MATCH REPORT - Waltham Abbey - 21/10/25

Billericay Town 3 (Hockey 33, Evans 57, Cerulli 90+2) Waltham Abbey 0

Alfie Cerulli marked his first start of the season with a goal and an assist as Billericay Town eased past Waltham Abbey to reach the fourth round of the BBC Essex Senior Cup at New Lodge.

Cerulli played a key role in Freddie Hockey’s opener midway through the first half before rounding off the scoring with a composed stoppage-time finish, after Jack Evans had doubled the lead earlier in the second half.

Danny Scopes made six changes from Saturday’s draw at Chichester, handing debuts to Dondre Abraham and Louis Hiobi, while Cerulli and Hockey both made their first starts of the campaign. The reshuffled Blues started brightly, with Hockey firing the first effort of the evening ten minutes in, though his strike failed to trouble visiting goalkeeper Lenny Jones.

The hosts continued to press and almost went ahead when Cerulli’s low cross found Elliot Long, but the midfielder couldn’t adjust his feet and Jones was able to smother the ball. The breakthrough came 12 minutes before the interval as Hockey swept home Cerulli’s inviting delivery from the left to register his first goal for the club.

Waltham Abbey offered a sporadic threat on the counter but struggled to create clear chances, and Billericay went into the break a goal to the good.

The Blues began the second half with purpose and almost doubled their advantage five minutes after the restart when Tyrese Owen was denied at point-blank range by Jones. The second goal soon followed, though, as Evans struck a precise effort from the edge of the area into the bottom corner on 57 minutes.

Scopes made a triple substitution on the hour mark, introducing debutant Joe Waters and returning midfielder Ben Steward, the latter making his first appearance of the season after returning from injury. The visitors enjoyed their best spell soon after, with Ibatayo Oyebola forcing Abraham into a sharp low save before a header from the ensuing corner flew inches over.

Teenager Alexander Ansell was later handed his debut as the hosts saw out the game professionally. Cerulli added late gloss to the scoreline in stoppage time, slotting into the bottom corner after good work down the right from Liam Nash to seal a confident home win.

The result means Scopes’ side have now lost just once in seven outings and advance comfortably into the fourth round of the competition.

Billericay Town: Abraham; Barnum-Bobb, Scott (Waters 63), Hiobi, Porter; Evans (Ansell 82), Owen (Steward 63); Nash, Long (Oudnie-Morgan 63), Cerulli; Hockey

Subs not used: Miller-Rodney

Waltham Abbey: Jones; Twusami, Fernandez, Wihongi, Williams (Price 71); Stewart, Pedro; Da Costa (Robbins 76), Oyebola, Hamilton (Rydings 65); Brown

Subs not used: Robinson

Referee: Craig Barnett

Attendance: 251

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