Kentish Football 
Bromley 7-1 Tonbridge Angels - I'd like a first team squad of ex Academy players, says Steve Baker
BROMLEY 7-1 TONBRIDGE ANGELS
Conference Youth Alliance East Sussex/Kent Division
Wednesday 27th November 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane
BROMLEY manager Steve Baker says he would like nothing more than to see a number of home grown players in the club’s first team squad.
Bromley’s second-year Academy side proved too strong for Tonbridge Angels’ first-years as they recorded their highest win of the season.
Bromley raced into a 4-0 lead at the break, courtesy of two goals from winger Abbas Oduncu and striker Rymel Samms and central defender Chidi-James Williams-Agunabor also got on the score sheet for clinical Bromley.
Bromley’s fifth-goal arrived only 33 seconds into the second half when winger Matteo Badchkam scored.
Tonbridge Angels pulled a goal back through target-man Julius Lloyd, before Bromley wrapped up the game through Samms’ second and skipper Thomas O’Connor.
The Ravens climbed up three places into fourth-place in the Conference Youth Alliance East Sussex/Kent Division with 8 points from 5 games, four points behind leaders Dartford.
Tonbridge Angels slumped one place into the bottom two and have lost all of their five games this season (four in the league).
Tonbridge Angels arrived at Hayes Lane 25 minutes before the scheduled kick-off but it became noticeable that both teams were going to play in an all-blue strip, so Bromley changed into red shirts and red shorts so the game could go ahead following a seventeen minute delay.
“Really good squad performance,” hailed Baker following the convincing win.
“We’ve been working a lot on our shape out of possession earlier in this week. That was really, really good today. I thought we competed really well and we were a lot more punchy and dynamic in attack and we took our chances really, really well.”
Tonbridge Angels’ manager John Gibbons added: “I didn’t think the score was reflective of the overall game really, although Bromley are a good side. They’re a very strong outfit up here.
“Our lads’ battled very hard. We don’t have the strength in depth that Bromley have got but we made silly mistakes and that cost us I’m afraid.
“But certainly from a good number of the players,’ I was delighted with their attitude and the fact that they battled all the way through the whole game.
“Bromley were very quick and they used that pace very well. We work in training on trying to deal against pace but it is a very difficult thing to deal with.
“Our goalkeeper, James Steele, is a good goalkeeper and there’s a couple of errors that he wouldn’t usually made in a game when he’s left one-on-one but he’ll improve from that. He’s a strong lad and he will come back again and bounce back I’m sure.”
Tonbridge Angels could have changed the final outcome had they opened the scoring inside the opening two minutes.
Set-piece specialist Joshua Cellar swung in a free-kick from the left which was punched away by Bromley keeper Ryan Knowles and Tonbridge Angels’ midfielder Ryan Watson clipped his right-footed volley agonisingly wide of the right-hand post from sixteen-yards.
But most of Bromley’s goals came from direct play as Tonbridge Angels’ sorry back four were punished.
Josh Monro and David Smith (wearing shirt numbers 9 and 11 respectively) didn’t enjoy a happy afternoon as they were outdone by Bromley’s pacey attackers.
Derrick Akpofure’s defence splitting pass was latched onto by Oduncu, who shrugged off the attentions of Ben Holder before stroking his right-footed shot into the near corner from eight-yards to give Bromley the lead within five minutes.
“Really good goal,” was how Baker described the opener.
“Abbas has done really well this year. He’s a good player. He can play in a number of positions. He timed his run, got in behind, cut back inside and finished it really well. It’s good for him to get two goals today. It was a good attacking performance all round.”
Gibbons didn’t want to go through all seven goals that his side conceded but he said: “We were saying apart from the one we thought was offside, but that’s it – you live and die by the referee and linesman’s decisions.
“The other three goals in the first half were all from our own errors of giving away the ball cheaply and of course when we’re going forward with the ball and all off a sudden lose possession everybody’s on the wrong foot to defend it properly.
“They were cheap goals really in the first half and even sadder than that is in the second half when we’ve said at half-time what we needed to do. How we needed to make sure we win the second half, was actually conceding in about the second minute of the second half, 33 seconds was it? Too soon!”
Tonbridge Angels’ tall striker Lloyd curled a right-footed shot across goal and wide of the far post, before Bromley doubled their lead inside ten minutes.
O’Connor released Samms through the middle and the striker slammed his right-footed drive into the near corner, aided by goalkeeper James Steele going to ground to his right before the powerful shot flew past him.
Baker was delighted with his side’s two early goals.
He said: “I was really pleased with the finishes as well today. They were clinical and they were more dynamic. We’ve been talking about being a bit more clinical and we knew it was important today to start quickly and strong. We knew they’d be competitive and up for a physical challenge.”
