Bromley 2-2 Millwall - We got what we deserved, says Bromley boss Mark Goldberg

Bromley 2 – 2 Millwall
Location	Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF
Kickoff	14/07/2015 19:45

BROMLEY  2-2  MILLWALL
Pre-Season Friendly
Tuesday 14^th July 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

BROMLEY manager Mark Goldberg says he’s feeling excited ahead of the club’s debut Vanarama National League campaign.

The Vanarama Conference South champions kicked-off their pre-season campaign with a 4-0 win at Southern Counties East Football League neighbours Sevenoaks Town at the weekend.

The visit of their relegated League One neighbours Millwall attracted an official crowd of 3,144 to Hayes Lane tonight, which will boost coffers ahead of their mouth-watering home league clash against Wrexham on 8 August.

Goldberg’s side, who now train three mornings per week, stunned the Lions by taking an early lead through striker Moses Ademola, who was then forced off the pitch through injury, to be swiftly replaced by winger Anthony Cook.

Bromley made seven changes at the break, while Millwall boss Neil Harris made only three.

Millwall were gifted a penalty, which was tucked home by former Gillingham striker John Marquis inside the opening five minutes of the second half.

Ben Thompson poked home to hand Millwall the advantage, before Bromley ensured local bragging rights were shared when Millwall central defender Tony Craig scored a freak own goal at the death.

“I thought the first half especially, we was really pleased with how we matched Millwall all the way,” said the man that guided Bromley to their first league title for 54 years on 18 April 2015.

“It was a great goal that we scored with a set-back and through and unfortunately when Moses (Ademola) went off we lost a little bit of that pace in behind and the game went a little bit flat.

“But defensively, the defensive shape was excellent and really prevented Millwall from troubling us in the first half, although they had one very good goalscoring opportunity and Rob Swaine put his body in the way and they blasted it over.

“Second half, we started a little bit sluggish and I thought us bringing on a whole fresh team in the second half was a disadvantage to us where as they kept their team that had already been playing and got a feel of the game.

“Bearing in mind my players’ had come on had already done a work out up on the Astroturf for half-an-hour before they came on!

“All-in-all, I was really pleased with how we competed and I thought even though they scored two goals, two goals that I thought were pretty soft!

“The penalty, I’m not sure whether it was a penalty and the second goal was a very feeble goal to give away but our heads went down for some reason. It was as if we didn’t believe we couldn’t get back in but we did and even though the goal that we scored was very scrappy, in the end, I thought we got what we deserved.”

Bromley opened the scoring with the first chance of the game with 10 minutes and 17 seconds on the clock through Ademola, who claimed the Golden Boot at Hayes Lane with 16 goals last season.

Adam Birchall, who started the game on the right hand side of a four man midfield, cut the ball back to Paul Rogers – one of three central defenders.

Rogers clipped the ball up field and Ademola used his pace to latch onto poor defending from Mark Beevers to sweep his right-footed shot into the near corner past Jordan Archer from 12-yards.

“Good finish. A great set-back and through, which is what we work on and it was what we like to think was from the training ground.

“There’s no doubt training three days a week is wonderful for us and hopefully it will start paying dividends.”

But Goldberg was concerned when Ademola lasted only fifteen minutes.

He revealed: “He trapped a nerve, I think, so he had spasms all the way up his back, but hopefully it’s a temporary thing!”

Beevers picked up a loose ball and was looking to make amends but his left-footed drive from 30-yards flashed wide of the Bromley goal.

Bromley keeper Alan Julian made the first of two good saves to frustrate Millwall in the 21^st minute.

Shaun Williams played a fine diagonal pass out of defence and right-winger Fred Onyedinma took the ball in his stride and his chip forced Julian to claw the ball away high to his right from the corner of the six-yard box.

Marquis produced a glaring miss when he blasted the loose ball over the bar from six-yards out.

Millwall started to dominate proceedings and Williams floated in a cross from the right but Beevers’ downward header brought a comfortable save from the Bromley keeper.

Julian, who got through 84 minutes, kept the Ravens in the game when he made his second fine save of the night after 26 minutes.

Millwall left-back Joe Martin whipped in a deep cross from the left which found Ed Upson and his flicked shot was heading towards the top far corner, but Julian clawed the ball away towards safety, high to his left.

Goldberg said: “Yes, he did, he pulled off two very good saves, but if you really think about it, two saves in the first half and they had two shots in the second half. I think we contained them as well as we could have done!

“I think the most important thing was how we competed. We’re playing against League One opposition and we handled ourselves very well, all-in-all.”

Millwall continued to press and after Bromley skipper Rob Swaine made a penalty box tackle to deny Thompson, Martin floated over a cross but Onyedinma was off-target with his glancing header.

Millwall failed to test Julian again for the remainder of the first half.

Williams’ free-kick found Thompson on the edge of the Bromley box, but his scuffed shot was blocked and the ball came out to Upson, who hit a first time shot wide from 25-yards.

Williams’ corner from the right came out to pacy Onyedinma, but Julian looked over his right shoulder to see his shot from the edge of the box loop over his crossbar on the stroke of half-time.

Goldberg explained: “It’s about to happen when you make so many changes but all in all considering we handled ourselves very well."

