Bromley 1-2 Dartford - We have to win all three to stay up, says Bromley coach Neil Smith

BROMLEY  1-2  DARTFORD
Blue Square Bet South
Easter Monday 9 April 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

BROMLEY coach Neil Smith says his side must win their last three games if the club are to retain their Blue Square Bet (Conference) South status at the end of the month.

The Ravens suffered a blow in their bid to beat the drop as second-placed Dartford came away from a wet Hayes Lane with the three points.

Striker Danny Harris capitalised on a defensive slip to fire Dartford into a 22^nd minute to score his 18^th goal of the season, before central defender Luke Wilkinson came up from the back to power home a header just four minutes later.

Bromley pulled a goal back with thirteen minutes remaining when substitute Michael Malcolm scored with a 30-yard free-kick, but their seventeenth league defeat leaves the club languishing just one point above the relegation zone in eighteenth place, but Mark Goldberg’s side are in dire straights as Hampton & Richmond Borough and Havant & Waterlooville, who sit below them, have two games in hand.

Bromley MUST WIN away to Truro City next Saturday, at home to already relegated Thurrock and away to Dorchester Town on the final day of the season if they are to avoid the club’s fourth relegation in their history.

Dartford’s first win over Bromley at Hayes Lane for 37 years, keeps them in second place in the table, but they remain seven points adrift of Woking, who came back from going a goal down (to Frannie Collin’s 30^th goal of the season) to beat Tonbridge Angels 2-1 at Kingfield Stadium.

Smith, 40, who was the first to emerge from the Bromley dressing room, said: “The positives was the second half. We’re a bit disappointed with the two goals that we gave away.  We could’ve defended better for them both, but then to be fair to the boys they showed a lot of spirit, a lot of guile and gave it everything they did to get back into it.

“The keeper pulled off a couple of saves, we had a couple cleared off the line.  Obviously Danny Waldren hit the post as well.  The positives were that.

“The negatives are we’ve come away with nothing.  We’re still in it (relegation trouble) and we go another week and all of a sudden the games are getting more and more important.”

Dartford manager, Tony Burman, was delighted to be coming away with the three points in the bag.

He said: “We’ve got three points, so I’m really pleased.

“The pitch definitely levelled things out a little bit to be fair.  I thought we handled the conditions a lot better than they did.” 

Dartford kept faith with the same eleven players who were held to a goal-less home draw by fifth-placed Chelmsford City a couple of days’ ago, whilst Gareth Williams (who played in behind lone striker Hakeem Araba during a defensive minded first half) came in for Albert Jarrett for the hosts.

When asked why Williams played behind 16-goal Araba, Smith explained, “It wasn’t a case of playing Hak up front on his own.  We were just looking to get Gareth Williams on the ball, just behind the midfield to try to feed AJ (Aaron Rhule) and Pierre.  Obviously, it wasn’t working. We gifted them two goals and then all of a sudden we had to go for it so we brought on the subs.  They showed energy, they showed willing, desire. It just didn’t happen for us.”

Dartford created the game’s first chance, inside the opening seven minutes.

Lee Noble swung in a corner from the right with his right-foot and Tom Champion towered over Liam Harwood (who was playing with a heavy cold) and glanced his header past the far post from eight-yards.

Bromley central midfielder, Ali Fuseini, cracked a speculative right-footed drive from 30-yards, which flashed past the left post, when he was given space in the sixteenth minute.

But Dartford gained advantage halfway through the first half, through an excellent finish from Harris.

Wilkinson pumped the ball over numerous heads and Bromley central defender Moses Swaibu inexplicably lost his footing on the edge of the pitch and let in Harris, who punished the mistake by driving a low right-footed shot across Joe Welsh to find the bottom far corner.

Burman said: “Great finish!  That’s what he can do and all of a sudden we’ve gone 2-0 up with two chances that went in.  On Saturday they didn’t go in for us, not for the lack of effort. 

“It was a great start and we started off very lively.”

Smith admitted Swaibu was unfortunate to slip over at a crucial moment.

He said: “He slipped over and unfortunately Hak (Araba) slipped over the in the same position in the second half.

“Moses has been great since he’s been here. He’s a leader.  He’s desperate for us to do well.  You can’t blame him. He had studs on, it’s not like he had the wrong footwear on.  Unfortunately we got punished.”

