Billericay Town go into this weekend's massive home match having scored a massive victory over Premiership giants Leicester City in their treatment of the disabled.

The New Lodge side take on the best non-league team in the country on Saturday, Rushden and Diamonds, aiming to win a place in the last 16 of the FA Umbro Trophy.

To get this far the New Lodge outfit triumphed 3-1 over Rushden's Nationwide Conference colleagues Hereford United at home - but one visiting fan from the former Football League side was able to hide his disappointment to sing Billericay's praises.

Richard Phillips, of Stanton Road, Ludlow, Shropshire, wrote after the game that, being disabled and possessor of an orange badge, he required parking as near to his destination as possible.

Before the big Trophy tie he phoned Billericay and said: "The gentleman was very helpful. Although they had no specific arrangements for the disabled, he took down my name and car details and told me to turn up at the car park and he would ensure I would get preferential parking - and I did."

Mr Phillips's treatment at New Lodge was, he claims, in stark contrast to the response at Premiership Leicester City just a couple of weeks earlier when Hereford played an FA Cup replay.

He said: "At Leicester I was told that their car park was for directors and corporate guests only and they could make no provision for the disabled.

"The gentleman suggested that I arrived early before everybody else to get a suitable place in a nearby street."

Mr Phillips, who came to the Billericay game with his daughter, headed his letter, "Premier League 0, Ryman League 1" and praised Billericay staff for their kindness.

He added: "I was clearly disappointed with the result of the match, nonetheless on the day you were worthy winners and I will continue to watch your results with interest and wish you every success in this year's Trophy."

It wasn't just with the disabled that Billericay scored a big hit on the day against Hereford. One female fan, eight months pregnant, contacted club chairman Rod Moore afterwards to praise officials who not only invited her to watch the action from the directors' viewing gallery . . . but also provided a half-time cup of tea.

Huge interest is now building up for Saturday's tie with Rushden . . . although a huge cloud has been thrown over the game by the weekend news that Blackpool striker Martin Aldridge, who has been on loan to Rushden for the past month, has died after a car crash.

Aldridge had a short spell on loan to Southend United earlier in his career and scored the late winner against Bath to earn Rushden this coming weekend's date with Billericay.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.