Ebbsfleet United 4-1 Bromley - They were more clinical than we were, admits Mark Goldberg

The Fleet - who were FA Trophy winners in 2008 - were clinical against Bromley, who reached the last sixteen in their best ever campaign in the competition last season.

Bromley goalkeeper Joe Welch returned to his former club and it appeared that every shot on target went in as Ebbsfleet United raced into a 3-0 lead through Michael Thalassitis, Aiden Palmer and Ben May, before Jay May volleyed a sweet strike to give Bromley hope, before Billy Bricknell came off the bench to wrap things up for an eighth-placed Ebbsfleet United side, ten points adrift of second-placed Bromley.

“Delighted with the result.  I thought we could have done a bit better second half,” said Brown afterwards.

“In Cup ties like this when results are generally decided on the day, we’ve got a commanding 3-0 lead.

“Bromley have nothing to lose. I thought at 3-0 we were in control of the game and there was certainly some body language out there from Bromley players that suggested they thought the tie was over but they nicked a goal and all off a sudden a couple of substitutes came on and looked bright and lively and we’re backs to the wall a little bit, though we shouldn’t be.

“I thought we showed a little bit of composure in the second half. I thought we made the game a bit too scrappy and I would have liked to see us pass the ball around better and make the decisions under pressure, but in all fairness Bromley are a good side. They’re not second in our league for no reason and they’re top goalscorers so when you look at the overall 90 minutes that’s an unbelievable result for us.”

Bromley manager Mark Goldberg was disappointed following his side’s fifth defeat of the season, four of them being away from Hayes Lane.

He said: “It was one of those games, we had it at Dartford (in the last sixteen last year when we lost 4-2), they had four real opportunities and they scored them!

“They were clinical and if you give teams like this opportunities they will take advantage of you.

“But I was really proud of the way that we dominated possession much the whole of the game.

“Once they scored their first goal it took a little bit of wind out of our sails and we started forcing the ball long for the last twenty minutes of the first half.

“We played some sweet football. We had a lot of shots at goal and we had a lot of crosses.

“We weren’t clinical today. We have been recently so we can’t really complain but to concede four goals is extremely disappointing.

“We’ll have to look at ourselves and see whether we came here a little bit gung-ho, instead of catching them on the break the way they did. Maybe we should have sat more and protected our goal more, away from home against sides like this, we wouldn’t have given them those opportunities.”

Goldberg added: “It’s just disappointing we’ve conceded the goals that we’ve conceded today, but we’ve got to concentrate on the league and take what we’ve learnt from today in to the league.”

Goldberg kept faith with the same eleven players that thrashed Chelmsford City 5-0 in The Skrill (Conference) South in their last game eleven days ago.

Brown, meanwhile, recalled Alex Osborn, 20, who has extended his loan spell from League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge until February 2014, to the side after Andy Pugh was ruled out through a wrist injury.

Bromley, who arrived at Stonebridge Road in second place in the Conference South table with 31 points from 14 games – two points behind Eastleigh – but with a game in hand, had the first chance inside nine minutes.

Joe Anderson latched onto Ashley Nicholls cut back as he cut into the Ebbsfleet penalty area before keeper Preston Edwards caught the ball to his left after the Bromley left-back tried to chip the keeper.

Ebbsfleet United’s opening chance, however, arrived just 30 seconds later.

Right-winger Osborn played a low centre into the penalty area which was flicked on by Ben May but Welch came out to smother the ball from Thalassitis’ feet.

Ten-goal Bromley striker, Bradley Goldberg, 19, was to be twice denied by smart saves from Edwards.

Goldberg drilled a right-footed angled drive from 25-yards which forced Edwards to dive to his right to punch the ball behind for a corner.

Brendan Kiernan swung in the resulting corner from the right which was cleared away by The Fleet and Goldberg stroked a right-footed drive through a crowd of players and Edwards dived low to his left to push the ball behind for another corner.

Manager Goldberg briefly added: “I think we did start well.”

Kiernan swung in another corner but this time Rob Swaine came up from the back to hook his shot wide.

Brown, meanwhile, praised his goalkeeper for keeping his side on level terms.

He said: “Again when you do your work on the training field you’re asking the players to make those shots from distance from outside of the box because the percentage chances of the ball going in when people are shooting from distance dramatically reduce.

“The saves Preston made today were on the angle and from distance. He still has to saves them!  I thought he made two or three terrific saves today and that was probably the busiest that Preston’s been all season in any game and you would expect that. Bromley are a good side, they create opportunities in every game.”

Ebbsfleet scored following their only corner of the game – Bromley won nine – inside fifteen minutes.

