First Round Fever!

Saturday sees another big FA Cup game at Hayes Lane as we entertain local rivals Dartford in the First Round Proper. In recent years we have been spoiled with success in this competition reaching the First Round five times under Mark Goldberg’s management, having only got through once in 25 years previously.

We’ve got past three rounds and played four games on the journey to this game whilst The Darts have just had to play once, but despite our visitors being in a higher division there are technically only eight league places currently between us. With the added spice of a local derby and no love lost between the sides in recent encounters this should be a cracking game.

Ticket sales have gone well so far, with 350 sold by Thursday morning, prices have been sensibly kept to the usual structure and you will be able to get in on the day. I can see there being well over 3,000 packed into HL for this one, so fingers crossed Bromley won’t freeze as they have done in front of big crowds before. Every time we’ve had over 800 at home this season we have failed to perform, but the team looks stronger and more determined in recent weeks so let’s hope they can shake off the nerves and get a result, which would take us through to the Second Round for the first time since the 1940’s. This would be a much deserved reward for the unsung heros behind the scenes and the hardcore fans.                

If I was going to place a bet I’d go for a draw and a replay at Princes Park, which given our away form wouldn’t be a disaster.  

Up For The Cup

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. 

    

The Magic of the Cup

On Saturday Bromley begin their FA Cup campaign against Uxbridge, who have already won through two rounds to be here.   

There was a time when the FA Cup came with added pressure, and early departure from the competition would mean inevitable cuts in the playing budget and high profile departures from the squad. Last season saw an end to that, as the owners were able to keep funding the team an despite our early exit at the hands of Heybridge Swifts, we stayed together and made the play offs. This season if the worst should happen on Saturday there looks like there will be no financial need for the scythe to fall again, although Mark Goldberg may well be tempted to send a few packing out on loan purely based on performance.  

Uxbridge are currently in Southern League Division One Central, two levels below us, with nine points from as many games, but after stuttering past Burgess Hill and then the Heybridge loss last season we know that means very little. We have struggled at home so far this season, especially on Saturdays, but a good win this weekend would really help lift the spirits and keep the punters turning up in good numbers as they have so far, with the average crowd at over 800 this season.

We have met Uxbridge many times before in our Ryman League Division One days a decade ago, the most memorable in my mind being a 1-0 win in November of 2001, when Gary Drewitt curled in a superb effort on his debut to secure the club’s first win of the season.

I’d take a single goal victory again on Saturday to keep us in the grand old competition and the club moving forwards. After a week of near hysteria on forum and social media hopefully a united front and vocal support will help the players to do the trick and us all focusing back on what really matters.            

Changing Times at Hayes Lane

As we come towards the end of August Bromley sit nicely in third place with ten points from five games, playing some good football and finally a couple of the strikers are settling in. Moses Ademola has been outstanding up front and on the wing as have all the midfielders and defence. There is grounds for optimism that we will be challenging at the top again this season with an extra strength in depth in the squad this time.

Away from the playing side it’s a time of change at Hayes Lane. With the new ownership we have seen lots of new initiatives in an attempt to attract more supporters to home games, including Family Fun Days, Pimms Tent, £4.50 Brioche Burgers, cheerleaders, a ‘pumping PA’ and new corporate hospitality marquee. The Garvo Lounge has been replaced by a disco which blasts out power rock pre and post-game, so  loud you can’t even chat to the person next to you, and Cray Wanderers have had their boardroom and club shop bulldozed for the new dining facilities and there are plans for a scoreboard!    

For an old non-league boat like myself a lot of it leaves me cold, a bit confused and slightly worried, but they want to bring in a new cliental to BFC and that is their right to do so as owners. The 150 hardcore who saw the club through the darkest of times will show up no matter what, unless the changes get too outrageous of course, but the new punters will come down expecting success and entertainment which creates it’s own problems if it’s not immediately forthcoming in today’s impatient times.   

We aren’t talking Vincent Tan style madness here like we have seen at Cardiff City, although they have changed the kit to all white, but some things are a little strange for a Bromley fan of 37 years standing. I would like to see Cray treated better, but that’s family thing for me. I will watch with interest what happens from here.                   

Mark Goldberg and Co. have done a solid job so far in building a side that will challenge and entertain, which for me is the most important thing. If Bromley win games the public show up as has been proved in the past, if we don’t they won’t, no matter what else is going on at the ground.    

