Bromley 3-4 Dartford - We had a great opportunity today and we blew it, admits Mark Goldberg

A crowd of 4,105 fans packed Hayes Lane to watch these two Kent club’s produce a great FA Cup First Round tie in the rain, which saw six goals being scored during an enthralling second half.

Bromley went into this game sitting in fourth-place in the Vanarama Conference South table and unbeaten in eight games, while Dartford sat six places higher in the football pyramid, struggling in the bottom four in the Vanarama Conference.

Mark Goldberg had guided Bromley to this stage of the competition five times in the past eight years and the club were desperate to end 69 years’ of FA Cup misery.

This was the eleventh time that Bromley had failed to get into the Second Round since beating Slough United 6-2 on aggregate in the First Round back in 1945.

But Dartford went on to celebrate the tenth time that they’ve progressed through to the Second Round, the first time for 30 years, thanks to winning this seven-goal thriller.

Bromley believed the dream was on when Louis Dennis swept home his fifth goal of the season after only 75 seconds.

But Dartford hit back and turned the tie on its head with two goals within the opening ten minutes of the second half, courtesy of Danny Harris and Ryan Hayes.

Bromley striker Moses Ademola capitalised on a gift to drill home his seventh goal of the season just 68 seconds later to make it 2-2.

Harris flicked home his second goal to put Dartford back in the driving seat, before Danny Waldren – who scored two goals in the 2-1 win at Evesham United in the Fourth Qualifying Round – headed home a leveller.

But Dartford sealed the victory with nine minutes left when striker Tom Bradbrook headed home.

Darts boss Tony Burman summed up the game by saying, “What a great game for The FA Cup!  A typical FA Cup pitch as well, very muddy out there and it determined how our team got to play.

“Listen, that’s why I do feel that I’ve got a good group (of players). It isn’t the first time they’ve come from behind this season.

“There was a hell of a lot of pressure on them today. We were favourites. It’s easy to get a banana skin in any Cup game.  After the start they’ve had, it gave Bromley a lot of confidence. We’ve had to grind our way and I felt we did and to be fair I thought we played very, very well today.”

Bromley manager Mark Goldberg was crestfallen when he faced the media after emerging from a heartbroken home dressing room.

He said: “It’s a massive disappointment for me, as you can tell.  I’m trying to put on a very brave face but I suppose you’ve got to start thinking of the job in hand, which is to try to get promoted.  That’s where we want to be. We want to be where Dartford are.

“Again, what an opportunity for us to make a bit of history here again! I can’t believe it - fifth time in eight years we’ve failed at this hurdle.

“Great crowd, I think that’s good compensation as far as the owners are concerned commercially.  I’m sure it was a good day for them but it would have been a lot greater had we had the (£18,000) prize money as well.

“I’m so disappointed how we defended the set-pieces rally. It was too easy.

“Having gone in 1-0 up at half-time and feeling that we really commanded most of that first half, we felt we were in control of the game and we should have really tried to seal it before we went in at half-time.

“We had one or two very good chances to get the second. When there’s only one goal in the game then you’re always vulnerable but to concede in the second half so early on didn’t help us.

“It’s a big disappointment because in terms of open play, I thought we did ok. It was just set-pieces. I can’t understand how we were allowed ourselves to let in four goals in the second half so we have to dust ourselves off and look at it and see how we can bounce back on Tuesday night against Hemel Hempstead at home.”

Bromley got off to a dream start by taking the lead on the break after only 75 seconds.

Ademola broke down the right to reach the by-line before cutting the ball back across goal for an unmarked Dennis to sweep his first time shot into the bottom left-hand corner from six-yards.

Goldberg said: “Moses did what we love him to do, just to run with the ball positively and get to the by-line and crossed and Louis’ was at the far post to give us a great start.”

Burman felt Elliot Bradbrook was fouled in the build-up.

He said: “We thought it was a foul on Elliot in all fairness and it’s put him out of position. The referee never gave it and it was a great start for them.  We were caught unawares.

“But we’ve been patient and professional and that’s what happens when you’re up in the league that we’re in.  I thought we did do alright.”

Dartford’s first opening arrived after fifteen minutes when they called Bromley keeper Seb Brown into action.

Dartford right-back Lee Burns drove in a cross, which wasn’t cleared by the Bromley defence and Max Cornhill’s right-footed volley skidded off the turf through a crowd of players and the Bromley keeper dived low to his right to make the save.

Hayes released Tom Bradbrook down the right and without any support the former Leatherhead striker dragged his shot across Seb Brown and harmlessly past the far post.

Bromley called Dartford keeper Jason Brown into making a fine high save when Dennis cracked a right-footed shot on the turn from 22-yards, which forced the Welsh stopper to pluck the ball out of the air high above his head.

But Bromley were to rue a great chance to double their lead on the half-hour mark.

The Ravens caught Dartford on the break again and Dennis released Ademola, who swept the ball out wide to Dennis, who cut in from the left channel to cut the ball back across goal where an unmarked Ali Fuseini skied his right-footed shot over the bar from six-yards.

It proved to be a crucial miss from the former Millwall central midfielder.

Goldberg said: “When it came to open play, we probably caused more problems. We created more goalscoring opportunities than they had, but we didn’t punish them.”

Burman added: “It’s from our corner and we tried to turn on the edge of the box and got caught. Yes, he should have put it in and it could have been a turning point. We’ve had a few ups and downs so far this season and I’m glad something’s gone for us.”

Bromley went close again when Dennis swung in a corner from the right, which was headed back across goal by Rob Swaine and Piere Joseph-Dubois’s looping header dropped the wrong side of the far post.

Dennis, who was lively during the first half, cut in from the left again and his attempt was caught by Jason Brown at his near post.

Bromley were 45 minutes away from creating a new piece of history for the club.

Goldberg said: “We had chances to have gone 2-0 up. I don’t know why we came out the way that we did. We were a little bit sloppy and it certainly wasn’t the direction that we gave them.

“We said (at half-time) if we won the second ball we would win the game. Unfortunately to some extent what we didn’t compensate for was not picking up your men as an individual at set-pieces.  You practice as much as you want but if certain players don’t pick up their men, then unfortunately that’s what happens, you concede.”

Dartford, meanwhile, couldn’t have played poorly again, during the second half.

Burman said: “We just felt we’d be biding our time and be patient and keep plugging away in the second half.

“We just felt we still had to get the balls into right areas, which we felt we did but we felt the quality in the last third had to be a little bit better and that’s what happened.

“We felt that we had quite a bit of the possession in the first half.  Bromley were trying to get us on the break more than anything else and they did really could have gone 2-0 up.

“It was hard coming up the hill. I say up the hill. You don’t notice the slope at Bromley but there is a slope.  To come in at 1-0 down wasn’t too sad. At least we kept it at one, instead of two.

“I always felt that we had a good chance.”

But nobody expected to witness six goals during an excellent second half.

Dartford were on level terms after only two minutes and 27 seconds.

Hayes swung in a corner from the right with his lethal left-foot towards the near post which wasn’t dealt with by Bromley keeper Seb Brown and Harris headed home from close range.