Winless August.

August ended with us in the bottom three after four games played and two points gained from them. We put up a decent fight at Chelmsford and probably deserved a point, but once the home side were awarded their obligatory penalty a minute after we’d been reduced to ten men the game was up and we lost 3-2. It was good to see Richard Pacquette scoring and looking sharper, he could prove to be a good signing as he gets a few more games under his belt.

On Bank Holiday Monday we hosted Tonbridge and really should have taken all three points, but a combination of great goalkeeping from Lee Worgan and some poor finishing saw us end up with only a point to show for our efforts. The game pretty much followed the patter on the previous draw at Hayes Lane with Staines and a number of games last season, we dominated possession, played some nice football and even created chances, but just couldn’t find the net. This was made worse by the loss of Albert Jarrett to injury who had looked in great form on his first game of the season follwoing suspension.   

According to www.kentishfootball.co.uk Jerry Dolke held a crisis meeting in the dressing room after the game on Monday to address certain issues, most notably our awful home form and alarming league position. Coach Neil Smith says the management team have the owner’s full backing, but it’s understandable that questions need to be answered given we are third bottom with the quality of the squad and size of the current budget.

A trip to Farnborough is next up quickly followed by home games with AFC Hornchurch & Bath City, the games don’t get any easier and unless we find the killer touch in front of goal, we could find ourselves losing touch at the bottom prior to the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round on 22^nd Sept, which could have massive connotations for the budget.       

Tough Start - Still No Goals.

The season began with a hard fought draw at home to a rugged Staines side that were happy to set up for a point and see if they could grab anything else. It wasn't a bad performance at all, but a lack of cutting edge in front of goal from either side meant that 0-0 was probabaly a fair result.
Prior to the game it emerged that Warren McBean would be out for six months with a ruptured achilies and man do we miss his touch in front of goal! Richard Pacquette came in to fil the gap, but as yet hasn't looked to be match sharp and to make thigs worse Nic McDonnell has now pulled his hamstring.
Then came Eastbourne Borough away, last season saw us lose 5-0 with a rookie keeper, this season it was only Joe Welch in goal that kept it down to 3-0. Two late penlaties in the first half and a cracker early in the second had the game all over before the hour mark and even when we were presented with a chance to get our first goal of the season Hakeem Araba missed his penalty. This probably wasn't helped by the fact he had to wrestle Pacquette for the ball to take it. Eastbourne were a good side with a great front three, but not as good as we made them look I'm sure.  
Now we face  a trip to Chelmsford which will be very tough before hosting Tonbridge Angels on Bank Holiday Monday. An optimist would hope for four points, but a realist would settle for two and sadly I think we may only get one!
The squad on paper looks more than capabale of staying up, but unless we find someone who can score on a regular basis and show a bit more belief we have a hard season ahead.            

New Season, Old Worries.

So here we are again. After a summer of Euro football and Olympic achievement we make our way down to Hayes Lane for the start of a new Conference South League season. The pre-season campaign doesn’t always count for a lot and lets hope this one is no exception given that we have been poor at best.    

Mark Goldberg & Neil Smith have both indicated that we are aiming for a play off spot in interviews, but the evidence on the field is that we will struggle to win games as we have no bite up front and thanks to injuries picked up in games we look vulnerable in midfield. Although there have not been that many new faces the side has looked anything but settled, familiar old faces who left under clouds previously have been given another opportunity including Nic McDonnell, Ali Chaaban, Tony Finn and Warren McBean. Sadly for Wozza his return was halted by a terrible tackle from a Cray Wanderers defender which has ruled him out for two months. Whether the appearance of Richard Pacquette last Saturday was anything other than a cameo remains to be seen, but we desperately need a proven striker to avoid the relegation battle of last season.

The bookies have had us out at 88/1 for promotion, which was shortened to 66/1 after a lot of interest, but they are rarely wrong and we may find ourselves with a tough nine months ahead.

The fine work that goes on off the field is still yet to be matched on it in recent times, I hope those behind the scenes get better rewarded this term. It all starts with the visit of Marcus Gayle's Staines Town side this Saturday, lets hope Ali Chaaban can find his goalscoring touch against his old club.              

Season Review 2011/12

Bromley FC Season 20011/12 Review

Season 2011/12 was another one to file under ‘Eventful’ in the Bromley FC files with a FA Cup first round appearance, a relegation battle and nearly 50 players representing the side over the nine months of the campaign. 

