Billericay Town’s 4-1 victory over Takeley at New Lodge saw them named as Essex Pelly Under 18s Cup champions for the 2023/24 season, and Manager Mike Lawrence reacted: “It’s an amazing, amazing feeling.”

Takeley were the first to score, taking the lead with a goal from George Brown. Billericay fought back, however, finding the back of the net twice through Sam Keys and Chibuuzor-Joshua Onwunaruwa to finish the first half 2-1 up. On the other side of the interval, Billericay continued to build on their advantage, a goal from Daniel Animashaun and a penalty by Stephen Toussaint solidifying their grasp on the silverware.

After the match, Lawrence commented: “I’m so pleased, so happy for the lads. They’ve been brilliant, absolutely brilliant. They’re the comeback kings. In September, they started from scratch, pretty much. We’ve not had years of build-up playing together. It’s literally a scratch side and we’ve come in and won the biggest cup in Essex. It’s an amazing, amazing feeling. Really, really proud of them.

The first half started well for both teams, with multiple attempts at each end. It was 25 minutes before a goal was scored, though, as Takeley’s Kyle O’Brien dribbled inward towards the goal from the right flank before Brown tapped the ball into an empty net from under the crossbar.

Going behind only fuelled Billericay, however, and it was just 9 minutes before they levelled. Keys initially attempted a fierce strike at the goalkeeper, but it rebounded back at his feet he made no mistake second time around with another powerful drive. A perfect link-up between Toussaint and Onwunaruwa saw Billericay add yet another goal to their scoreline just before half time, leading 2-1 at the whistle.

Billericay dominated once more in the second half. In the 64th minute, an excellent side-footer from the edge of the box by Animashaun extended their lead to 3-1, after the ball found the bottom right-hand corner. A penalty was awarded to Billericay just three minutes later and Toussaint successfully added his name to the score sheet, putting his team firmly ahead to secure the trophy.

Billericay Town: Liam Keeble, George Read, Lisandro Cassandra, Charlie Eaves (C), Daniel Miller, Harry Hutt, Matas Machovas, Andrew Saraiva, Stephen Toussaint, Sam Keys, Emmanuel Omafo. Substitutes: Ozzie Tasci, Jaiden Owusi-Banahene, Daniel Animashaun, Chibuuzor-Joshua Onwunaruwa, David North. Manager: Mike Lawrence.

Takeley: Henry Ford, Abdul-Rahman Kazeem, Freddie Coghill (C), Riley Ward, Max Arnold, Jack Keegan, Francis Sheehy, George Brown, Ross Pike, Max Coltman, Kyle O’Byrne. Substitutes: Erti Sylejmani, Cameron Ayre, Jack Lawrence, Logan Gallagher, Kane Huggins. Manager: James Sheehy.

Referee: Matthew Pointer (Castle Point).

Assistant Referees: Joseph Greenleaf (Colchester) and Simon Brickwood (Castle Point).

Fourth Official: Stephen Vieira (Braintree).

Attendance: 329.