Dartford doubled their lead just 244 seconds, as Bromley failed to defend a set-piece.

Lee Noble swung an excellent free-kick into the penalty area and Wilkinson was left unmarked to power home his header past Welch.

Burman said: “He’s done well for us. He wants to attack the ball in the opponents’ box.  He’s got four goals for us because he’s willing to go in where it hurts.”

Smith, meanwhile, bemoaned the poor defending, adding, “Unmarked – so that’s why we’re disappointed because people had jobs to do, they didn’t’ do them properly.

“You can’t give someone like that a free header in the box.  They had a few other chances that they didn’t convert. 

“We’re very disappointed with the goals we conceded, but the boys never gave up!”

The jubilant Dartford faithful taunted their hosts, “You’re going down with the Thurrock!” as Wilkinson netted his fourth goal in Dartford colours.

Dartford skipper, Elliot Bradbrook, easily shrugged off Fuseini, before unleashing a left-footed drive from 22-yards, which deflected wide of the far post.

Adam Green swung in the corner from the right and the Bromley defence failed to pick up Wilkinson at the far post, but the defender headed straight at Welch.

A poor touch from Bromley midfielder Danny Waldren inside the Dartford half, allowed Green to play an excellent diagonal pass from left-back to release right winger Noble, but he dragged a poor shot wide after cutting inside.

Another defensive slip, this time from Bromley left-back Marlon Patterson, should have been tucked home by Dartford striker Jacob Erskine, but he rolled his shot across Welch and past the far post and the former Bromley striker also saw his header bounce into Welch’s gloves.

Bromley’s first shot on target finally arrived in the 43^rd minute.

Waldren floated a free-kick to the edge of the penalty area and winger Pierre Joseph-Dubois (who slotted in at right-back in the second half) glanced his header into Louis Wells’ gloves.

But Bromley went agonisingly close to clawing themselves back into the game within two minutes of that chance.

Waldren was given time and space to crack a left-footed drive from 35-yards, which screamed past the diving Wells, but the ball bounced off the left-hand post.

Smith said:  “Maybe that was the spark that we needed to try to galvanise something, with his left-foot, he’s so called weaker foot, he’s hit the post.

“The boys’ came in and actually thought “hold on a minute, if we get a goal we’ll give it a go.”

Smith admitted:  “We didn’t start today until the second half.”

When asked what he thought at the interval, Burman said: “We said we felt Bromley had to do a lot better than they did in the first half and we felt they had to get three points.  We felt they had to come at us.  We didn’t think they did for the first 20 minutes because we didn’t finish the game off.”

Goldberg threw on Anthony Thomas and Malcolm at the break and replaced the ineffective Aaron Rhule and right-back Tutu Henriques, but the comeback didn’t materialise early.

Williams made a long run up, only to smash a right-footed free-kick high over the Dartford crossbar inside the opening three minutes of the second half, before Dartford squandered good chances to rub salt into their struggling Kent rivals wounds.

Harris got the better of Joseph-Dubois before his left-footed angled drive forced the highly-rated Welch into making a low save to his right.

Dartford keeper Wells made a catch high above his left shoulder after Waldren curled a right-footed free-kick over the wall and towards the goal just before the hour mark.

Dartford went close when Noble swung in another free-kick into the Bromley penalty area and Bradbrook rose to head down and agonisingly past the far post.

And Bradbrook was denied by an excellent diving save from Welch in the 65^th minute.

Noble and Lee Burns combined down the right, leaving Thomas and Fuseini chasing shadows, and Burns cut the ball back from the right channel and Bradbrook hit a first time shot with his left foot from the edge of the Bromley box, which brought a fine diving save from the keeper, full-stretch to his right.

Dartford almost scored from Noble’s resulting corner from the left, but Welch got quickly down low to his left to prevent Green from scoring with a downward header at the far post.

Burman said: “They should have been dead and buried.  It should’ve been over.  We were by far the better side.  We adapted to the pitch conditions a lot better.  You can’t play passing (football) on that sort of pitch.  You can’t play little triangles.  You have to go forward and you have to have players who pass the ball and players who can knock the ball into good areas and that’s what my team can do.”

