet to seal a perfect day for promotion-chasing Billericay.
And boss Gary McCann was delighted with their showing.
“We could have gone in at halftime more goals to the good and we could have scored more by the end of the game,” he said. “It was a really pleasing performance and very much where we have been at for the last few weeks.”
The hosts capitalised on some questionable Lewes defending with only two minutes on the clock. Cerulli’s corner fell perfectly for Emmanuel, who struck the killer blow with a headed finish as the striker was left unmarked in the box.
Buoyed by their early breakthrough, Billericay went on the search for doubling their advantage and Richard Asamoah nearly did so with two strikes which were
saved by Nathan Harvey. The Blues didn’t let up as they deservedly got their second. Asamoah was proving to be a thorn in the side of the Rooks and his delivery was prodded in by Merrifield.
They strengthened their grip on proceedings with a third just before the break. The in-form Cerulli saw his shot take a nick off of a Lewes defender and Harvey couldn’t get down quick enough to deny his strike.
Lewes, unbeaten in their last seven, didn’t look like their usual selves. Their afternoon went from bad to worse on 49 minutes as Merrifield poked home inside the sixyard box.
Billericay made their dominance pay further when George Wind found space on the right flank before putting it on a plate for Merrifield to net his hat-trick.
Lewes manager Tony Russell said: “We were so sloppy when we got into the final third and when you turn around it is like the Red Arrows – they are coming from everywhere.”