Bromley 1-2 Gillingham - We will most certainly learn from these games, says Bromley boss Mark Goldberg

Bromley 1 – 2 Gillingham
Location	Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF
Kickoff	21/07/2015 19:45

BROMLEY  1-2  GILLINGHAM
Pre-Season Friendly
Tuesday 21^st July 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

BROMLEY manager Mark Goldberg says he learnt lessons from his side’s defeat to Gillingham at Hayes Lane tonight.

Last season’s Vanarama Conference South champions were outclassed by Gillingham during the first half as the League One side eased into a commanding 2-0 lead inside the opening 30 minutes.

Striker Ben Williamson rolled in the first, before the outstanding Bradley Dack, 21, produced a beautiful piece of skill to crash in a volley into the top far corner.

Full-time Bromley, now preparing for their Vanarama National League debut at home to Wrexham on Saturday, 8 August, turned things around during the second half and striker Bradley Goldberg scored with a lovely dinked finish.

The Bromley boss said: “I thought they started stronger than we did. We played into the way that they controlled the game. They had four in the middle of the park as a diamond and they kept playing the ball wide.

“Basically, we’ve got to learn from it and they showed that they were probably more of a high-tempo, fitter team and we had to gage ourselves and know what level we need to get to.

“But what I was pleased about is that we talked about it at half-time, we upped the tempo ourselves and we started playing the way that we can play.  We didn’t play into trouble, we played into space and we played a lot quicker and we moved the ball a lot better in the end.

“I know it’s the old cliché, it’s a game of two halves, but it was very much a game of two halves.

“I think both squads made changes. We both used our first team squads.

“I think in all fairness if we had drawn the game, I don’t think it would have been an unfair result in the end.”

Gillingham boss Justin Edinburgh, 45, was delighted with the way his first team squad started on the front foot.

“Yes, I think a very good start and a fantastic first half, some really good play. A lot of good chances created, so pleasing.

“It was always going to be difficult to maintain that with pre-season and making substitutions we did, but overall, we’re very pleased.

“What you look for is attitude for these kind of games, where the opposition are a good outfit, they’ve gone full-time now and had good success last year.

“The attitude’s always first, the application is starting to go up a notch now so all in all I think it’s been successful.  Obviously you don’t want to pick up any injuries, we’ve got three injuries to big players now.  Hopefully that won’t be too far away that they are back in the fray and we don’t pick any others up along the way.”

Gillingham’s high-tempo caused Bromley trouble for large chunks of a one-sided first half.

Dack swung in a corner from the right towards the near post and John Egan’s diving header from six-yards forced Bromley goalkeeper Alan Julian to dive to his left to parry the ball away inside the opening six minutes.

Dack’s resulting corner was cleared away by Lee Minshull – who partnered Jack Holland at the heart of defence as the injured Rob Swaine was not risked – and Jordan Houghton’s shot from 25-yards bounced into Julian’s hands for a comfortable save.

Bromley squandered a decent chance to stun their League One opponents when Alex Wall was released down the right and he cut into the penalty area before cutting the ball back for Bradley Goldberg, who screwed his shot across the keeper and well wide of the far post from nineteen-yards.

But Gillingham punished their Kent rivals for that mistake by taking a deserved fifteenth-minute lead.

Max Porter – who signed for Bromley from League Two side Newport County along with Minshull – dithered on the ball and gifted possession to Dack, who released Williamson who rolled his right-footed shot across the flat-footed Julian into the bottom left-hand corner from 12-yards.

Edinburgh said: “I thought he might have took a touch too many but it was a good execution. 

“We probably felt we could get a few more with the quality of balls that we had, but overall pleasing with the quality and the chances created first half.”

Goldberg added: “They put us under pressure very early on. They had a series of corners and a series of possession but we defended ok until we gave the ball away and they scored!

“We gave the ball away in the wrong area but in all fairness to Max I think he was great tonight. That was a mistake and he’ll learn from them and we’ll learn from as a team.”

Gillingham left-back Bradley Garmston ventured forward and whipped in a quality low cross into the Bromley penalty area, which resulted in Dack setting up Norris, whose shot deflected past the right-hand post from 10-yards.