Bromley pulled a goal back with thirteen minutes remaining, when a conversation involving Patterson, Fuseini and Malcolm as to who should take the free-kick, turned out to be the right decision.

Malcolm stepped up and stoked a right-footed free-kick from 30-yards around the two-man wall and the ball bounced in front of the diving Welch, but the Dartford keeper couldn’t prevent the ball from sliding underneath his body as the ball bounced into the left-hand corner.

Smith said: “Great free kick!  You’ve had to hit the target to make the keeper work.  It’s gone underneath him and we’ve had other chances to get the result.”

Burman added: “I think it’s bounced in front of Louis.  The pitch was atrocious and it’s just stayed low and gone underneath his body. 

“They’ve dangled the carrot and obviously they had to do something so they’ve threw a few people up and caused us a few problems, but we should’ve finished the game off.”

That goal lifted the gloomy atmosphere around Hayes Lane and Bromley grew in confidence and threw everything at a resilient Dartford defence.

A cushioned header from substitute Albert Jarrett bounced into Williams’ feet, who took a touch and from a tight angle steered a left-footed shot across Wells and the ball was destined to find the far corner, but Dartford defender Tom Bonner was on hand to hack the ball clear.

Malcolm’s corner from the left was met by Fuseini’s towering header, which looped up and was caught by Wells underneath his own crossbar.

But Dartford almost snatched a third goal when substitute Tony Garrod broke away down the left and curled a right-footed shot agonisingly wide of the far post.

Noble was about to pull the trigger after a two-man move but Patterson made a sliding challenge and the ball looped wide of the far post.

But Bromley almost snatched a last-gasp equaliser when Waldren and Joseph-Dubois combined to set up Fuseini, who cracked a right-footed drive from 25-yards, but Wells made a breathtaking diving save high to his left.

Praising his keeper, Burman said: “ He made amends for it but that’s what happens. It was a good save because the ball was going all over the place but we gave Bromley a little bit of incentive to do that by conceding a goal.

“Even after that we should’ve finished the game off but Bromley had to go for it, so we were going to be under pressure because they’re desperate for the three points and they haven’t got them.  I think they’re down there unfortunately, that’s what happens.”

Woking need to win one of their last three games to seal automatic promotion back into the Blue Square Bet (Conference) Premier, leaving Dartford to face play-off drama for the first time.

Burman said: “All we can do is try to finish as high as we can for the play-off positions and if Woking slip up we’ll be behind them. 

“Obviously we’re running out of games now and fair play to them, they’ve been excellent all season and that’s why they’re at the top but I think we’ve given them a run for their money.”

Bromley, meanwhile, cannot afford to slip up in their last three games – if they do then they will face their historic rivals Dulwich Hamlet (currently two points clear at the top of Ryman League Division One South) in the Ryman Premier League next season.

But Smith wants his side to start like the way they finished today’s  game.

He said: “We’ve now got to start games like that now.  We’ve got to take the games to the teams. We can’t just see it out and hopefully we’ll try and get something. We have to attack teams now.

“We have to win all three.  Three wins. We’ve put it to the boys, they seem up for it.  We’ve got to do it.”

Bromley:  Joe Welch, Tutu Henriques (Michael Malcolm 46), Marlon Patterson, Ali Fuseini, Moses Swaibu, Liam Harwood, Pierre Joseph-Dubois, Danny Waldren, Hakeem Araba (Albert Jarrett 73), Gareth Williams, Aaron Rhule (Anthony Thomas 46).
Subs:  Michael Jones, Salifou Ibrahima

Goal:  Michael Malcolm 77

Dartford:  Louis Wells, Lee Burns, Adam Green, Tom Bonner, Luke Wilkinson, Tom Champion, Lee Noble, James Rogers, Jacob Erskine (Tony Garrod 72), Elliot Bradbrook, Danny Harris.
Subs: Ryan Hayes, George Monger, Jay Porter, Richard Graham

Goals:  Danny Harris 22, Luke Wilkinson 26

Attendance: 767
Referee:  Mr Lee Betts (Norwich, Norfolk)
Assistants: Mr James Turner (King’s Lynn, Norfolk) & Mr Paul Burnham (Wymondham, Norfolk)