T&Mvbrom060304

Bromley on a knife edge

"Massive" midweek clash at Staines is a game Bromley must win to keep top six place alive

Tooting & Mitcham United 4-3 Bromley
Saturday 6 March 2004
Ryman League Division One South
Stephen McCartney reports from Imperial Fields

Bromley manager Stuart McIntyre was a despondent man after his side’s tenth defeat of the season saw them slide to tenth place in the Ryman League Division One South table following a 4-3 defeat at the impressive Imperial Fields on Saturday.

Tooting gave a debut to former Bromley attacking midfielder David Smith.  The former Croydon man made 33 appearances for the Hayes Lane club, scoring once.

McIntyre signed Dagenham & Redbridge goalkeeper Glen Knight, 30, the day before the game, and the former Welling United goalkeeper admitted he wasn’t at all happy conceding four goals on his Bromley debut.

With rain lashing down at the beginning of the game, the Bromley side failed to adapt to the poor conditions, and Smith almost scored against his former club.  Facing a one-on-one with Knight, the shot stopper got a slight touch to the shot from twelve yards as the ball flew over the crossbar.

Tooting opened the scoring, however, in the 18^th minute.  Dean Forbes made a return to his former club and the Bromley skipper played a role in the home side’s opening two goals.  On this occasion his clearance from inside the penalty area caught the wind and the ball bounced out for a corner kick.

Pint sized, ginger haired, Jimmy Davies flag kick was powerfully headed home into the back of the net by Keith Dublin.

Five minutes later, Knight made a smart low save cutting out Davies low centre for Kunle Adeoye before the home side clipped the left upright when Smith, with a point to prove, found Elliot Onochie with a diagonal ball and the header clipped the post from eight yards.

Worse was to follow for Bromley when Forbes was penalised for handball close to the left by-line and Adeoye’s 27^th minute spot kick had too much pace on it even though Knight dived the right way but his six foot four frame couldn’t prevent Tooting & Mitcham racing into a 2-0 lead.

Bromley got back into the game, albeit for a short time, when Danny Smith was chopped down on the edge of the D.  Colin Luckett’s free kick struck the wall and the ball went over the crossbar.  Luckett took the resulting corner kick on the right and Mark Willy, at the near post, flicked the ball through a crowded six-yard box and into the back of the net to score his fourth goal of the season.

But one minute and a half into stoppage time, Stuart McIntyre’s men hit the self destruct button when Gary Drewett, who otherwise had a good game in midfield, lost possession 30 yards from goal and the home side played the ball forward and Adeoye slotted the ball past Knight.

Tooting goalkeeper Chris Duffy smothered the ball from Adolph Amoako inside the penalty area as Bromley’s top scorer, with 20 goals, weaved his way through the defence before Landry Zahana-Oni found space down the left channel but his cross was plucked out of the air at the near post by the goalkeeper after the interval.

Tooting took a devastating 4-1 lead after 52 minutes when Davies whipped in a free kick, only eight yards from the by-line and one yard from the edge of the penalty area.  The ball flew over the two-man wall and with Knight rooted to the spot the ball found the top far corner of the net.

The final 33 minutes saw shell-shocked Bromley try to salvage some pride.  Luckett’s diagonal cross towards the far post was headed down by Paul Vines but Duffy made a smart block and substitute Bobby George fired the rebound narrowly wide of the foot of the near post from close range.

James Lasbrey’s forty yard free kick almost caught Knight out but the goalkeeper did well to recover taking a couple of steps back before collecting the ball high above his head on the goalline.

Two Bromley substitutes went close to scoring when Steve Potterill’s cross was met by a Wade Falana, whose header was saved from 18 yards and another substitute, Bobby George, getting the better of his marker, before lashing a shot over the crossbar from 25 yards.

With twenty-one minutes remaining, Bromley clawed back a second goal with a classy strike from Frenchman Zahana-Oni.  He met Drewett’s cross with a half volley from close range that rocketed into the back of the net giving Duffy no chance.

