Bromley 1-2 Eastleigh - It's a disaster really to to out in the Fourth Qualifying Round in your first shot for this year, admits Bromley boss Mark Goldberg

Bromley 1 – 2 Eastleigh
Location	Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF
Kickoff	24/10/2015 15:00

BROMLEY  1-2  EASTLEIGH
The FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round (Sponsored by Emirates)
Saturday 24^th October 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

BROMLEY manager Mark Goldberg admits going out of The FA Cup at their first attempt this season is a costly disaster for the club.

When the Ravens were a Conference South outfit they began their FA Cup campaign in the Second Qualifying Round, but losing to their Vanarama National League rivals Eastleigh in the final qualifying round will prove costly to the club, admitted Goldberg afterwards.

Eastleigh took only 121 seconds to take the lead through a free header from striker Yemi Odubade – his fifth goal of the season - as Bromley were poor during the entire first half.

Goldberg revealed he “let rip” at his players during the half-time interval and they deservedly equalised through another special strike from winger Louis Dennis, scoring his sixth goal of the season.

But the manner in which Eastleigh booked their place in the First Round for only the third time in their history was nothing short of a goal that you’re more likely to see in The FA Sunday Cup, as Jai Reason’s cross from the left bounced into the Bromley box and trickled apologetically into the far corner of the net.

“Well obviously disappointed, the Cup means so much to everybody at Bromley Football Club commercially, it’s disaster really to go out in the Fourth Qualifying Round in your first shot for this year,” admitted Goldberg.

“For this group of players I feel sorry for them as well because it’s an opportunity to do something special in The FA Cup and it’s been taken away from us.

“We started very poorly, first ten minutes we were all over the place – I don’t know why – conceded a pretty poor goal, a free header back across the box and a free header, but we got ourselves back in contention and we dug deep and we started playing with a bit more confidence and as the first half went on at half-time I was satisfied that we were only 1-0 down.

“But in the second half I thought we dominated the whole of the second half.”

Bromley reached The FA Cup First Round last season, losing a 4-3 epic to then Conference side Dartford in front of 4,105 fans at Hayes Lane and before that were defeated by Gillingham (2006), Colchester United (2009), Leyton Orient (2011) and Fleetwood Town 2012, having won three qualifying round ties to get there.

The Ravens went into this game sitting in the top six in the Vanarama National League table with 30 points from 18 games, four places above the Spitfires, who have collected two points fewer.

But Chris Todd’s side started the game on the front foot as Bromley, once again, were sluggish.

Reason clipped a ball in behind Ugo Udoji and Rob Swaine to put Odubade through on goal but the nippy striker dragged his shot past the near post from ten-yards with only the keeper to beat.

Eastleigh opened the scoring with their next attack.

Reason floated a cross from the left towards the far post where Joe Partington cushioned a free header back where the unmarked Odubade nodded into the left-hand corner from six-yards.

Goldberg admitted: “It was coming! For some reason we wanted to start sharp and squeeze up when we could and we didn’t.  So everything we asked them to do in the first ten minutes they didn’t do and we probably got what we deserved to be honest - a poor goal to concede.

“It took us 20 minutes to find our feet for some reason and we did and from then on I think we were the better team.”

Eastleigh squandered another great chance to double their lead with only three minutes and 49 seconds on the clock.

Reason played the ball across towards Partington in a similar position as before and centred low but Reason sliced his shot across goal from inside the six-yard box when he should have buried the chance into the bottom right-hand corner.

Bromley took 11 minutes to create their first opening.

Ali Fuseini played a diagonal pass to find left-back Joe Anderson and his cross was met by a diving headed clearance from Jamie Turley. Anthony Cook picked up the loose ball, cut inside and drilled a rasping drive just over the Eastleigh crossbar from 20-yards.

Dennis swung in a corner from the left which was headed away and Jack Holland – a defender-turned-forward – steered his shot past the right hand post through a crowd of players

The small band of travelling Eastleigh supporters taunted the home fans with a chant of “is this a library?”  

The Bromley fans stunned to silence as they witnessed their side put in a poor performance against a club that pipped them to the Conference South title two seasons ago.

Bromley fashioned an opportunity through a short free-kick routine.

Right-back Udoji played the ball into Cook’s feet down the right and he cut inside and Reece Prestedge’s initial driven shot was blocked and Dennis’ right-footed drive sailed over the bar.

But Bromley’s best chance came as the game edged past the half-hour mark.

