We just want to be competing again like we did last year, says Bromley boss Mark Goldberg

BROMLEY manager Mark Goldberg says he wants his side to grind out a result in their opening Vanarama Conference South game of the season on Saturday.

The Ravens completed their nine-match pre-season campaign with an impressive 3-2 win over Crystal Palace’s under 21 side in front of a crowd of 1,179 at Hayes Lane on Tuesday night.

But attention now turns to Saturday’s Vanarama Conference South opener at Havant & Waterlooville, who will have two former Ravens in their squad in the shape of winger Ben Swallow and striker Shamir Mullings, 20.

The Hawks finished in sixth-place last season on 69 points, level on points with fifth-placed Dover Athletic, who sealed promotion alongside champions Eastleigh after Chris Kinnear’s side defeated Sutton United and Ebbsfleet United in the play-offs.

Bromley finished six-points behind Eastleigh in third-place, but they suffered a 4-1 aggregate defeat to Ebbsfleet United in a gut-wrenching play-off semi-final defeat.

“I’m ready. I think the teams ready,” said Goldberg after his side claimed the local bragging rights over their Premier League neighbours.

“We’ve needed every pre-season game and all the time that we’ve had to prepare but now we’ve ticked all the boxes that we wanted to tick and we’re ready for Saturday and just have all the good work that we’ve put in we can continue to bring it into our season campaign starting on Saturday.”

Goldberg wants to get the league campaign off to a winning start.

“We need to grind out a result,” he said.

“It will be a really tough game. They’ve got a very good squad.  They haven’t been conceding goals and they’re going to be difficult to break down.

“We’ve shown recently that we are creating good goalscoring opportunities but most importantly we have to be tight defensively and hope we can grind out a result down there.”

There is high expectations on Bromley to be ensure last season’s personal best in seven seasons in Conference South football was not a flash in a pan.

Goldberg said: “I look at my bench and I’ve got more options this year and that’s thanks to the support of the new chairmen Ashley and Derek (Reading) and they’ve got us a little bit more sponsorship.

“Now I look at my bench and I believe that I’ve got more cover than I had last year, hopefully enough to get us over the line.”

Bromley return to Hayes Lane to play Whitehawk next Tuesday, 12 August.

The Brighton-based side finished in the bottom-four last season and Goldberg wants to perform well for the home fans.

Goldberg said: “The team has to perform well for the crowds to come but there two very tough games so we couldn’t have more of a difficult start to the season.

“But we’re well prepared and we believe that we can go down there (to Havant) and believe that we can grind out a result and hopefully Saturday sets ourselves up nicely for the game against Whitehawk.”

When asked his aspirations for the season ahead, the Bromley boss replied: “Just want to be competing again like we did last year, up there and who knows what might happen. We’re now ready and excited to go.”

Visit Bromley’s website: www.bromleyfc.net

Havant & Waterlooville  v  Bromley
Vanarama Conference South
Saturday 9^th August 2014
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Westleigh Park, Martin Road, Havant, Hampshire PO9 5TH