A flu bug currently going round the New Lodge camp could prove to be Billericay Town's biggest enemy as they bid for three Ryman League Premier Division points at struggling Basingstoke tomorrow.

Three players - Russell Penn, Paul Linger and Kevin Jordan - are currently laid low along with chairman Rod Moore.

The playing trio are all rated doubtful for tomorrow's game while striker Colin Simpson is still sidelined by a hamstring injury.

Lee Williams, who has taken Simpson's place alongside Stafford Browne up front in the past couple of matches, also faces a late test.

He suffered a nasty leg gash in the closing stages of Tuesday's 2-1 home League Cup defeat at the hands of St Albans.

Gary Calder's Billericay put up a good performance in that game, but it was nevertheless a continuation of some uncustomary poor results at New Lodge which has seen them lose their last three home encounters.

In stark contrast, they have triumphed in their last three away matches without conceding a goal.

However, despite Basing-stoke's lowly second from bottom League position, Calder will not be lulled into a false sense of security for tomorrow's encounter with the Hampshire side.

Basingstoke are managed by former Fulham favourite Ernie Howe and Calder says: "I've got tremendous respect for Ernie, whose side are obviously going through a rebuilding process at the moment.

"You can be sure of one thing and that is they will fight and scrap for every ball and we'll certainly have to match them for commitment if we are to return with a win.

"I'm confident that if we can continue with the kind of form and attitude we showed on Tuesday at St Albans we'll take the points."

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