Poor defending from Ryan Watson gifted possession to O’Connor, who took the ball on before stroking his left-footed angled drive flashing past the far post on the angle from 22-yards.
Bromley scored their third goal in the 27th minute, which ultimately killed a poor Tonbridge Angels side off.
Central midfielder Reece Gallagher released Badchkam down the right who cut into the penalty area, skipped past the advancing goalkeeper before sliding the ball across goal for Oduncu to tap into the empty net from six-yards.
Baker said: “Again, just managed to get in behind them, which we just felt was an area where we could have had some joy. It was a nice little pull back and Abbas is in the right position to come inside.”
Shell-shocked Tonbridge Angels went close with a right-footed free-kick from Cellar from 35-yards, which sailed over the Bromley wall and dipped just over Knowles’ crossbar.
But Bromley went into the home dressing room with a clinical 4-0 lead, courtesy of a slice of luck in the 42nd minute.
Left-back Harry Bugden swung in a left-footed free-kick from the right channel and keeper Steele came for the ball and missed it completely and Williams-Agunabor rose and the ball bounced off his back and dropped into the empty net.
“I think CJ will say he headed it in!,” claimed Baker.
“I think you’re right (it came off his back), yes, but again it’s nice to see us competing in there. If you compete and challenge then it can drop for you. CJ is pleased to be on the scoresheet.”
Yet another defence splitting pass, this time from Gallagher, saw striker Samms beat the offside trap who burst towards the right by-line before cutting the ball back to O’Connor who burst into the penalty area to volley wide of the right-hand post.
Steele was then spoken to by referee Freddie Collins for swearing at assistant Derek Peck, but full credit for the keeper as he was seen to apologise to the Bexleyheath official before entering the field following the half-time break.
Both managers were asked their thoughts at half-time.
Baker said: “At half-time we said it was really, really important that we didn’t drop the standards. We kept the performance going. Out of possession we kept our shape. We worked hard and we didn’t rest on the performance. We made sure we kicked it on. We kept it at the same level and raised it some and saw the game out of sight.”
Gibbons added: “To get the lads to win the second half really. That’s what we were trying to do. We’re very delighted with their effort. We wanted them to come off and feel that they’ve given everything rather than come off and feel hard done by.
“I’d say by and large we achieved that so our line is we will always try to take the positives out of the game and the positives out of today was the battling spirit and the way that we closed Bromley down and didn’t allow them too much time on the ball. They hit us on breaks so it was another step really. As long as these lads continue to improve then we’re doing our job.”
Bromley kicked-off after a false start and it took only 33 seconds before they were five goals ahead.
Gallagher’s slid the ball through to release Badchkam through on goal, who kept his composure and drilled a left-footed shot sailing through the diving keeper’s fingers to find the far corner.
“Really pleased with Matty because in training we’ve been talking about those sweeping runs from wider areas getting into those central areas and we revisited that at half-time and straight away he’s done it.
“I thought it was a really good finish as well, a very good finish with his left peg.”
It was almost six when Bugden swung in a left-footed free-kick from 30-yards, which forced Steele to dive to use his outstretched left hand to push the ball over the bar.
Gallagher drove a left-footed shot screaming wide of the right-hand post after the ball came out to the Bromley midfielder from O’Connor’s corner from the right.
And a corner from Badchkam was cleared by the Tonbridge defence and Billy Carter came up from the back to hook a looping shot just over the crossbar.
Tonbridge Angels rallied for a while and they scored a consolation with nineteen minutes left as Lloyd joined skipper Smith on one goal for the season.
Cellar was given time and space to whip in a cross from the right and the unmarked Lloyd planted his header across Knowles and into the top far corner from sixteen-yards.
Gibbons said: “I’d rather go through the goal we scored!
“We keep saying to Julius he’s probably the best header of a ball from a cross that we see in this league and I think he’s demonstrated that this afternoon. He’s absolutely planted a header in from a good quality cross from Joshua Cellar.
“That’s what we try to work on so it’s not about taking the positives from that and getting them doing it in training more regularly to see if we can build.”
Baker was disappointed that his side didn’t keep their second clean sheet of the season.
He said: “We’ve just had a chat about that actually. To be fair to Tonbridge I thought that was a good goal, a well worked goal. A good cross and a very good header. I don’t think my keeper had any chance!
“We always look and see if we can prevent goals. Could we have stopped the cross? Could we had bolted on to that shirt a little bit quicker? At least competed and maybe made that header go somewhere else? But we’ll always look at it and see if we can prevent it for next time around.”
Bromley scored their sixth-goal in the 77th minute when Samms’ brace took him to five goals for the season.
Bromley were awarded a free-kick just outside the corner of the penalty area and O’Connor whipped in a right-footed free-kick towards the near post and Samms’ back header sailed across Steele into the far corner.
