Twenty Years On - BROMLEY FC – SEASON 2005/06
The 2005/06 season began with Bromley back in the Ryman League Premier Division after eight years away following promotion via the Division One Play Offs. The managerial team of George Wakeling, Billy Smith & Frank Coles kept most of the promoted team together but did lose Sam Okafor & Danny Carroll to work commitments. On the plus side they added striker Nic McDonnell & midfield dynamo Des Boateng from Carshalton, Joe Vines came back to the club, Barry Gardener joined from Welling Utd and Club Captain Mark Willy returned to central defence after a year out with a broken leg.
After a fairly good
pre-season we got an indication of how tough life in the Premier Division would
be in our opening game at home to Chelmsford City when we conceded a last minute
equaliser against a big physical direct side. We edged out fellow promoted side
Walton & Hersham 1-0 away in the next game, but defeats to East Thurrock
& Hendon left us near the drop zone. Things picked up after a great 1-1
draw away to AFC Wimbledon and we went on a ten game unbeaten run, which also
saw us progress to the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup beating Bedfont,
Chipstead & Mangotsfield after a replay on the way. This set us up with an
exciting tie against Conference high flyers Aldershot at Hayes Lane, which saw
1,500 people roll in for a keenly fought game that we lost 1-0 after conceding
the only goal on 24seconds!
Three days later
another 1,000 plus crowd turned up at Hayes Lane for the visit of the Wombles
of Norbiton and we put on one of the best displays of the season winning 2-0
with goals from Nic McDonnell & Sam Wood. November saw us start to stutter
in form with several injuries to key players and the curse of the last minute
goal striking a few times. We recorded wins in the Kent Senior Cup over Ashford
Town and League Cup over Margate & Dover, but the league form tailed off
with the only positive result being a remarkable 1-0 win over Billericay
against the run of play. We also fell at the first hurdle in the London Senior
Cup at Met Police and got a 4-1 tanking in the FA Trophy from eventual semi
finalists Boreham Wood.
From 29th November
2005 to 14th January 2006 we failed to win a single game and
drew only two out of nine, this included gifting basement boys Redbridge their
first three points on the way. This disasterous run wasn’t helped by the
terrible problems we had with injuries at one stage we were only able to name
one sub for the trip to Harrow Borough. With all the budget accounted for,
mostly on players sitting crocked in the stand Wakeling & Co. were unable
to add to the squad, but did eventually blood some kids from the Youth Team one
of which Adam Greenaway did enough to earn a regular start in midfield from
then on.
The dreadful run
eventually came to an end with a 1-0 win at home to Walton & Hersham thanks
to a Colin Luckett penalty, it was fitting that we should win this game as it
was the Memorial Day for Chris Small a fellow supporter who had died at the tragically
young age of 29 on 21st December 2005. We lost out to a
fantastic Fisher side 2-1 the following Tuesday but the improvement was there
for all to see and the revival had begun. Ellis Remy came in to strengthen the
forward line with McDonnell out injured and he proved to be a vital asset in
our escape from the drop zone and Danny Carroll became more available to help
our midfield. With the league defeats turning into draws we continued the good
run in the Kent Senior Cup securing a semi final spot with an outstanding 7-0
win at Welling United who chose to field a young team to save their legs for
the FA trophy game the next Saturday, which they also lost!
An unbeaten run of
eleven games saw us move into mid table safety and also reach the semi final of
the League Cup, but after the 3-2 win over Wealdstone in the Quarter Final the
news broke That George, Billy & Frank had been sacked 6 weeks earlier during
the bad run and would be leaving at the end of the season. The news became even
more shocking when the replacement was unveiled as Mark Goldberg Chairman Jerry
Dolke’s brother in law and Coach Murray Jones. The game at home to Heybridge Swifts
after the announcement was played out in silence with an air of stunned
disbelief among the Bromley faithful.
A two legged semi
final in the league cup saw us face Billericay with a league came against them
thrown in two days before! We drew the league game away 2-2 and the first leg
2-2 at home, but after losing Ellis Remy to Staines we were edged out 2-1 in the
second leg and had to settled for the Kent Senior Cup Final which we reached
thanks to a majestic 4-0 win against Division One Champions Ramsgate.
The final month of
the season saw us go unbeaten with the squad back to full fitness and real team
spirit emerging, big Irishman Donal O’Sullivan joined from Southall and added
strength to the front line and then central defence. The season was capped with
a trophy when we took on Conference side Gravesend & Northfleet at home in
the Kent Senior Cup Final in a pulsating cup tie we edged our full time professional
opponents out 3-2 in extra time with goals from O’Sullivan, McDonnell &
Simon Mitchell, plus an incredible goalkeeping performance from Andy Walker. The
final game of the season was just two days later at Wealdstone but the tired
players still managed a 2-1 win to give George, Billy & Frank a fitting
send off for all their hard work in re-establishing Bromley as a Ryman Premier
side.
We used 42 players
over the season Bromley legends like Wade Falana, Adolph Amoako & Mark
Tompkins left the club during the nine months and Danny Carroll said goodbye at
the end, but others established themselves as new heroes Nic McDonnel scoring
26goals in 38games, Andy Walker having another excellent season in goal and Sam
Wood who won the Player of the Season award for his tireless rampaging displays
down the left wing.
The foundations were
set and for the new managerial regime to build on and continues to take the
club forward.
Col.
Isthmian League Premier Division Table
2005/06
Pos
Name
Pld W D
L GF GA
Pts
1 Braintree Town 42 28
10 4 74
32 94
2 Heybridge Swifts 42 28
3 11 70
46 87
3
Fisher Athletic London
42 26 7
9 84 46
85
4 A F
C Wimbledon 42 22
11 9 67
36 77
5
Hampton & Richmond Borough
42 24 3
15 73 54
75
6 Staines Town 42 20
10 12 74
56 70
7 Billericay Town 42 19
12 11 69
45 69
8 Worthing 42 19
10 13 71
60 67
9 Walton & Hersham 42 19
7 16 55
50 64
10 Chelmsford City 42 18
10 14 57
62 64
11 Bromley 42 16
14 12 57
49 62
12 East Thurrock United 42 18
5 19 60
60 59
13 Folkestone Invicta 42 16
10 16 47
51 58
14 Margate 42 11
17 14 49
55 50
15 Leyton 42 13
9 20 58
61 48
16 Harrow Borough 42 13
9 20 56
73 48
17 Slough Town 42 13
8 21 63
75 47
18 Wealdstone 42 13
5 24 68
82 44
19 Hendon 42 9
12 21 44
64 39
20 Maldon Town 42 8
11 23 41
73 35
21
Windsor & Eton
42 8 8
26 37 75
32
22
Redbridge
42 3 5
34 28 97
14
Fisher Athletic were
promoted to Conference South via the play offs after beating AFC Wimbledon and Hampton.
Where are they now:
Half of the league remain at a similar level today, while AFC
Wimbledon are in League One, Bromley are in League Two, Braintree &
Wealdstone are in the National League. Hampton, Worthing, Slough &
Chelmsford are in NL South.
Leyton, Staines, Fisher, Windsor & Eton and East
Thurrock have all folded, but Fisher, Windsor and East Thurrock are back at a
lower level as phoenix clubs.
Col.