Ben Chorley picked the ball up inside Eastleigh’s half and ran forward with the ball before playing a one-two with Cook down the left before continuing his run into the box but his low shot from 10-yards was blocked by visiting keeper Ross Flitney at his near post.

Eastleigh swiftly attacked and just 62 seconds later Reason cracked a right-footed angled drive just past the foot of the near post.

Udoji’s attempted through ball towards striker Moses Emmanuel was destined to be cut out but the ball ran through to the 13-goal striker but he rushed his shot from 25-yards on the right-hand side and clipped his shot straight into Flitney’s hands to make a routine catch.

Goldberg was enraged when Bromley were not awarded a 38^th minute penalty when Reason clearly sent Cook tumbling to the ground after cutting in from the right.  Referee Nigel Lugg even decided not to book the talented winger for diving.

The Bromley boss said: “We edged forward and we had some chances and we penetrated. We had some breaks, it didn’t quite work for us, offsides, but there was a penalty decision that should’ve gone our way!

“We were absolutely robbed by the referee twice! I have no doubt that there was a penalty for Cookie in the first half and there was a penalty for Moses in the second half and I can’t understand how the referee or the linesman didn’t give it both ways.

“I can’t see, why didn’t he not book him? I just don’t get it!”

Eastleigh squandered an excellent chance as they quickly broke and only 13 seconds later Reason dragged his shot across goal when he cut his way into the Bromley penalty area.

Eastleigh missed another chance to kill off Bromley just before the break.

Andy Drury sliced open both Udoji and Swaine with an inch-perfect pass from inside the Bromley half to put Reason through on goal but his left-footed shot forced Chris Kettings into making a low save to his right.

When asked his thoughts at the break, Goldberg revealed: “I let rip a little bit because I think we’ve worked harder than we did in that first half and I didn’t understand why -  but we got the reaction in the second half.”

Eastleigh created the first chance of the second half after only 87 seconds, following their fourth corner of the game.

Josh Payne swung in a corner from the right towards the far post where Turley came up from the back to send his towering header over the bar from 15-yards.

Bromley got better as the game edged into the 50^th minute.

Udoji threw the ball to Fuseini, who played a short pass into Emmanuel, who cut in from the right and from 20-yards curled his left-footed shot agonisingly around the far post.

Fuseini was now pulling the strings in the Bromley midfield and he played the ball into Dennis’ feet, who curled his left-footed shot across Flitney and past the same post from 25-yards.

The home fans felt their side had salvaged an equaliser when Prestedge released Emmanuel, who drilled his angled drive high up into the side netting, agonisingly the wrong side of the near post.

“We had chance after chance, again, and goals that normally come our way, weren’t coming our way today,” admitted a frustrated Goldberg.

“The final ball could’ve been better but we still had three or four chances.”

Lee Minshull was ready to come on to strengthen Bromley’s midfield seconds before Dennis brought Bromley back from the dead with a stunning equaliser after 63 minutes.

Dennis started the move when he found Cook down the right, who stretched to poke the ball to put Dennis through on goal down the right.

Dennis cut into the penalty area before lashing his shot into the top right-hand corner of the net to score a quality goal.

“Although I couldn’t see where was the goal (coming from), we had chances but we weren’t finishing,” said Goldberg.

“But Louis took his goal extremely well. We got back in the game and I thought there was only one team in it!”

Eastleigh had their moments too.

Jack Midson did well to bring the ball down under control with his chest and Ben Strevens and Reason linked up on the edge of the Bromley penalty area and Drury curled his left-footed shot around the far post from 20-yards.

Emmanuel slid his shot past the right-hand post from six-yards after he and Cook combined down the right and Holland had teed-up the Bromley striker with a reverse pass on the edge of the six-yard box.

Bromley were in the ascendancy and the most likely outcome would have been a Bromley victory or the worst case scenario, a replay near Southampton Airport on Tuesday night.

But with the clock timed at 32:31, disaster struck Bromley as Eastleigh snatched victory with a freak goal.

Reason was in acres of space down the left some 40-yards out when he swept a cross into the Bromley penalty area.

Chorley, 33, who was playing League Two football for Portsmouth last season, inexplicably ducked instead of powering a meet-and-drink header away, the ball bounced in front of Kettings, who was flat-footed to react and could only watch the ball bypass him to his left to bounce apologetically into the far corner of the net.

Kettings, who has recently graduated with a 2.1 in business and accounting, will certainly know how costly that embarrassing goal will prove to the Kent club.