I really don't want to sound ungrateful the new owners have invested large to try and ensure they take the club to the next level And are also  building brand new training facilities to help this. It's worth remembering a few years ago we were playing in front of just over 100, two leagues below and facing extinction. The club has come a long way and it s quite a lot to take in. 

Great Expectations

The league season finally got under way with a stylish 3-1 win at Havant and was followed up by another great 4-1 win at home to Steve King's well funded Whitehawk. 

After a lengthy seven game pre-season that saw us notch wins away at Dulwich, Whyteleafe and Beckenham, while we entertained league opposition at home losing to Dagenham & Gillingham, drawing with Swindon and Charlton and defeating Palace. All of which were well attended and saw Family Fun days launched for the last two Saturday fixtures.       

We suffered a real blow losing Sam Long for the season with a serious knee injury, but were able to bring back in Ugo Udoji as a more than capable replacement. The new strikers have struggled to find any form as yet, but they have been helped out by the form of goal scoring midfielders Moses Ademola & Pierre Joseph-Dubois, with Moses playing as a striker in recent games. If either Slabber, Scannell, Higgins or Birchall do find their feet we could have a real threat up front. The other new boys have settled in really well Reece Prestedge is a class act in midfield along with Harry Grant a threat on the wing and Seb Brown is starting to look the keeper he once was at AFC Wimbledon.       

It’s still very early days but there is an optimistic buzz around Hayes Lane that we will be up with Ebbsfleet & Sutton pushing for promotion again in April, let’s hope that does prove to be the case.   

We've been treated to some of the best football and goals I have ever seen from a Bromley side in recent times, when you consider where we were only a few years ago it's a remarkable turn around.

Back to Hayes Lane

I don’t think I remember us ever starting pre-season games before the end of the World Cup in previous years, but that’s exactly what we are doing on Saturday when Dagenham & Redbridge (including our top scorer from last season Bradley Goldberg) come to Hayes Lane before the Quarter Finals have even been decided. With the Conference South season starting on 9^th August it’s only just over a month before it all gets going again for real and Mark Goldberg has several new faces to look at along with the core of last seasons side.

Dagenham & Redbridge are a club who played on a level playing field with ourselves not so long ago, but have now established themselves as a football league side after a steady rise through the Conference, there is no reason why we couldn’t emulate that given the current backing.                        

There have been some impressive arrivals at Bromley FC over the summer with good track records at this level and the club’s intention is to kick on form last seasons play of place to contend for promotion again. With 18 players already on contract MG has put the marker down that these are the players he believes can do the job this season and in many ways he has put himself under immense pressure, because of squad of this quality should achieve promotion. Last term we over achieved and fell away late on after a spate of injuries which exposed just how small the squad was, the tough job this time round will be to keep so many good players happy if they don’t get regular starts.

Good problems to have at an exciting time for the club, with the 11a side 4G training pitch on it’s way to completion at the end of September and other schemes in place to raise the club’s profile.   

With the club reducing prices for pre-season games to £10 hopefully we’ll get plenty of punters down to see the new look squad take on four football league sides and they’ll like what they see enough to come back when it kicks off for real.

Colin Head

A Season to Remember

The 2013/14 season will go down as one to remember for Bromley fans and although it ended up being a tale of what might have been there was so much to enjoy on the way.

Mark Goldberg rang the changes to the squad during the close season bringing a number of new faces and almost completely rebuilding the team. The side took on a more rugged look with Rob Swaine & Jay May joining from Billericay, Joe Anderson and Dean Poolley at full backs and Ashley Nicholls from Dorchester in midfield. Plus some exciting young talent joined in winger Brandan Kiernan, Irish U19 International midfielder Steve Smith and striker Samir Mullings from Southend. By the end of an interesting pre-season managers son Bradley Goldberg re-joined to partner Jay May up front.

The league season kicked off with three impressive wins 2-0 at Hayes & Yeading, plus 4-0 & 5-1 victories over Whitehawk at Tonbridge at home. On the August Bank Holiday we lost our first game 1-0 at Rob Stringer’s solid Bishop Stortford. A win at home to Gosport kept us up in contention on the last day of the month. 

With Joe Welch injured all pre-season Lewis Carey came in as Keeper from Bournemouth and deputised brilliantly up until September when Joe got the nod to start and Lewis departed for Tonbridge Angels. Popular midfielder Mike Jones also went on his way to Canvey Island as the squad was trimmed down to meet the budget restrictions.      

