After a blank weekend due to the demise of Salisbury City, we travelled up to Bishop Stortford on Tuesday night and battled out a 1-1, with new signing Jordan Robertson scoring just before half time. Robertson looks to be a good signing and if he continues to in the same vein probably heading off to league football come January, which is why we got him on contract so quickly.
Elsewhere we still seem no nearer to knowing what our strongest line up is, defensively we miss Rob Swaine and our frailties at set pieces are obvious, while the omission of Moses Ademola is baffling given his consistently good performances either up front or on the wing. Pierre Joseph-Dubois is struggling to find a place in the side, yet Adam Birchall and Jamie Slabber are constantly given more chances to justify their two year contracts despite struggling to find form. Duncan Culley also looks to be a good acquisition, but is probably too similar to Robertson to play with him. Maybe apart from in defence we just have too much choice!
Saturday sees Bromley back in FA Cup action as they travel to Mill Field, the ground of Aveley FC, to face Grays Athletic in the Third Qualifying Round. The last time we met Grays was in the FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round back in October 2006, they were flying high in the Conference Premier while we were heading for promotion vis the play offs from Ryman League Premier Division. Amazingly that day we beat a team containing a number of players who now play in the premier & football league by two goals to one, thanks to a brace from Lloyd Blackman.
Circumstances have changed since then, with Grays having lost their own ground and taken voluntary relegation due to financial problems, they now challenge at the top of the Ryman Premier, while we sit just off the play offs in Conference South.
It’s hard to call who will be favourites going into the game, Grays are having a good season with Freddie Ladapo in prolific form up front, while The Ravens have indifferent form, but are unbeaten on the road. My money is probably on a replay if we can sort out our defensive issues from set pieces and get the ball to our forwards in good areas.