“We conceded the most ridiculous goal, unfortunate shall we say, the most unfortunate ridiculous goal,” admitted Goldberg.

“Centre half Ben Chorley would admit that really he should’ve headed it away, instead of leaving it for the keeper.

“The keeper should’ve anticipated better but apparently told Ben to head it away, so it’s just a poor miss-communication and it wasn’t like they deserved at that stage of the game to win it.

“It was so easy, it was ridiculous.”

When asked how Kettings was feeling inside the dressing room to concede such a poor goal, Goldberg pointed the finger of blame at a player who has spent all of his career playing League football.

“Ben’s put his hand up and said he was also responsible but I see that it’s just a little bit of young naivety (from Kettings) as well as possibly (Ben) should’ve maybe taken control and headed it away so a bit of both, it was an unfortunate mistake.”

Emmanuel drove his eight-footed shot past the far post from 20-yards, but his goalscoring form has gone downhill since he received the Vanarama National League player-of-the-month for September.

Goldberg said: “Right at the end there we had even more chances to slip our forwards in and we still took a few extra touches in our approach play but we had enough chances to get the draw.”

Mark Goldberg made a double substitution with nine minutes to go, bringing on striker Bradley Goldberg and midfielder Minshull and changed formation to 3-4-1-2 in an attempt to salvage a draw.

Kettings, who is on loan from Crystal Palace, dived to his right to turn away Payne’s powerful 30-yard drive, which was destined to sail into the far corner.

And with time running out for Bromley, Holland swept his hooked volley past the far post from the corner of the box.

The final whistle blew and Bromley were coming to terms with crashing out of The FA Cup, as Chorley and Kettings gift-wrap £12,500 to Eastleigh Football Club in FA prize money and the financial benefits on top of reaching the First Round. 

An upset Cook was booked by referee Mr Lugg for showing dissent towards the match official after the final whistle was blown.

Goldberg added: “Well, Cookie was frustrated with himself as well I think but at the same time he had a blatant penalty decision (go against him) so he had reason to be questioning the referee.”

Bromley travel to Lincoln City in the Vanarama National League next Saturday, as sixth-plays-seventh.

Lincoln City came away from Tranmere Rovers with a 0-0 draw in The FA Cup today and will play the replay on Tuesday night, ahead of Bromley’s visit to Sincil Bank.

When asked what financial implications today’s FA Cup exit will mean to his home-town club, Goldberg replied: “We’ll see what they are, it’s extremely disappointing and very costly.

“We’ve got to have to pick ourselves up for Saturday. It’s difficult to do because The FA Cup, the dream to be in it, it just gives so much momentum and excitement around the club.

“It’s just too soon for us to be in and out the way that we have but maybe the fact we weren’t involved for long, maybe we’ll have to turn that into an advantage for us.

“It’s not a question of a reaction of being out of The Cup, the reason’s got to be that we kick ourselves and move on and continue to progress in the league.”

When asked about the club’s injury situation, Goldberg revealed: “We’ve still got Max Porter, Alex Wall, Ben May, Pierre Joseph-Dubois, Alan Julian, so five key players, but hopefully they’ll be back in the next two to three weeks.”

Bromley: Chris Kettings, Ugo Udoji (Lee Minshull 81), Joe Anderson, Ali Fuseini, Rob Swaine, Ben Chorley, Louis Dennis, Reece Prestedge (Bradley Goldberg 81), Moses Emmanuel, Jack Holland, Anthony Cook.
Subs: Aaron Tumwa, Paul Rodgers, Sean Francis, Michak Stanic-Stewart

Goal: Louis Dennis 63

Booked: Ben Chorley 90, Anthony Cook 90

Eastleigh: Ross Flitney, Joe Partington, Dan Harding, Josh Payne, Jamie Turley, Will Evans, Jai Reason, Andy Drury, Yemi Odubade, Jack Midson (Ross Lafayette 70), Ben Strevens.
Subs: Michael Green, Lewis Noice, Jack Alexander, Tony Lee, Lee Cook

Goals: Yemi Odubade 3, Jai Reason 77

Booked: Jai Reason 65

Attendance: 1,110
Referee: Mr Nigel Lugg (Dorking, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Thomas Hancock (Soham, Cambridgeshire) & Mr Martyn Holmes (Ely, Cambridgeshire)
Fourth Official: Mr Stuart Franklin (Wickford, Essex)