Falana’s cushioned header set up a chance for Potterill whose low shot crashed into the side netting as the Kent side rallied.

Had Forbes scored from a free header from Luckett’s free kick with eleven minutes remaining, then maybe, Bromley could have snatched a point.

But they did score a third goal, deep into injury time, one minute and fifty-five seconds into stoppage time to be precise, when Luckett’s cross was met on the volley by Potterill to score his first goal for the Hayes Lane club.

With time ticking away, Bromley forced a couple of corners.  Goalkeeper Knight ran up to the half way line, looked over to McIntyre on the bench, who gave the goalkeeper the license to race into the Tooting & Mitcham penalty area.

And Knight almost snatched his new side a point from Luckett’s second corner kick but his glancing header was narrowly wide of the left post six and a half minutes into time added on.

Speaking after the 4-3 defeat, Bromley manager Stuart McIntyre said: “I think there was a little bit of complacency today, I don’t think the preparation in the warm up was good as some players weren’t as sharp as they needed to be and I think it showed right from the start of the game.

“In the elements you have got to play in a sensible way but we didn’t and we kept giving the ball away.  It was frustrating after we scored a good goal to get back to 2-1 and then we gave away another sloppy goal.

“We were 3-1 down at half time, the fourth goal was just a disaster from the referee’s point of view.  It was never a free kick and the referee didn’t give it the linesman did and he was in a worse position than the referee and it’s a decision that doesn’t make any sense.

“I think Jimmy Davies was going to cross it and I don’t think he was shooting, but it’s gone into the top corner.  The goalkeeper, Glen Knight, couldn’t do anything about it and it’s incredible as I think we were the better team in terms of playing football, attacking options but a soft penalty and a rubbish shot goal.

“It’s disappointing because when the conditions are cold and wet like that you’ve got to dig in deep and I didn’t think we did that in the first half.

“Glen Knight is an experienced goalkeeper, he brings quality in that area and consistency and that showed today despite what happened to him.  He wasn’t at fault for any of the goals, and you can see in Glen’s handling he is a good goalkeeper.

“We will get benefit from Glen as long as the rest of the team are on their game.  There is nothing any goalkeeper can do if players in front of him aren’t up for it.

“Today's game was probably our biggest game for a week or two.  Even though we scored twice in the second half, it would be harsh of me on some of the players to say we didn’t deserve anything, but it’s also harsh on me on others to say, yes we did.

 “Some players didn’t play well at all today, they didn’t give it everything and other players had good games."

Bromley travel to Staines Town on Tuesday night and McIntyre promises his side "will bounce back!"

Corinthian-Casuals are the visitors to The Clive Christian Stadium, Hayes Lane next Saturday before Bromley travel to Lewes on Tuesday 16 March.

Meanwhile, Bromley were drawn at home to Folkestone Invicta in the John Ullman Kent Senior Cup semi-finals.  The game, at Hayes Lane will be played on Tuesday 23rd March.  The other semi-final is between Dover Athletic and holders Margate.

Tooting & Mitcham:  Chris Duffy, James Lasbrey, Craig Tanner, Daniel Nwanze, Oliver Knight, Keith Dublin, Jimmy Davies, Scott Kinch (James Mordey 71), Kunle Adeoye (Tommy Ellis 85), Elliot Onochie, David Smith (Eben Allen 46)  Subs: Richard Thompson, Husani Thomas

Bromley: Glen Knight, Steve Potterill, Dean Forbes (Capt), Mark Willy, Colin Luckett, John Wilfort, Gary Drewett, Danny Smith, Paul Vines (Wade Falana 64), Adolph Amoako (Bobby George 56), Landry Zahana-Oni (Michael Harney 75).

Referee: Peter Yeo                                                     

Assistants: David Jones & Ian Kitchen 

Attendance: 266