bromvcor130304

Thursday 01st September 2005

Bromley bounce back with comfortable victory

McIntyre's men jump into eighth and close in on coveted top six

Bromley 3-0 Corinthian Casuals

Saturday 13 March 2004

Ryman League Division One South

by Stephen McCartney

Bromley manager Stuart McIntyre was a happy man after his side comfortably beat second from bottom Corinthian Casuals 3-0 at The Clive Christian Stadium in Hayes Lane.

After suffering two back to back defeats last week (4-3 at Tooting & Mitcham and 3-1 at Staines Town) for the first time since September, two goals inside second half injury time keeps Bromley only two points of a coveted top six finish.

Their fifth double of season has seen the Hayes Lane outfit chalk up 60 points and have moved up to eighth place in the table. With nine important games to go, McIntyre is a firm believer his side will have enough points at the end of the season for "promotion".

Bromley travel to second in the table, Lewes on Tuesday and Bromley are confident they can pile more misery on the Sussex side. The Dripping Pan outfit lost their unbeaten home record on Saturday, going down 2-1 to Windsor & Eton as the Berkshire side moved back in top spot.

Next Saturday, Bromley will be looking for another victory at struggling Egham Town before they leave the pressures of league football on Tuesday 23rd March, when they face Dr Martens League Eastern Division side Folkestone Invicta in the John Ullman Kent Senior Cup Semi-Final at Hayes Lane (7.45pm).

Bromley were without central defender Dean Forbes who has been ill since last Tuesday, but McIntyre revealed: "Dean Forbes has been in bed since last Tuesday, but he will be back in training in the next couple of days. I don't think he will be away with work commitments again before the end of the season and he will come into the squad, but if the back four continue to play as they did today, then they will be difficult to shift."

Bromley made five changes to the team that lost 3-1 at Staines Town last Tuesday and on a very poor playing surface, not helped by a heavy downpour early in the game, their first chance fell to Frenchman Landry Zahana-Oni whose left footed shot flashed wide from 28 yards after only 76 seconds.

Goalkeeper Glen Knight would have been pleased with keeping his clean sheet after shipping seven goals in his opening two games for Bromley. The loanee from Nationwide Conference side Dagenham & Redbridge got his body fully behind the ball from Jamie Goodwin's fourth minute cross.

It was, Goodwin, however, who almost, and should have broken the deadlock after nine minutes. The Corinthian Casuals striker, who made three appearances for Bromley earlier in the season before his return to Tolworth, broke through on goal and with only Knight to beat he shot wide of the foot of the right post.

Referee Steve Chittenden must have felt the goalkeeper got a slight touch to the low shot as he awarded a corner kick. From the resulting flag kick, taken by John Eldred, Jamie Keith's header was hacked clear off the right post by South African Steve Potterill.

Michael Harney's superb thirteenth minute corner was headed on by Kevin George and Adolph Amoako's effort clipped the near post from two yards.

Seconds later, John Wilfort almost scored from another Harney corner but his header went over the crossbar at the far post finding the wrong side of the roof of the net.

Bobby George was found guilty of a miss after twenty minutes when Harney's ball over the left channel cut out Keith and the Bromley striker, in a rich vein of form at present, only had goalkeeper Gareth Williams to beat but he lost his composure outside the penalty area and his shot drifted nearer the corner flag than the goal.

Bobby's brother, Kevin, headed wide of the post following another Harney corner kick before Bobby George got the better of Keith down the left channel, and once again lost composure inside the penalty box. Instead of cutting the ball back for Amoako, he went for goal himself, crashing a shot into the side netting.

Harney's corner was palmed away by Williams and the ball fell to Potterill and his 22 yard shot cleared the crossbar.

With five minutes before the break, Bromley skipper John Myatt was brought down by Simon Shergold who stretched for the ball.

Zahana-Oni's left footed free kick from 23 yards took a deflection of one of the five man wall and as Williams dived to his left he was pleased to see the ball fly narrowly wide of the left upright.

Harney's corner was headed out and Wilfort's volley flew over the bar as both sides went in at the break 0-0.

The visiting side proved they weren't at Hayes Lane to make up the numbers and Tony Blunt shot over from distance before Goodwin got the better of Potterill but his high shot was saved by Knight who saved above his head.

Bromley were awarded a 57th minute penalty when Kevin George was brought down by bruiser Winston Kentebe and Chittenden pointed to the penalty spot to the delight of the Hayes Lane faithful and brandished a yellow card to the visiting right back.

Cool as you like, Amoako slotted the penalty low to the left to score his 21st goal of the season, and needs only four more to reach his own personal target of twenty-five goals this season.

With a one goal advantage, Bromley took hold of the game and Amoako's overhead kick, when he could have done more damage with a header, flew wide following Potterill's cross down the right wing.

Amoako warmed Williams' gloves in the 65th minute from a shot from 18 yards, the goalkeeper, 12 yards from his goalline, reacted well, getting down low to his left to make a smart save.

Gary Drewett drifted a shot from the left hand side of the penalty area over the crossbar before Bromley came close to doubling their lead after 79 minutes.

Myatt clipped the ball to Drewett on the right and his run took him to the right by-line. The long haired midfielder delivered a superb cross but substitute Paul Vines hit the left post from close range.

But Bromley wrapped up the crucial victory with two goals inside injury time.

The first goal came exactly 60 seconds after the allotted 90 minutes. Vines got the better of Shergold before running into the penalty area before he stroked the ball with a left footed shot into the bottom left hand corner from 12 yards.

The third goal, two minutes and eight seconds later was just pure class.

Kevin George got the better of Gavin Cartwright down the right by-line, cut inside, before firing a shot low and hard into the back of the net.

Speaking after the game, Bromley manager Stuart McIntyre said: "I think the lads are confident playing Lewes on Tuesday, we took our time getting to the three goals but I thought we had quite good control of the game throughout despite difficult underfoot conditions and strong wind and rain at times, which were very similar to conditions at Tooting & Mitcham last Saturday, but we dealt with it a lot better today.

"To be honest if we had taken our chances we could probably have won the game quite more comfortably.

"We took our three goals well, and what was very pleasing was we probably had another six or seven clear cut chances so that is pleasing although disappointing to see so many misses and good chances missed."

Bromley: Glen Knight, Steve Potterill, Michael Harney, John Wilfort, Mark Willy, Kevin George, Gary Drewett, John Myatt (Capt), Bobby George (Paul Vines 68), Adolph Amoako, Landry Zahana-Oni. Subs: Colin Luckett, Wade Falana, Danny Smith, Danny Harwood

Corinthian Casuals: Gareth Williams, Winston Kentebe, Nick Brown (Jamie White 75), Jamie Keith, Tony Blunt (Jason Clarke 75), Andy Gibbons, Simon Shergold, Gavin Cartwright, John Eldred, Justin Georgiou, Jamie Goodwin. Sub: Iain Waghorn

Attendance: 225

Referee: S Chittenden

Assistants: M Glading & C Phillips