Gary McCann could not hide his pleasure as he thought about the match. "It was one of our best performances of the season," he said.

"Even with our run of games, most people expected we would have beaten Canvey Island on Wednesday, but they thought it would be different at Billericay, who have one of the best home records in the League.

"I said this to the players when we talked before the game and I could not have been happier with them in the way that we played in the first 10–15 minutes. We played with control and energy and we could have been well ahead in that time.

"There were two great passages of play, first for the move which their goalkeeper made a great save and then for the goal Kezie scored. We were so in control that they had to switch their most dangerous forward Ricky Sappleton into defence, and he was their best defender, but they missed him in the second half when they had the wind at their backs.

"In previous years when we have had a run of games in a few days, we tended to make a number of changes to keep everyone fresh. This time we have just tinkered with a few players and the response has been fantastic.

"It was a blow to lose Kevin, but Andre came on and I think the goal he scored at Billericay was better than the one against the Police. This was a rolling ball on a bumpy pitch. Andre has shown in the last few weeks a lot more of what we knew he is capable of."