Bromley boss Neil Smith: We’ve had a fantastic start to the season and we'll make sure that we don’t lose two on the trot

BROMLEY manager Neil Smith issued an apology after his flying side crashed  back down to earth with a 5-1 defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday.

The Ravens travelled to Victoria Road sitting in second-place in the Vanarama National League table with 11 points on the board from their six league games.

However, Dagenham & Redbridge rose to the summit after thrashing Bromley 5-1, although Luke Wanadio scored his second of the season to bring the Kent side back on level terms, it soon went downhill for Smith’s men, who slipped down a couple of places in the league table as a result.

“Really disappointed and I do apologise to the supporters, they’ve been brilliant and that wasn’t us, how we’ve started this season.” Smith told www.bromleyfc.tv.

“Defensively we’ve been very sound and that started from the front and I think I’m not just going to blame individuals or the back four, that was a collective group of men that didn’t perform to what we’ve been setting our standards at, at the moment.

“It’s very hard to take, very disappointing, but we’ve got to move on quickly.  We’ve got Sutton on Monday, we’ve got to make sure we learn from it and learn very quickly.”

Sutton United lost top-spot after suffering a 3-1 home defeat to Maidstone United, who host Dagenham & Redbridge on Monday afternoon.

Paul Doswell’s side have slipped down a place on 12 points and have scored nine league goals but have leaked seven and five of those goals have come in the second half of their games.

Smith said: “You just don’t want to be humiliated and we did in the end by five. We’ve been there, because we did it earlier on in the season (beating Leyton Orient 6-1). It’s not nice but we’ve got to take it on the chin. We’ve got to be men about it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Smith and his players reported for training on Sunday to go through the match video from the game and are aiming to bounce back for their big local derby against bitter-rivals Sutton United at Hayes Lane on Monday.

Smith said: “We’re playing against a very, very good Sutton side, it’s going to be another tough game. We’ve got to make sure that as collective group we stick together.

“It’s one game. We’ve had a fantastic start to the season and make sure that we don’t lose two on the trot.”

Visit Bromley’s website: www.bromleyfc.tv

Bromley  v  Sutton United
Vanarama National League
Bank Holiday Monday 28^th August 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF