Braintree Town 3 Bromley 1

Braintree Town climbed to the top of the Ryman Premier Leaue table but they left it late against a Bromley side that have now gone NINE league games without a win.  Bromley managers, George Wakeling and Billy Smith, however, have got the backing of the Hayes Lane faithful despite their miserable run, which has seen them collect only three points during this time and slide down to 16th place in the table.

For 90 minutes Bromley matched their high flying opponents and it looked like they had secured a point from their trip to North Essex, but they conceded two heart breaking goals in injury time and made the long trip back with nothing, extending their winless run to nine games, writes Colin Head.

Bromley lined up in 4-5-1 formation, with the returning Mark Tompkins ploughing a lone furrow in attack, a role in which the veteran performed tirelessly for the whole game. 

Bromley's bad luck with injuries continued when Adam Locke had to go off almost immediately after kick off and was replaced by Gary Drewett.

Braintree had the most possession and pushed Bromley back for long periods, but their closest efforts came when Joseph shot wide, Baker shot over and Andy Walker made a good save from Revell.

Former Bromley centre back Ollie Adedeji was imperious at the back for the home side and gave nothing away, while Joe Vines and Tutu Henriques performed similar feats for the Kent side.

Bromley did look promising on the counter attack and it was from of these that they managed to grab a lead on 41 minutes. After a corner was cleared the ball came back to Danny Carroll and he calmly ran into the box slotting the ball past Morgan from 10 yards low into the corner of the net to give The Ravens the lead at the half.

Braintree manager George Borg made two half time changes and Braintree went for a more attacking formation in the second half putting Bromley under more pressure.

This paid of within two minutes when James Baker ran through The Ravens defence and smashed the ball home to level.

Bromley did still create the odd chance and following a great run by Drewett, Colin Luckett hit a free kick just wide.

Walker made another good save from Revell, while Adedeji stopped Carroll in his tracks with a trademark saving challenge.

The game flowed for a while with Baker shooting wide for Town and Morgan saved from Drewett.

As the clock ticked into injury time it looked like Bromley might have got a hard earned point, but then disaster struck when Henriques lost the ball in midfield and a high ball into the box was headed home by Matti Joseph at the far post.

The Ravens looked crest fallen and straight from the kick off they lost possession of the ball again to Baker who ran through the defence un-challenged and hammered the ball past Walker for 3-1 right on full time.

Braintree Town: Morgan, Burgess, Jones, Adedji, Lorraine, Quinton, Joseph, Paramater, Baker, Revell, Hawes. Subs: Ofori, Porter, Riddle, Wild, Martin.   
 
Bromley: Walker, McLeod, Luckett, Vines, Henriques, Gardener, Locke, Boateng, Carew, Carroll, Tompkins. Subs: Drewett, Awuah, Parker, Marino.