Dartford 1-2 Bromley - Mastermind Gareth Williams was the difference between us - Mark Goldberg

DARTFORD  1-2  BROMLEY
The FA Cup with Budweiser Fourth Qualifying Round
Saturday 29^th October 2011
Stephen McCartney reports from Princes Park Stadium

BROMLEY boss Mark Goldberg hailed his “magnificent” players after they grabbed a famous victory at their Blue Square Bet South rivals Dartford to book their place in The FA Cup First Round for the third time in five years’.

A game where chances were at a premium, the game was basically settled by the ability to score from the penalty spot.  Hardworking lone target-man, Hakeem Araba gave Bromley a 28^th minute lead from the spot, before Dartford restored parity just three minutes later through striker Jack Pallen.

And when Dartford were awarded a spot-kick in the 56^th minute, this should have given them the chance to go on and win the game, but winger Ryan Hayes drove his left-footed penalty agonisingly past the right-hand post.

Resilient Bromley, however, grabbed the winner with fourteen minutes remaining when man-of-the-match Gareth Williams, who was playing in the hole behind Araba and then substitute Warren McBean, curled home a 25-yard free-kick into the bottom near corner to send around 350 travelling Bromley supporters into raptures and the Hayes Lane club into Sunday’s First Round Draw.

Bromley are the only non-league side from Kent to qualify for the First Round, joining League Two Gillingham in the velvet bag, as Dover Athletic and Ebbsfleet United were knocked out today by Bath City and Redbridge respectively.

“I don’t know who’s in shock, we’re certainly delighted,” said Goldberg afterwards.

“I suppose you expected us not to come here and not get a result but I think there’s great belief in the team and you saw that out there today.

“We’ve got a squad that’s although it’s a relatively young squad we are growing in stature and recently we’ve had some decent results, although against Dover we slipped up in the week, but we came here today knowing how to put it right and in all fairness I think we deserved to get a result here today.

“We had more of the real breaks going forward, we created good possession in the middle of the park by working hard and when Gareth Williams’ got on the ball I thought he was the difference between the two teams.  He masterminded the victory.  He won the penalty, a great free-kick to score for the second.

“We got fortunate that they missed the penalty but we came here so many times and penalty decisions have gone against us, wrongfully we believe.  We haven’t had the rub of the green.  Today, maybe we did but I thought we deserved it.”

Dartford boss Tony Burman, whose side were knocked out by League Two side Port Vale in a replay in the First Round last season, after conceding a late equaliser at Princes Park in the first match, was disappointed that his side suffered the knock-out sucker punch.

He said: “I’m disappointed that we haven’t gone through to the next round.  You want to stay in The FA Cup, it wasn’t to be.

“I thought it was a good Cup tie.  I can’t come off here and say that my players’ haven’t given it a go, they have!

“I think we deserved something out of the game, without any shadow of a doubt, but it wasn’t to be!

“We were saying whoever wanted it the most will get through, but sometimes you can give it your all, if your name’s not on to go in the hat for the next round, it won’t be and I think Bromley’s was on there.”

But Bromley have made it through the hard-way, having defeated three Kent sides in Welling United, Margate and Dartford to be one of the 32 non-league sides hoping for a glamorous tie in two weeks’ time.

The first half was a tight affair, diminutive referee Matthew Buonassisi handed out five yellow cards in an opening twenty minutes that was disappointing for the crowd of 1,567.

Dartford created a chance in the opening ten minutes when Hayes whipped in a cross from the right which was headed down by Danny Harris at the far post of a crowded penalty area and visiting goalkeeper Tommy Forecast made a routine catch.

Bromley’s first chance came ten minutes later when Williams floated in a free-kick and Joe Dolan (who was immense alongside Rob Gillman at the heart of Bromley’s defence) knocked the ball on and the ball fell to Aaron Rhule, who swept a shot wide.

But the game exploded into life when Bromley – in fourteenth place in the Blue Square Bet South table and eleven points behind third-placed Dartford – took the lead.

Forecast, who is on loan from Southampton, pumped a ball upfield and Araba flicked the ball on and Liam Harwood passed to Salifou Ibrahima, who clipped the ball into the area where Williams cut across Lee Burns, who tripped the Bromley number ten.