“Again, similar to sort of CJ’s goal,” said Baker. “A decent delivery from Tom, dropping it in at the near post. Rymel’s aerial performance today was really good, both in attack and helping out defending from set-pieces so nice for Rymel to score with his head!”
Numerous chances were created during an open final ten minutes.
Badchkam was released down the right and reached the by-line before finding Samms inside the six-yard box, but his downward header was brilliantly pushed over the bar by Steele.
Tonbridge skipper Smith came up from the back to glance his header harmlessly wide of the far post from eighteen-yards after Cellar delivered another cross from the right.
The Angels continued to press and Daniel Harris rode a challenge before cutting in from the left and flashing his right-footed drive wide of the near post from 22-yards.
A rare mistake from Bromley defender Williams-Agunabor gifted a chance to Lloyd, who skipped past goalkeeper Knowles, turned but sent his left-footed shot wide of the left-hand post when he really should have scored his second of the game.
Bromley substitute Tobi Ankinola appeared to be yards offside when he latched onto another through ball through the heart of the Tonbridge defence but his swept shot was saved comfortably at the near post.
Bromley were opening up Tonbridge’s defence at will and a ball through substitute Baris Bozvigit released Badchkam through on goal, who dinked the ball wide of the near post from a tight angle.
But Bromley’s completed the rout with the seventh goal, 31 seconds into time added on when O’Connor was released down the right and he slotted home his right-footed drive inside the near post.
“I was pleased for Tom because I thought Tom had a really, really good game,” said Baker.
“His first touch was excellent. I think his performance and contribution deserved a goal. I was pleased with the way he professionally tucked that away once he got through. He’s doing really, really well Tom and I’m pleased he got that goal that his performance deserved.”
When asked what pleased him the most, Baker replied: “What pleased me today? The whole performance of the squad. I felt it was a squad effort. I thought the guys that came on all contributed something into the performance.”
At first-team level, Bromley are at the top of Conference South and Tonbridge Angels are in sixteenth-place and such a one-sided scoreline was unexpected.
“Academies do not always mirror the first team’s status,” explained Baker.
“Tonbridge are always well-organised, they’re always competitive. We’ve played them a number of season’s now and I’d like to think Tonbridge competed well. I’d like to think our performance and how clinical we were around the goal was maybe the difference but they’re always a good side.”
Gibbons added: “Bromley are a really good side. This division was Premier and local divisions last year. This year they’ve stopped that. Bromley are a Premier outfit last year and the gulf in class is a hard thing to deal with in our early formation.
“Results are important everywhere in football. We don’t go out to win games at all costs. We will try to play football the right way. For us it’s about improvement and development.
“Against Carshalton the other week we played really well and I counted up there were nine out of eleven home grown players on the pitch playing for the reserves so it’s about the big scheme of things rather than the individual teams.”
When asked about the gulf in class between today’s teams, the Tonbridge Angels boss explained: “If we put out our strongest eleven in our academy out, we’ve got boys over nineteen who wouldn’t qualify for this league but we would be very competitive indeed so if you take the thing as a whole the boys we played here are nearly all first years in a three year programme and I know some of those Bromley players are nearer the end of that scale.”
When asked whether any players can break through into Bromley’s first-team squad, Baker replied: “Over the last couple of years we’ve had quite a few players break in especially in and around some of the Cup fixtures. Some of the young players are getting opportunities and when they get in there they’re not looking out of place.
“Myself, I’d like nothing more in a few years’ time to look out and see a number of the first team squad being ex-Academy players, a generation of players. It’s certainly looking good.”
Bromley: Ryan Knowles, Aaron Hibbert, Harry Bugden, Reece Gallagher (Baris Bozvigit 72), Billy Carter, Chidi-James Williams-Agunabor, Matteo Badchkam, Derrick Akpofure, Rymel Samms (Tobi Akinola 83), Thomas O’Connor, Abbas Oduncu (Ben Hayes 66).
Subs: George Baldwin, Connor McGrady
Goals: Abbas Oduncu 5, 27, Rymel Samms 10, 77, Chidi-James Williams-Agunabor 42, Matteo Badchkam 46, Thomas O’Connor 90
Tonbridge Angels: James Steele, Joshua Cellar, Harley Dalby, Daniel Harris (Harry Walters 90), Ben Holder, Jordan Jeffrey (Dylan Milner 73), Tyler Lawrence-Gabriel, Julius Lloyd, Josh Monro, Ryan Watson, David Smith.
Sub: Paulo Marcelino
Goal: Julius Lloyd 71
Attendance: 23
Referee: Mr Freddie Collins (Beckenham)
Assistants: Mr Robert Williams (Beckenham) & Mr Derek Peck (Bexleyheath)
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