It began with uncertainty over the manager’s role with Hayden Bird resigning half way through the summer and Mark Goldberg returning only a fortnight before the pre-season games started. A hastily assembled squad on a reduced budget began with a surprise 2-0 win over Gillingham, but after a few more games it was clear that the team was going to struggle with the manager saying that league consolidation was the main aim for the coming season. Striker Danny Hockton came back for another spell from Maidstone Utd, midfielder Danny Waldren came in from Croydon Athletic, powerful forward Hakeem Araba from East Thurrock and utility man Mike Jones joined from Greenwich Borough to boost the squad remaining from the desperate second half of the previous season. The inability to sign a regular goalkeeper would haunt the side right up until late January with six custodians pulling on the shirt with varying success, the unfortunate Paul Agu making several mistakes in the friendlies that resulted in defeats to Erith & Belvedere & Cray Wands.

By the first league game of the season Dean Santangelo had been brought in on loan from Reading and he kept a clean sheet as we ran out 2-0 winners at Hampton & Richmond with goals from Orlando Smith & Mike Jones. The good form continued with a 4-0 win at home to Boreham Wood the following Tuesday which included a first goal and man of the match performance from Araba. The good form ended at home to Maidenhead as we lost 1-0 and then was rudely exposed with a 5-0 defeat at Eastbourne Borough the following Tuesday. There was a fair draw at home to Salisbury before heavy defeats at Staines & at home to Woking showed us up to be weak in several areas, but we did find some joy in the FA Cup.

 A tough draw at home to Welling in the second qualifying round saw us edge them out 2-1 and then two weeks later we came back from 2-0 down to beat Margate 3-2 at Hatrsdown Park, two goals coming from Warren McBean who made a brief return to the club. This set us up with a trip to Dartford in the fourth qualifying round where against all the odds we won 2-1 and a place in the first round proper. The draw the following day sent us to Leyton Orient of League One and by the time we travelled there the club had sold a remarkable 1,600 tickets. The away support that day was fantastic and the players seemed genuinely moved by the backing they received. Sadly quality outed in the end and we lost 3-0 despite matching The O’s for long periods of the first half.               

The decline in fortunes that followed the FA Cup game was incredible, in the week after the game Leon McKenzie was sent out on dual registration to Grays Ath and Warren McBean was released, there were obvious cracks in team spirit caused in part by the manager’s son Bradley, who had arrived a week earlier on loan from Charlton, being brought on in the second half at Orient in front of players who had contributed to the cup run and partly by senior players who were nothing short of sulking. We departed from the two county cups at the first time of asking, although credit to the club for reducing prices to £5 for both games.  

We lost our next nine games including an FA Trophy exit at home to Didcot who were two divisions below us and suffered thrashings at Chelmsford (6-1) & Dover (4-1). A dull 0-0 draw at home to Dorchester played between two teams who were more scared of losing than wanting to win stopped the rot, but it would be seventeen games before we’d actually win again. Countless loan signings came in and out from local professional clubs, the goalkeeper changed every few weeks and experiments with tactics and formations failed (Liam Harwood in midfield, leaving Danny Waldren on the bench as punishment for a red card etc.). In short it was a disaster. Joe Dolan left as did Rob Gillman and Bradley Goldberg went back to Charlton after the decision to bring him on for Hakeem Araba against Basingstoke was booed. There had been improved performances in the two Christmas period games against Tonbridge which ended in draws, but it all fell apart with the defeat to Basingstoke which saw us fall into the relegation zone. Finally in mid-January the club awoke to the threat of the drop and responded by loosening the purse strings, most supporters had known this would be necessary two months earlier.   

Keeper Joe Welch came in on loan from Ebbsfleet eventually signing permanently, Ali Fuseini, Albert Jarrett, Anthony Thomas, Luke Medley & Michael Malcolm all joined in the space of a few days having all previously played with Moses Swaibu (who rejoined us in December) at Lincoln City and the squad now looked strong enough for the relegation battle ahead. The impact was immediate as we won 3-0 at Weston Super Mare, our first league win since 8^th October at Havant. The momentum was halted by two weeks of snow before a draw at Thurrock on Valentines Night quickly followed by a 2-0 win at Salisbury and 1-0 at home to Chelmsford. Would this be a quick run out of trouble and up the table? No, this is Bromley FC and we hit the buffers somewhat after the great start from the new look squad.