With the club celebrating 75years at Hayes Lane in September the club launched a special home shirt which was widely appreciated by the fans although it didn’t do players carrying a few extra pounds any favours! After a narrow 2-1 defeat at Eastleigh we bounced back with four consecutive wins which kept us top of the table, but October would prove to be a much tougher month. Taylor Parmenter came in to provide cover in defence after being released by QPR and winger Ben Swallow also joined.

A last minute set piece saw us drop two points at Boreham Wood before we ducked out of the FA Cup and then lost 1-0 at Sutton amid rumours of budget cuts and with half a dozen players out injured. Fortunately a Jay May goal saw us pick up a win at Maidenhead on the last Saturday of the month. After Keith Bird & Mickey Paye left their roles as Reserve managers to take over at Cray Wanderers Steve Smith, Warren McBean & Shamir Mullings departed on dual registration The Wands in October along with most of the reserve squad, none of them were to come back. 

The run into Christmas was broken up by blank Saturdays with other teams still involved in either the Trophy or FA Cup, but when Bromley did get to play the results continued to be positive going the whole of December unbeaten including wins at Dover, Basingstoke and Weston Super Mare. A bumper crowd of 1,344 at Hayes Lane saw us draw 0-0 with Ebbsfleet on Boxing Day before two more away wins followed 2-1 at Whitehawk and 3-1 at The Fleet on New Years Day.

Albert Jarrett finally returned from a serious knee injury. Briefly in December Ryan Hall also came back to Bromley following his release by Leeds before heading off to MK Dons in January, while Swallow departed for Dartford.   

The New Year began with heavy rainfall all over the south and key games were lost to the weather which would later take their toll. After 14days off a lethargic performance at home to Concord Rangers saw us lose for the first time at HL 2-1 and after not playing for another fortnight we travelled down to relegation threatened Dorchester and lost 3-2 on a very heavy pitch with one or two  players looking well off the pace.           

The cups took a back seat in the campaign with an early exit from both FA competitions not helping the budget but helping the schedule, we withdrew from the London Senior Cup at the Quarter Final stage after being drawn away at AFC Wimbledon, who had delayed their previous game with Cray by three months before demanding this tie be played in a week, and then Mark fielded a reserve team at Dover in the Semi Final of the Kent missing out on a final at Gillingham to end the season on Mayday.     

With only two games possible in February, the fixtures began to stack up for March and April and just as the busy spell began the injuries hit the squad. After very few problems all season three of the back four and all of the available centre backs at the club were ruled out due to injury and suspension. With Rob Swaine suspended & injured, Jack Holland crocked on England C duty and Taylor Parmenter with cracked ribs, Devante McKain from Gillingham and Max Fitzgerald from Walton Casuals were brought in on dual registration to cover. Sadly they were ‘thrown to the lions’ on debuts against Sutton & Dover at home and we were crushed on both occasions. Centre back Adam Bailey-Dennis came in from Bury Town and winger Louis Dennis came in from Dagenham, but by the time they had been brought in the positive momentum had gone and the lead had disappeared with Eastleigh top.         

By the time they were all back fit the eleven point lead had disappeared in a terrible run of form and despite running Eastleigh close at home for the whole game the 2-1 defeat in front of over 1,000 on a Tuesday night pretty much sealed our fate. Although there were flashes of the previous good form late in the season with wins over Weston, Bishops Stortford at Gosport the team had never regained it’s momentum on belief ahead of the play offs.

Finishing third we travelled to fourth placed Ebbsfleet for the first leg of the play off semi final, but within eight minutes of the kick off the tie was over as we trailed 2-0 and were down to ten men. Eventually despite the players best efforts to recover from the terrible start we got caught pushing forward rather than consolidation and lost 4-0. The second leg although a mere formality at least allowed all involved with Bromley to restore some pride with a Danny Waldren goal giving us a 1-0 win and ending a memorable campaign with a home victory and our first clean sheet since 1 January.             

In the end a number of factors conspired to derail the title bid; the weather causing several postponement when the team was playing well, injuries to key defenders, budget constraints and other better funded sides hitting form at the right time saw us slip from first to third in a few weeks. When other sides who already had their grounds up to Conference Premier standard were adding players to their squads we were spending thousands on installing seating to meet the criteria. Only time will tell if this is a missed opportunity or the start of an era where we compete at the top end of the table, but it’s certainly better than facing the drop as we did in the previous two campaigns. 

Col.