Dack capped off his outstanding display by scoring an outstanding goal on the half-hour mark.

Full-back Ryan Johnson roamed forward and played the ball in from the right and Dack flicked the ball up, took another touch and with his third cracked a stunning right-footed volley high over the diving Julian into the top far corner of the net from 18-yards.

Cray Valley striker Adam Marsh scored Goal of The Season so far when he smacked home a 35-yard volley into the top far corner of the net in their 5-0 romp over Seven Acre & Sidcup on Sunday. Dack’s finish came a very close finish to that wonder-strike.

The Gillingham boss hailed the special strike by saying, “Very good finish, but we all know what Bradley’s about and we know he’s got that kind of quality in abundance and he certainly showed that today, a sublime finish!

“I think he’s come back in really good condition. I think he took a lot out of last year. He’s a bright young player and we’re excited for the season ahead for him.”

Goldberg added: “A great goal! A little bit too easy to get through us like that, it was an individual piece of genius!”

Pierre Joseph-Dubois’ reverse pass released Goldberg through on goal, who skipped past advancing goalkeeper Stuart Nelson, but from a tight angle his low shot was helped away by Max Ehmer at the near post.

The impressive Dack was pulling all the strings for Gillingham and he played the ball to Jackson, who crossed from the right and Norris hooked his shot straight at Julian from sixteen-yards.

But Bromley missed a gilt-edged chance to claw their way back into the game in the 39^th minute.

Ehmer’s square pass was intended for his central defensive partner Egan on the edge of the centre circle, but Bromley striker Alex Wall intercepted the ball and raced forward.

The former Luton Town striker charged towards goal and with only Nelson to beat he lost all composure and blasted his right-footed shot high over the bar from 19-yards.

Goldberg said: “We also had chances in the first half! One clear-cut one-on-one, which normally I would have expected Alex Wall would have buried that and you go in at half-time and it’s 2-1 and it’s a different game isn’t it?

“Even in the second half he showed the type of player that he is. He’s going to be a menace to defenders. He ran the channels well and he was unselfish as well. He looked to play his team-mates in. I think he’s going to be a great asset for our club.”

While Gillingham dominated the first half, Bromley fought their way back into the game after the interval.

Houghton blasted his right-footed shot over the crossbar from 25-yards after 51 minutes.

Edinburgh has high hopes for the midfielder, 19, who is on loan from Premier League champions Chelsea, who has played for England at under 16, under 17 and under 20 level.

“He only trained with us yesterday with the group, so he’s still in a settling in period, but I thought he certainly showed some glimpses of his passing range and the quality that we brought to the club.

“I watch a lot of under 21 development games and Chelsea being as good as they are, they’re on the tele quite a lot as well.

“Knowing one or two people in there, we tried to get him last year but perhaps I thought it was a bit too soon but we we’re able to get him to the club over a lot of bigger clubs than ourselves. The crowd will like what they see.

“We’ve got good connections and they (Chelsea) know what we’re trying to achieve at this football club and the way we want to achieve and they felt it was a good fit.

“I think if you’re bringing under 21 captains from Chelsea, then they’re feeling you’re doing something right at this football club. That’s a complement to us as a club so hopefully it bodes well for us in the future.”

Ali Fuseini – the first of eight Bromley substitutes – over played inside his own half and lost the ball to Emmanuel Osadebe, who sprinted forward before playing in Norris, who sent his right-footed shot over the bar from sixteen-yards.

The changes in team personnel appeared to lift Bradley Goldberg and he proved to be a threat for Bromley down the right channel.

He was released just past the hour and he cut the ball back to sub Anthony Cook, who hit a poor low shot which was comfortably saved by Nelson.

Goldberg then cut in following his run from the right and drilled a left-footed curling drive from the corner of the Gillingham penalty area, which sailed over Nelson and landed agonisingly on the top of the roof of the net.

But to the 21-year-old’s credit, he kept plugging away and he scored a deserved goal with ten minutes left.

Porter bounced back from his earlier mistake to win the ball to feed Fuseini, who played in Goldberg.

