westwickvbrom290204

West Wickham trounced by rampant Bromley

Highest Kent Youth League victory for Bromley

West Wickham U18  1-12 Bromley U18
M.U.S.H. Kent Youth League Under 18 Northern Division
Sunday 29 February 2004
by Stephen McCartney

Bromley under eighteen manager Derek Parnham was a delighted man after his side, second from bottom in the table before the game, trounced West Wickham 12-1 to record the club's highest ever victory in the Kent Youth League.

It was a good day all round for the Hayes Lane club with three of their four youth teams in the Kent Youth League winning.

The under fourteen's game at Kennington was postponed due to a frozen pitch, but the under fifteen's beat Lordswood 6-1 and the under sixteen's won 3-1 at Long Lane but both results were dwarfed by Parnham's side's convincing victory.

West Wickham went into the game one place in front of Bromley but level on points, but Bromley have only played eight league games before this comfortable showing of clinical finishing and playing the ball on the ground.

It took Bromley thirty minutes to break the deadlock when the home goalkeeper spilled a long range Michael Sibley shot and Alan Owens stabbed home.

Two minutes before the interval, former Queen's Park Rangers striker, Andrew Alphonso-Dalhouse shot was handled on the line and he stepped up to slot home the resulting spot kick.

Seconds later the score was 3-0 when recent new signing, James Falaise flicked a free kick into the six yard box allowing skipper Chris Hill to find the back of the net from close range.

Parnham admitted he rallied his troops during the break, but surely even the Dagenham based thirty-nine year old wasn't expecting his side to score another nine goals in the second half.

It took Bromley ten minutes to increase their lead when good passing by Bromley set up Alphonso-Dalhouse to score his second goal.

The score was 5-0 on the hour mark when Falaise's cross-cum-shot from outside the penalty area floated into the back of the West Wickham net.

Bromley scored their sixth goal after 68 minutes when Chris Hill's diving bullet header gave the shell-shocked West Wickham goalkeeper no chance.

West Wickham salvaged some pride with eighteen minutes left of this one-sided affair when Bromley goalkeeper Dean Cairns was beaten from close range but Bromley got through this set-back and went on to score a further six goals in the final fifteen minutes.

Alphonso-Dalhouse latched onto a long through ball before slotting past a dejected goalkeeper to score his hat-trick before substitute Ugar Ozdemir came on and scored a hat-trick himself  in the final fifteen minutes.

His first came with a bit of help from the goalkeeper as his drive went under the goalkeepers body before Alphonso-Dalhouse added his fourth and Bromley's ninth in the 80th minute.  He received a great ball from substitute Tobi MacKinde and lifted the ball over the goalkeeper.

Facing a one-on-one with the goalkeeper with eight minutes remaining, Alphonso-Dalhouse slotted home Bromley's tenth before Ozdemir completed the rout with two goals in the final five minutes.

Sibley's pass allowed the Turk to cut inside before easily finding the net before he received a Ricky Hill pass and his initial shot was saved by the goalkeeper was beaten from the rebound.

Bromley's under eighteen's side highest victory before this one was 7-2 against Tonbridge Angels, and Parnham praised his players for gaining their second league win of the season in their ninth league game.

Parnham said: "For quite a while now, I have been saying we haven't been taking our chances, and finally we have  taken our chances that have come to us.

"In the first half we didn't play too well, even though we went into the break at 3-0, but a few words at half-time, a little bit of encouragement to get the ball down and play, was taken on board by the players.  As we progressed through the game the confidence grew, everything was played on the ground and we basically played around them.

"When we did get into the final third of the pitch, the chances we did create, were turned into goals."

Bromley have turned the corner after last Sunday's goal-less draw at Erith & Belvedere, a game they created, but missed, several chances.

They started the league season with a 5-3 loss at Danson Furness but picked up their first point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Tonbridge Angels.   After losing 2-1 at Cray Valley in their third game, a second 1-1 draw of the season followed at home to Dulwich Hamlet.  Bromley's first victory came at VCD Athletic, currently bottom of the table,  5-3 before Bromley hit a barren spell, losing 5-1 at home to Tonbridge Angels and 4-1 at home to Cray Valley.

Parnham added: "I told the players, for the last four to six weeks we haven't played too badly, but as I've said before, if you don't take our chances you get punished.

"But today, we took all our chances and this is that this team can produce when they want to."

Several new signings have lifted Parnham's side.  Midfielder, Edwin Mante has recently been drafted into the first team squad, which has boosted the talented, midfielder who regularly represents his county, Kent.

New signing from Essex side Euro Dagenham FC, Ricky Hill was praised by Parnham.

The manager said: "He played out of position on the left hand side of midfield, and did very well for us today, in his first full start. Michael Sibley, playing at right back, produced a display like first team defender Colin Luckett produced at Hampton & Richmond Borough last week, which was playing balls down the line into the channel or a sixty yard diagonal ball to the left hand side of the park.

"Skipper Chris Hill went about his business as normal and pushed the team on whenever they got a bit lazy or sloppy" added Parnham.

Next Sunday Bromley travel to fourth placed side Fisher Athletic.  "Difficult game, but if we play to our potential like we have in the last four to five weeks, then we are a match for anybody!" insisted Parnham.

Bromley: Dean Cairns, Peter Wilcox, James Falaise, Jamie Leggett (Tobi MacKinde), Peter Wilcox, Jack Hicks (Sul Meer), Ricky Hill, Chris Hill (Capt), Edwin Mante, Andrew Alphonso-Dalhouse, Alan Owens (Ugar Ozdemir).  Subs: Kunle Lanal, Joe Bell

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