Araba stepped up and sent Deren Ibrahim the wrong way with a clinically struck right-footed penalty, which nestled into the bottom left-hand corner for his seventh goal of the season, delighting the travelling supporters, who to their credit gave their heroes excellent vocal support.

Burman said: “I was disappointed with the penalty decision they got. I thought the referee got it wrong. I thought he probably got it wrong as well with Ryan’s if I’m honest but we got punished where ours didn’t go in.”

Forecast made the first of two excellent saves when he dived to his right to catch Elliot Bradbrook’s sweet left-footed angled drive from 25-yards.

But Dartford responded to their initial set-back as Pallen stood up to the plate following Charlie Sheringham’s move to AFC Bournemouth.

Williams swung in a corner from the right for Bromley, but Dartford cleared and broke at pace and Pallen released Harris down the right flank and his low cross was parried by a diving Forecast and the ball fell at the untracked Pallen’s feet, who slammed a left-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from eight-yards.

“I was well pleased with that and the response that we got,” added Dartford boss Burman.

Bromley ventured forward and Williams floated in a cross from the left which was brought down by Araba’s chest at the far post, who tried an ambitious overhead kick, which didn’t pay off and the ball dropped to Rory Hill on the edge of the D, who clipped the ball wide.

Majestic Dartford winger Hayes then cut inside Marlon Patterson in the 41^st minute and powered a left-footed angled drive, which flew past the diving Forecast and wide of the top of the near post from outside the box.

Dartford lacked quality in front of goal and they really should have done something inside the opening two minutes of the second half.  Pallen stabbed the ball into Harris’ path, who had sprinted past three defenders but he was blocked inside the box and the ball fell to left-back Adam Green, whose left-footed chip cleared the crossbar from 25-yards.

The key moment in the game came in the 56^th minute when Hayes cut into the corner of the box and was tripped by Rhule’s outstretched leg and referee Mr Buonassisi pointed to the spot for the second time.

An expectant Princes Park held their breath as they expected their longest-serving player to send Dartford through to the next round, but it was the Bromley faithful who were celebrating as Hayes drove his left-footed penalty past the foot of the right-hand post, despite Forecast diving in the same direction.

Goldberg said: “I thought Ryan Hayes was their most dangerous player, until he came off. It was unfortunate for him that he missed the penalty.  I think it’s fair to say we came here today that we deserved to get the win.”

Burman added: “I think the referee got the first penalty decision wrong but to bounce back that was great.  I was pleased with the players’ second half, I’m pleased and I think the referee gave us a penalty and in a way it’s two penalties – they’ve scored and we haven’t.

“If we go 2-1 up, who knows what might’ve happened but I fancied us all the way through the game to be honest.”

Resilient Bromley began to play with confidence in the Dartford half of the pitch and with Warren McBean now the lone striker after Araba worked himself into the ground, Bromley forced themselves a 68^th minute corner, which was swung in by Williams and Harwood towered over Bradbrook to head down and wide.

Another corner from Williams was met by a bullet header from Ibrahima, which was cleared off the Dartford line, as Bromley believed.

At the other end, Green’s pass was flicked on by Harris and Bradbrook stroked a weak left-footed shot from 22-yards into Forecast’s gloves.

But Bromley snatched victory with a piece of sheer quality from Williams with the scoreboard showing there was to be fourteen minutes left to play.

McBean was fouled just 25-yards from goal and Williams won the battle with Patterson to step up and take the free-kick.

It was to be a crucial decision as Williams stepped up and curled a right-footed free-kick over the wall and the ball nestled into the bottom near corner to send around 350 Bromley fans into ecstasy.

Burman added: “Fair play to them, they got a free-kick and a little bit of quality it looks like and they get it in!

“At one-all, I fancied us, I really fancied us.  We’ve been beat by a free-kick which has gone straight in, which that is a little disappointing.

“I thought it went through the wall, I don’t know, but they said it went over the wall, that’s fair enough.

“Other than that, I don’t think they caused us too many problems.  They done alright, Bromley, they played the one up and done a job on us, but the keeper’s pulled off a great save at the end.  That’s Cup football, that’s how it goes and you know, you think it’s not your turn this year.”

Goldberg, who led Bromley into the First Round, where they lost to Gillingham (2006) and Colchester United three years’ later, was pleased with the way his side held on to their slender lead.

Dartford threw everything forward as they searched for an equaliser and a second bite of the cherry at Hayes Lane on Tuesday night.

