BILLERICAY Town at last laid to rest the ghost of their treble-winning FA Vase side of the 1970s by producing one of the greatest performances in the club's history.

The New Lodge side's penalty shoot-out success over Chelmsford City on Monday night to earn a place in the Ryman Premier play-offs was, to my mind, the club's greatest achievement in 30 years.

There was no doubting the magnificence of the performance in the eyes of manager Matt Jones, a teacher at King Edmund School, Rochford.

He said: "We've got to start making plans immediately for Saturday's final, but you've got to be able to sit back and enjoy moments like this.

"They don't come along that often in football. Every one of my players was a hero tonight - I couldn't be more proud of them."

What made Town's victory even more meritorious was the fact that it was achieved playing with 10 men for 73 minutes of Monday's match.

Striker Rikki Burbridge was sent off after 47 minutes for collecting the second of two cautions - two of the nine yellow cards waved by referee Ian Cooper in a tense affair.

But Jones refused to condemn the match official, who many considered slightly over-fussy.

He said: "There was a huge among at stake and the referee made it plain he was going to book people for clumsy challenges. Players already cautioned knew they had to be careful and Rikki showed a bit of inexperience.

"But he did superbly for us in the first-half with the sad thing being he's out of Saturday's final now."

Much of the post-match discussion centred on the superb all-round display of 20-year-old Town man of the moment Chris Whelpdale, who was watched by Crystal Palace boss Peter Taylor last night and is being courted by a host of Football League clubs.

Said Jones: "Chris played in three different positions for me tonight and did superbly in them all.

"He's a tremendous footballing skill and fully deserves his chance to move up to the League.

"But there were so many outstanding performances. O "Our keeper Billy McMahon - and remember he's been out injured for much of the season - kept us in it with some superb saves, and keeping out their first penalty from Lee Boylan was critical.

"All five of our penalty takers accepted the responsibility and did their job, but skipper Jamie Dormer deserves special praise.

"He took the vital last one and gave Ashley Harrison no chance. He was inspirational all night."

For the record, 2,025 fans watched Blues beat the Clarets 5-3 on penalties.