There was an ill tempered 2-1 loss at Welling followed by four draws and one defeat in the next five games, the most heartbreaking of all being a 99^th minute equaliser conceded at home to Staines, scored by ex-Raven Ali Chaaban, who had shown up an hour late for the kick off. Staring the bottom three in the face we recorded a precious home win over Weston Super Mare thanks to an Ali Fuseini goal and followed it up with a point at play off chasing Sutton Utd on Easter Saturday. Despite a late rally we lost 1-2 at home to Dartford two days later, the spirit and effort on show gave us hope that we could still survive.

As we travelled down to Truro City the table suggested we needed seven points from the last three games to survive and on the marvellous day 300miles away from home and in pouring rain we won 2-1 thanks to goals from Michael Malcolm & Danny Waldren, this was a massive win. The following Saturday we misfired again with a 0-0 at home to relegated Thurrock, but other results favoured us for once and we now only needed a point at Dorchester on the final day to be sure of safety. As it turned out we didn’t even need that, Hampton’s loss at home to Basingstoke midweek was enough for us to keep our Conference South status and hope for better things next season, boosted by the signings for next term of Welch, Fuseini, Swaibu, Dubois, Jarrett & Malcolm.

The final day saw us draw 1-1 at Dorchester with a good travelling support giving the team a send off in style, but the overriding feeling for me was this never needed to have happened if the right thing had been done back in November. With poor home form and increased admittance prices it was testament to the loyalty of Bromley fans that crowds still stayed respectable for the most part, but if the quality of football that was on display for the last few months of the season can be maintained along with slightly better results then next season should be a lot better, we have to wait and see...  

Col.                   

Safe!

In the end it only took a point against Thurrock and a defeat for Hampton the following Tuesday to preserve Bromley’s Conference South status for next season. It should have been done and dusted last Saturday as we battered Thurrock, but despite dominating the game we failed to find the net and had to settle for a draw. The game summed up the second half of Bromley’s season perfectly we had loads of the ball, played some lovely football, but failed to get the job done and turn a draw into a win.

We now travel down to Dorchester with the pressure off and with the backing of the fans who have taken advantage of the free coach travel courtesy of Jim Brown hopefully the team will be lifted to notch up another away win just like Weston, Salisbury & Truro.

I was delighted to see Hakeem Araba win the Supporters Player of the Season, he is currently being linked with Football League clubs so if Dorchester does prove to be his last game for us I hope he bows out with a goal and another one of those celebrations.

When the dust settles on the season many questions will need to be asked about why we struggled so badly and how this was ever allowed to happen, but for now we’ll have a few days and one final game just savouring the relief of avoiding the drop.         

Two Games Left, Four Points Required.

After a point from a tough Easter weekend, (more than I thought we'd get), we knew that at least seven points were required from the last three games to avoid relegation.
We got the  first part done with a great 2-1 win at Truro City with the players and fans giving everything in the pouring rain. That trip will go down in Bromley FC legend, but it will hav even more gravity if we get the rest of the job done starting with Thurrock at home on Saturday.
Although 'The Artist formerly known as Purfleet' are already down, they are no mugs only losing to better sides than us by single goals recently, and the two teams were evenly matched back in February when we drew 1-1 at their place. Former Bromley captain Rob Gillman will be in no mood to let his new employers give us an easy ride to safety.
With Farnborough's points deduction along with Havant & Hampton losing games in hand this week our fate is now back in our own hands.Four points will do the trick, three on Saturday would be a great start. The rain may do us a favour as we have performed well on heavy pitches at Weston, Salisbury & Truro in the last few months and it may keep the ball down on our very bumpoy pitch.    
The club are running a free coach to Dorchester for the final game of 20011/12, lets hope this is rewarded with a good turn out and is a happy bus on the way home!     

Easter Points Hunt

The Easter fixtures are always key for any side either challenging for promotion or trying to stay up and this season it’s certainly the case for Bromley. Five years ago it was wins over Ramsgate on Good Friday and Carshalton on Easter Monday that set us up for a second placed finish and eventually promotion, now it will be games against play off chasing Sutton and Dartford that could see us virtually safe from the drop or facing a very nervous last three games two of which are long journey’s out west.

Saturday’s 1-0 win over Weston Super Mare was a crucial result and with Hampton losing one of their games in hand on Monday night our fate is back in our own hands. The general feeling is that seven points from the remaining five games would do the trick. With Ali Fuseini’s goal giving us the narrow lead over Weston we may well come to think of Liam Harwood’s overhead kick off the line and Joe Welch’s injury time save as moments that turned the season around once it all comes to an end on 28 April. If we can pick up any points from the next two tough games then things will be looking more positive ahead of the final three.