Bradley Goldberg linked up well with fellow striker Alex Wall after only 69 seconds but Wall failed to trouble Archer with his only shot of the second half.

But Millwall were gifted an equaliser when Aiden O’Brien went too ground too easily following a nudge from Swaine inside the penalty box.

Referee Constantine Hatzidakis pointed to the spot and Marquis kept his cool to send Julian the wrong way, rolling his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner to bring the League One side back on terms.

Goldberg added: “From what I saw, it was feeble but the ref gave it, so what can I say?”

Bromley were denied the lead when Max Porter’s free-kick from the right was knocked down across goal by Bradley Goldberg and Pierre Joseph-Dubois stabbed his shot across Archer, agonisingly hitting the far post.

“That’s little margins in football.  We could have gone 2-1 up very quickly couldn’t we?” came Goldberg’s response.

But Millwall took the lead for the first time on a wet night after 56 minutes.

Shaun Cummings released Onyedinma down the right and he cut inside left-back Joe Anderson to reach the penalty area along the by-line.  His initial shot struck Julian’s legs at the near post and the ball bounced off Thompson to roll into the bottom right-hand corner from two-yards.

Goldberg added: “They pounced on it quicker than what we did so really we’ve got to be sharp getting the ball away, but there you go!”

Millwall manager Harris decided to ring the changes and brought on six new players after 61 minutes and this affected the flow of the game.

Goldberg said: “That’s when we would normally make changes but remember they brought on fresh players and I’m not over edging it, but we had players who already done 45 minutes on the Astroturf so they had fresh players coming on.

“You would think that they would step it up, but in a way I still believed we handled ourselves quite well.”

Bromley winger Cook shrugged off the attentions of Millwall right-back substitute Mahlon Romeo to put over a cross from the left by-line but Bradley Goldberg glanced his effort past the far post.

A short free-kick from Porter was drilled towards the bottom near corner by Cook, which was easily gobbled up by substitute Millwall keeper Tom King at his near post.

But as the home faithful were coming to terms with a home defeat, Bromley received a huge slice of luck to claim a deserved draw with 43:28 on the second half clock.

Bromley right-back Ugo Udoji whipped in a cross towards the edge of the Millwall penalty area where Lions’ central defender Tony Craig sliced his clearance over his right shoulder and the ball looped over the struggling King into the far corner of the net.

Goldberg said: “That’s what I mean when you put in early crosses – it catches the opposition off guard!

“We ask him to do that and it came off and I thought we deserved it!

“It was scrappy but my only complaint of my players was that we didn’t look like we believed when we was 2-1 down that we were still going to come back – but I did – and fortunately it came.”

Holding Millwall to a draw means a lot to the Bromley faithful – especially when a crowd of 3,144 watched the local derby.

Those kind of crowds on a regular will ensure the Kent club will be challenging for midtable safety in the National League this season.

Goldberg said: “I think it means a lot to the players’. It means nothing in real terms but it means a lot on the night because as football people we want to come away with what we deserved.

“I think we’ve shown enough for the fans to be excited, don’t you?

“We want to show that we can compete at that level this year. I want to learn the level, that’s all.”

When asked about his new players’ tonight, Goldberg replied: “All-in-all, they’re doing very well. I think there’s still a lot to learn about my players. There’s a bit of fitness that we still need to bring in and there’s a bit of advice on positioning but all-in-all I’m really pleased.

“We will need one or two new players because already we’ve got injuries, like niggling injuries and we haven’t quite got a big enough squad but I need to sit down with the chairman (Jerry Dolke) and sort that out.

“I’ve got two players in mind (that didn’t play tonight) and I’m hoping that I can tie them up this week.

“Aaron Tunwa (left-back, first half) did very well. I was very pleased with him. I’m sure I’m going to be giving him an opportunity, but we’ve got another couple more weeks to make sure.”

Bromley: Alan Julian (Dean Kardigiodis 84), Paul Rogers (Ugo Udoji 46), Aaron Tumwa (Joe Anderson 46), Ali Fuseini (Lee Minshull 46), Rob Swaine (Mark Hammond 84), Jack Holland, Adam Birchall (Bradley Goldberg 46), Reece Prestedge (Max Porter 46), Ben May (Alex Wall 46), Moses Ademola (Anthony Cook 15), Louis Dennis (Pierre Joseph-Dubois 46).

Goals: Moses Ademola 11, Tony Craig 89 (own goal)

Millwall: Jordan Archer (Tom King 61), Shaun Cummings (Mahlon Romeo 61), Joe Martin (Noah Chesmain 61), Shaun Williams (Jimmy Abdou 46), Sid Nelson (Byron Webster 46), Mark Beevers (Tony Craig 46), Ben Thompson, Ed Upson (Kyron Farrell 61), John Marquis (Alfie Pavey 61), Aiden O’Brien (Kris Twardek 61), Fred Onyedinma (Henrik Breimyr 69).

Goals: John Marquis 50 (penalty), Ben Thompson 56

Booked: Ed Upson 43

Attendance: 3,144
Referee: Mr Constantine Hatzidakis (Bromley)
Assistants: Mr Valentine Anekwe (Bromley) & Mr Oliver Fyfe (Orpington)
Fourth Official: Mr Ronald Albert (Catford, London SE6)