Thirty Years Ago – 1995/96
Season.
Thirty years ago as Bromley
entered the 1995/96 season, George Wakeling’s side were hoping to continue on
from their sixth place finish in the previous campaign, but this time round it
would prove to be a lot tougher. Financial
problems and injuries mounted up, but it did end with a London Challenge Cup
win after achieving league safety on the final day of the season.
The season began with a poor run
of results, winning only twice in the first fifteen league games, 3-0 over
Grays Ath & 1-0 against Yeading thanks to a Marcelle Dennis goal, there
were three draws, but results saw The Ravens go into the end of the year adrift
at the bottom of the table. There were heavy home defeats to Yeovil 5-1,
Enfield 5-0, away at St Albans City 5-0 and most painfully Dulwich Hamlet 4-1
on Boxing Day at Champion Hill watched by 626, Frank Coles with our solitary
strike. The cup competitions did offer some light relief for fans, but a lot of
extra games for the small squad.
Bromley entered a staggering six
cup competitions for the season, early exits from The FA Trophy & Carlton
Cups probably did the team a favour, the Kent Senior Cup & The League Cup
saw second round replay defeats, but there was more joy in the FA Cup, which
saw Wakeling’s side knock out Herne Bay 3-1, followed by a second replay win
over Conference side Welling Utd 2-1 at
Park View Road setting up a tie with Southern League Premier Division big
spenders Sittingbourne in the third qualifying round. A 1-1 draw at Hayes Lane
set up another replay at Central Park, which Bourne edged 3-2 after extra time
in front of just over 1,000 fans. The tangible success came in the London
Challenge Cup, a 2-1 win in the snow at Dulwich Hamlet saw us draw Barking who
then withdrew from the competition and set us up with a semi final at Tooting
& Mitcham Utd. Andy Silk’s solitary goal at Sandy Lane was enough to book
Bromley a place in the final at the end of the season.
Having started 1996 with only
nine league points things did not look good for Bromley, but wins at Harrow
Borough & Kingstonian in January gave a little hope of a revival, only to
be followed by eight league defeats in a row that saw The Ravens look almost
doomed. March saw Wakeling coax defender James Uvigherra back playing from
university & bring in strikers Dean Wordsworth & Mark Tompkins on loan.
A 5-1 home win over Harrow Borough on 16th started a vital up turn
in fortunes. Wordsworth scoring a hatrick, with Tompkins and Frank Coles also
on target. Wins over Walton & Hesham 3-2, Chertsey 2-0 and Sutton 3-1 away
gave the Hayes Lane faithful belief that an escape could be on, the derby win
at Gander Green Lane seeing Mickey Brown, Tompkins and Bobby Denning score in
front of 627. Tompkins would also net in the vital midweek 1-0 home win over St
Albans City, which was followed up by a 3-2 win over Worthing bringing safety
in sight.
And so to the last league game of
the season, Bromley travelling to Essex to face Purfleet knowing a point would
secure safety ahead of Molesey and Walton & Hersham. The club ran a coach
to get fans over the river and a after a tense afternoon in the sun, a 1-1 draw
was enough to get the job done and see The Ravens safe from relegation picking
up 28 points from mid January onwards and achieving what looked almost
impossible a couple of months earlier.
With relegation avoided on the
Saturday, all eyes turned to Millwall’s New Den as Bromley faced Leyton Pennant
there in the London Challenge Cup Final on the Wednesday night. An early meet
in the New Cross saw the Bromley fans in fine voice and in a nerve shredding
end to end clash that went to extra time, The Ravens eventually saw off their
East London opponents with a 3-2 win thanks to goals from Ian Rawlings, Mickey
Brown and Joe Francis.
Highlights available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g77h10fAYvc
A county cup win and avoiding
relegation may not seem to be much in the current day expectations for the
club, but at the time this was another phenomenal achievement by Wakeling and
his team, who would go on to do even better the following season.
Bromley played a total of sixty
competitive matches this season, a huge amount given the players were semi
professional and all had full time jobs. Captain & midfield general Frank
Coles played in 55 of those games. 46 different players in total donned the
black & white….
Isthmian League Premier Division
1995/96
Pos
Name
Pld W D
L GF GA
Pts
1 Hayes 42 24
14 4 76
32 86
2 Enfield 42 26
8 8 78
35 86
3 Boreham Wood 42 24
11 7 69
29 83
4 Yeovil Town 42 23
11 8 83
51 80
5 Dulwich Hamlet 42 23
11 8 85
59 80
6 Carshalton Athletic 42 22
8 12 68
49 74
7 St Albans City 42 20
12 10 70
41 72
8 Kingstonian 42 20
11 11 62
38 71
9 Harrow Borough 42 19
10 13 70
56 67
10 Sutton United 42 17
14 11 71
56 65
11 Aylesbury United 42 17
12 13 71
58 63
12 Bishop's Stortford 42 16
9 17 61
62 57
13 Yeading 42 11
14 17 48
60 47
14 Hendon 42 12
10 20 52
65 46
15 Chertsey Town 42 13
6 23 45
71 45
16 Purfleet 42 12
8 22 48
67 44
17 Grays Athletic 42 11
11 20 43
63 44
18 Hitchin Town 42 10
10 22 41
74 40
19 Bromley 42 10
7 25 52
91 37
20 Molesey 42 9
9 24 46
81 36
21
Walton & Hersham
42 9 7
26 42 79
34
22
Worthing
42 4 7
31 42 106
19
Thirty
Years On many of the
clubs still compete at the same level or slightly lower. Of those who have
risen up, Bromley are in League Two, Boreham Wood are in the National League
along with Yeovil Town & Sutton Utd, both of whom have had spells in the
EFL. Purfleet are sadly no more, Hayes have merged with Yeading, while Enfield
have split into two clubs Town now playing back in their home area. The other
Enfield, Aylesbury Utd, Gray Athletic & Kingstonian are all currently
homeless and groundsharing outside of their home town.
Col.
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