Goldberg took a touch inside the box and with his left-foot dinked his shot into the bottom right-hand corner from 14-yards to leave Nelson stranded.

Bradley Goldberg is expected to bang in plenty of goals for Bromley throughout this season’s Vanarama National League campaign.

“We believe that he’s capable – he’s got to prove it,” said the Ravens boss.

“Tonight, I think certain players stood out to be capable of playing against opposition like Gillingham and I think Brad was one of those that had a stand-out performance but it’s all about what they do week-in-week-out in the actual National League.

“But it’s encouraging! I think we’ve got the ingredients to perform at that level and we showed it in spells. We’ve got to make sure we play to a system that gives us continuity throughout the whole game, rather than fits and starts.

“I’m glad that we had the exercise that we had tonight because if we start the way that we started tonight against Wrexham we’re going to get exactly the same result where we will be controlled by the opposition and we just played in their hands tonight in the first half.

“It took too long for us to put it right. I think I’m so glad we did that tonight because we will most certainly learn from these games and we are capable of doing a lot better and hopefully in the second half we showed that.”

Bromley still seem very shaky from corners and Gillingham almost added a third late goal when Egan ghosted in to plant his header across goal and past the far post after sub Brennan Dickenson swung in an inviting corner from the left.

Gillingham certainly looked sharper and fitter than their National League opponents, benefiting from training in France.

Edinburgh said: “We worked tremendously hard! We put a lot of work into the players, three sessions a day, but that was what it was for, but I think we’re starting to see the benefits coming out at the end of this week, going into next week.”

Edinburgh, meanwhile, is keen to add fresh blood ahead of their mouth-watering League One clash against Sheffield United at Priestfield Stadium on 8 August.

He said: “What we have here, we’re really pleased with, but I do feel like we’ve seen tonight, we need reinforcements.

“We are still quite light so we are still looking to bring players in, so we are working away at that, so hopefully we can do that before the season starts.

“With the players that we’re trying to bring into the club there will be loan players unless something else in the latter couple of weeks appears because there’s still a lot of players that are not fixed up.

“There’s some real good players, but I only want them at the club for the right reasons, not because we’re second best or they could get money elsewhere, so we are in talks not with hundreds of players but a few players and we’ll see what progresses over the next couple of weeks.

“We’ve got Jordan (Houghton) until January and if we can we’d like to secure one or two for a whole season.

“There’s loads of players out there that are unemployed right now and some are trialing at Championship teams and not everyone’s going to get fixed up. Rather wait for someone and be second best, we’ve spoken to one or two people. We understand their situations but what I don’t want is money to be priority for them coming to Gillingham.

“Of course that’s a big factor. You get a feel, you’ve got to get a feel for players. We’ve got a good group here and we have to make sure the personnel fits in with that group.”

Bromley: Alan Julian (Dean Gardikiotis 77), Ugo Udoji (Paul Rogers 60), Joe Anderson (Aaron Tumya 60), Max Porter (Joe Morris 89), Lee Minshull, Jack Holland, Pierre Joseph-Dubois (Moses Emmanuel Ademola 60), Reece Prestedge (Ali Fuseini 50), Alex Wall (Ben May 60), Bradley Goldberg, Louis Dennis (Anthony Cook 60).
Sub: Adam Birchall

Goal: Bradley Goldberg 80

Gillingham: Stuart Nelson, Ryan Jackson, Bradley Garmston, Aaron Morris (Rory Donnelly 63), Max Ehmer, John Egan, Emmanuel Osadebe, Bradley Dack (Jermaine McClashan 82), Ben Williamson, Luke Norris (Brennan Dickenson 82), Jordan Houghton (Josh Pritchard 59).
Subs: Glenn Norris, Callum Davies, Mitchell Dickenson, Michael Freiter

Goals: Ben Williamson 15, Bradley Dack 30

Attendance: 773
Referee: Mr Nigel Lugg (Chipstead, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Gerry Heron (Beckenham)  & Alexis Stacchini (Orpington)
Fourth Official: Mr Peter Killip (West Norwood, London SE27)