Night of The Long Knives.

So after the worst display of the season so far losing 1-0 at home to Staines we slipped out of the play off spots this week for the first time this season and look very unlikely to return.
Following the departure of Marlon Paterson, Warren McBean has now been told he can go, with Paul Vines, Reis Boyle & Nickt Greene loaned out Hayden Bird is looking to build his own side.
Bird has openy crticised the players following recent performances and stated he will be making changes, also criticising Mark Goldberg along the way. There are many more changes expected soon.
It's hard to see how the players are fully to blame when the tactics were clearly wrong on Saturday, Tony Finn was played out of position and the formation changed three times in 90mins, but Bird will be judged on his results at the end of the season.
Tuesday's Kent Senior Cup game was called off, so it's Dorchester away on Saturday as the next  test for the manager and his team.       

Make or Break?

After a precious if slightly lucky win over Weston we lost the momentum with a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Dover the following Tuesday. We dominated possession and pressed well for the first half, but failed to create and fell victim to some decent finishing and poor defending in the second period. There was some nice football played by Hayden Bird’s men, but in the end it’s about how many you score now how long you have the ball.

After a Saturday off we travelled over to Welling, who are under a transfer embargo and were only able to name eleven players for the game with Player/Manager Jamie Day named as sub although he was actually attending the birth of hid son! The eleven players who were available did The Wings fans proud with a very committed strong performance and well deserved their 2-1 lead prior to the floodlights failing and the game being abandoned early on 87mins. The only plus point on the night for Bromley was a goal for Warren McBean, although it won’t actually count in his tally for the season, it will hopefully give him back the confidence he had lost in front of goal.

Welling’s players could have just gone through the motions with no chance of being subbed, but they had the pride and character to give their all while Bromley’s players looked short of both these attributes as well as confidence.

Whether the players are actually able to pull off Bird’s preferred style of play is very much up for debate right now. He has brought in striker Charlie Ide & Fulham youngster Cortney Harris toadd options in his squad.  

We face Staines next at Hayes Lane quickly followed by Ebbsfleet in the Kent Senior Cup, we need to win both games as two poor results would see the season over and done with as a competitive proposition

Great Win Gives Hope for the Season?

Only a few very optiomistic souls predicted that one, but the 2-1 win at in form Ebbsfleet kept Bromley just about in the play off picture. There are eight teams going for four places with Braintree running away with the league title right now and although they all have games in hand on us we kept in the picture with this great victory.
The team spirit and effort on display last Saturday were a tribute to the new management team, lets hope we can achieve some sort of revenge over Weston this week a Hayes Lane following our 7-0 humiliation there in December.
Hayden Bird has organised a meet the manager evening on Saturday afer the game, he may get an easier time from the fans if it's on the back of another much needed win!

Interesting Times at The Lane.

It's rarely dull at Bromley FC, at least off the field anyway, and this week it's certainly been eventful. Just before the Basingstoke game Mark Goldberg walked out and this time it looks to be for good amidst talk of on going conflicts and dressing room unrest. For now Hayden Bird & Barry Moore are in charge and they certainly have a job on their hands with a team low on confidence, in poor form, not scoring goals and facing a series of very tough game in the next month.
There are undoubtedly problems at BFC right now on and off the field, trying to sort these out before our season completely comes off the rails will be key to Hayden & Barry's success.  
With Harrison Dunk on trial at Crwaley Town Dean Lodge has joined from Kingstonian to give the team more attacking options and of course we wish him all the best.
Next up is Ebbsfleet Utd away on Saturday, probably the best team in the league, a point would be an amazing achievement.

Outclassed!

Tuesday night’s 3-0 defeat to Chelmsford was as one sided a game as you are likely to see, for an indication of how outclassed Bromley were Mark Goldberg opted to go for a 4-5-1 formation in the second half just to keep the score down to three!

The decision to put Harry Harding up against Dave Rainford in midfield was cruel on the teenager and gave us little chance of winning the midfield battle, which would have been tough for a far more experienced player let alone a rookie on work experience.

The gulf in class was alarming and a good indicator of how much we’ll have to improve if we ever really wanted to have a tilt at the title in the future. Even the play offs look unlikely with the current run of form, our league position only buoyed by the amazing seven game winning start to the season. The tale of the season so far is that when we lose we really lose, 4-0, 3-0, 4-0, 7-0, 2-0 & 3-0, two of those in cups. Not many teams are in the top five with a minus goal difference!

Since John Scarborough’s departure we have looked very weak in defence, without the out of favour Wes Daly the midfield is too lightweight and unfortunately aside from Leon McKenzie our strikers haven’t scored since early November, which all adds up to a bit of a problem.  

Saturday sees us entertain Basingstoke before a trip to Lewes on Wednesday, a minimum of four points is required to keep us in a good position, sadly somehow I can’t see it happening.       

Steady Start to 2011

After a creditable draw at Dover we defeated Bishop's Stortford at home 4-3, in a game we made far harder for ourselves than we needed against a side reduced to ten men for 30mins. Stortford came with a plan of kicking us off the pitch and even their manager was ordered off before half time for losing his rag over a throw on.
We then travelled up to Herts to face St Albans City who were in a good run of form and came back with a 1-1 draw, fustrated at a disallowed goal in the first half and a linesman who was way out of his depth, arriving less than 30misn before kick off due to traffic we coped ok with the direct style of The Saints for all but the first ten minutes when they scored.
Tuesday sees Chelmsford visit Hayes Lane, they tore us apart in the FA Cup Replay back in September, so we have a score to settle and hopefully Marlon Patterson who show us why they were so upset to lose him, although a draw would be a good result for us right now.
By the end of this month I expect that we'll have a more realistic league position, but hopefully still be with in a shout of the play offs.     

Happy New Year!

So once again Bromley supporters dug deep and got together to pull the club out of it's short term troubles. Unfortunately on Thursday the players came up short against Maidenhead losing 0-2 in a quickly arranged game that kept the woolf from the door, but they soon bounced back with a fine point at Dover on Saturday, which MG was disappointed wasn't three after the hoem sides late equaliser.
After one day off it's now Bishop's Stortford at home on Bank Holiday Monday, all three games with the Herts side so far this year have been close with one draw and two narrow wins for Bromley. Another win would keep us nicely in the play off picture as we try to stay unbeaten in 2011.
Just in case you need to get some perspective on the current position of the club, ten years ago we were struggling in Ryman League Divsion One under Dave Garland, losing at Bedford Town on New Years Day and didn't even own our own ground.