Cup crazy!

The club is urging the community to get behind the team who, on Saturday, will play the most high-profile game in the club's 127-year history.

About 3,000 fans will descend on the Town's New Lodge home ground to watch them take on Swansea in the first round of the FA Cup.

The TV cameras will be there and the occasion should prove a money-spinner for club.

Chairman Steve Kent can't wait and is confident of bashing the Football League big boys.

He said: "This is history in the making. If you want a prediction, I'd have to say 2-1 to Billericay!"Fans cannot stop talking about the most prestigious match in the town's history, and the club is expecting a massive finanical windfall from their sell-out FA Cup clash against Swansea on Saturday.

Husband and wife, Gary and Emma Clark, of Eaton Close, Billericay, have supported the club for a combined total of 63 years.

Gary is clearly a man with a passion. He is chairman of the supporters' club, home match day announcer, and chooses which records are played over the tannoy before and after games.

He firmly believes Billericay have the players to beat the bigwigs from the Football League.

Gary said: "I honestly think we've got a chance. My first game as a young fan was against Basildon, where a little local rivalry always raises the stakes.

"I saw all the FA Vase finals in the Seventies, but I also think the last four seasons, where Steve and Sharon Kent have been in charge of the club, have been as special as any of the times I enjoyed here as a teenager."

Emma first stepped on to the New Lodge terraces as a ten-year-old, in 1977. Ryan Connell of Mountnessing Road, Billericay, a proof reader in Laindon, is another man who can hardly sleep with excitement.

He produces the club's match day programme, the Town Crier. He said: "My heart wants us to win it 1-0 on Saturday, but my head says the Swans will edge it.

"When we heard about the draw with Swansea it was a real quality moment." One of the club's noisiest supporters is Paul Jennings, 35, of Raven Crescent, Billericay, who can often be found helping out behind the club bar.

He said: "This match really means everything to me, as I've supported Billericay all my life.

"Every year we play in the FA Cup I dream of us reaching the first round proper.

"Now the dream has come true."

Pubs set for avalanche of customers

PUB and shop bosses are expecting a heaving Billericay town centre on Saturday.

Barrie Barnard, landlord at the Red Lion pub, in the High Street, said: "I think the pubs will be much busier.

"It's brilliant Billericay have been drawn against a team so well known. I don't think we'll run out of beer."

A High Street shop worker, who asked not to be named, said: "I'm not sure if shops will benefit like pubs, but it will be busy and that's really good."