Tom Champion’s shot from 25-yards lacked any conviction and rolled into Forecasts’ gloves and after Hayes floated in a cross from the right and Harris knocked the ball down, Bradbrook blasted high and wide from the edge of the box.

Bromley almost snatched a third goal in the final three minutes when McBean cut inside Tom Bonner and chipped the ball agonisingly wide of the foot of the far post from a very tight angle, before Dartford felt they had levelled inside stoppage time.

James Rogers picked the ball up and had time and space to burst down the left and whip in a superb cross.  With the home fans ‘ ready to suck the ball into the net, Champion rose and planted a header towards goal from inside the six-yard box, but Forecast pulled off an excellent breath-taking, match-winning save, clawing the ball away.

Goldberg said: “You always feel when you come here in the 90^th minute something’s going to happen, it’s happened to us so many times.

“Last year (losing the Kent Senior Cup Final 4-1) and earlier in the season (losing 3-1 in the league) we had a seventeen-year-old in goal.  I don’t think that is a matter of coincidence that we’ve got stronger as we’ve brought in an experienced player at the back.

“Tommy’s come in and he’s probably saved the best for today since he’s been with us and he’ll only get better and better.

“He did pull off two magnificent saves and you’ve got to give Dartford credit.  They really worked right to the end and they were always pumping dangerous balls into dangerous areas, that’s their game and it works but thank God today it didn’t!”

The final whistle brought jubilant scenes of celebrations from the Bromley players, management and supporters who celebrated a famous victory at one of Kent’s leading clubs.

“It’s about time we heard the Bromley boys signing again,” added Goldberg.

Goldberg paid tribute to all of his players’, backroom staff for their heroic effort.

He said: “It’s very nice for me in terms of our management team having a track record now to get to the First Round three times out of the five years’ I’ve been involved but at the same time it’s more about the good morale amongst the squad now to help us out in the league.”

“It’s a massive squad performance here today. The players’ who came on were magnificent, the players’ who started we’re magnificent and even the players’ that weren’t involved have been so much a part of getting here.

“No-one could doubt there was hard work and endeavour from all the players’ and maybe that’s where we’ve added something to our repertoire  this year, something that I’ve allowed to not be there in previous years’ and now with hard work the quality will come through in the end.

“You don’t win games through quality alone.  Unfortunately you have to dog it out and win the battles and today I thought we won the battles and the quality came through.”   

Burman lost their 100% record when Truro won here only seven days ago, but Bromley got their tactics right.

“I think everyone comes here now and plays one up front,” said Burman.

“I don’t know if Mark got his tactics right because they scored from a penalty and a free-kick.  I don’t think they tore us or pulled us apart.  I just felt we completely deserved something out of the game and we haven’t got it but that’s Cup football!

“It happens.  The more people say you’ll never get beat here and all that sort of thing, it happened last week and it’s happened this week.  Listen, I thought we were unlucky to get beat, to not get a result really to be honest with you.”

Dartford: Deren Ibrahim, Lee Burns, Adam Green, Tom Bonner, Paul Goodacre, Tom Champion, Ryan Hayes (Lee Noble 86), James Rogers, Jack Pallen (Richard Graham 69), Elliot Bradbrook, Danny Harris.
Subs: Jon Wallis, Ryan Cooper, Andrew Young.

Goal: Jack Pallen 31

Booked: Lee Burns 4, Ryan Hayes  23, Paul Goodacre 36

Bromley: Tommy Forecast, Tutu Henriques, Marlon Patterson, Liam Harwood, Joe Dolan, Rob Gillman, Rory Hill (Orlando Smith 63), Salifou Ibrahima (Ugo Udoji 79), Hakeem Araba (Warren McBean 53), Gareth Williams, Aaron Rhule.
Subs: Paul Agu, Harry Harding, Michael Jones, Leon McKenzie.

Goals: Hakeem Araba 28 (pen), Gareth Williams 76

Booked: Tommy Forecast 9, Aaron Rhule 12, Orlando Smith 86

Attendance: 1,567
Referee: Mr Mathew Buonassisi (Rushden, Northamptonshire)
Assistants: Mr Graham Kinnear (Mears Ashby, Northamptonshire) & Mr Anthony Da Costa (Bar Hill, Cambridge)
Fourth Official:  Mr Brian Williams (Haverhill, Suffolk)