Firstly, Osborn played the ball inside to Thalassistis, whose shot deflected into the side netting.

Anthony Cook swung in the resulting corner from the right, which Bromley partially cleared and Thalassistis cracked a right-footed hooked volley down and past the diving Welch, scoring his fourth goal of the season, from fifteen-yards.

Brown said: “I think it’s one of those ones. I think (Bradley) Goldberg is very good at that. That’s the sort of position Goldberg takes and it’s a second phase of a set-piece where it’s cleared and if you can pick that second phase up generally you get a shot off or something where you put a team under pressure, the opposition under pressure and that’s what we did today.

“The first header, I think we’ve won it. Thalassitis took up a great position, chested it down and the finish was very, very good and composed. I was pleased with Michael today.”

A disappointed Goldberg added: “I think it was poor on our part that we gave them the opportunity and the time to have such a clean strike.  It’s the second balls. We’ve got to be a lot more effective ourselves on closing down on the edge of the box and preventing a clean strike on goal.”

Bromley continued to dominate the remainder of the first half and Danny Waldren played the ball up to Goldberg, who played the ball inside to Kiernan, whose first time right-footed shot deflected wide.

A mistake from Swaine gifted Cook a decent opportunity and the left-winger burst into the Bromley penalty area before lashing his left-footed shot high over the crossbar.

Bromley were closer in the 27^th minute when Kiernan’s corner from the left sailed over everybody and Swaine retrieved the ball down the right to clip the ball back into the box where Jay May’s left-footed hooked volley, with his back to goal, looped just over the bar.

Bromley right-back Dean Pooley played a quickly-taken free-kick into Goldberg’s feet, the striker’s first time left-footed shot was gathered by Edwards beside the foot of his left-hand post.

But an out-of-position Palmer headed Ebbsfleet United into a 2-0 lead in the 33^rd minute.

Cook played the ball across to Osborn on the right who cut inside Anderson to play the ball to Cook, who found right-back Chris Sessegnon on the overlap.

The right-back whipped in a lovely cross towards the near post but Bromley failed to track Palmer’s run across to the near post and the left-back headed the ball in off the right-hand post from inside the six-yard box.

When asked why Palmer was on the right-hand side of the pitch and in a position to score, Brown replied: “No-one’s more shocked than me to be honest!  Listen, sometimes a left-back gets forward and just continues his run!

“It was great build-up down the right-hand side. Osborn drifted inside, Sess with the overlap and a brilliant delivery I have to say begging to be attacked and it was a surprise to us all that Aiden attacked it but what a great header! What a great finish. I thought it was a wonderful goal!”

Goldberg added: “I mean, they break and score, that’s what they do!  We knew it but at that sage we had so much domination of possession that we were a little bit gung-ho up front and they broke quickly and they put in a beautiful early cross and it was a great header.

“All their goals were good goals but they were from needless on our part. We should think we can prevent those goals being created.”

Daryl McMahon squandered an excellent opportunity to put the game to bed for the home side but his left-footed angled free-kick from 20-yards sailed high and wide of the far post.

Bromley will need to work on their set-pieces in training this week as on the stroke of half-time Danny Waldren swept his shot harmlessly wide following another Kiernan corner from the left.

Both managers were asked their half-time thoughts.

The Ebbsfleet United boss said: “What was said was it’s a Cup tie so they have to come onto us. There’s no point going out with a whimper. They might as well have put four up front and gone for it so we thought we’d come under pressure.

“I thought we could get the ball out to our wide players better and create those one-on-one’s out wide. If I’m honest it didn’t quite materialise. We got that goal though, we got that third goal.”

The Bromley boss added: “Maybe we’ve got a little bit complacent and maybe we’ve got to work harder in training. We’ve been working recently on our offensive play more than our defensive play and our movement up front and it has worked for us. Now we’ve got to get stuck back in and work on protecting our goal first, especially away from home against teams like this.”

Brown’s half-time inspirational talk had the desired effect as his side raced into a 3-0 lead after only three minutes and fifteen seconds into the half.

Cook whipped in a free-kick with his right-foot from 30-yards and Osei Sankofa played the ball across to Paul Lorraine who cut the ball back from the left by-line for Ben May to steer his shot across Welch into the far corner.

Brown said: “I think if you look at the timing of the game, if they score in that time frame it’s game on, isn’t it? It really is! We did say at half-time the next goal is either a game stopper, or it’s a game maker and we got it! It gave us a nice comfortable cushion but if they had got it I think it really would have been game on and thankfully it was us that got it.”

Reflecting on the goal, Brown said: “Again, we didn’t panic. We got the ball in to the right area with a good cross from Anthony Cook and well attacked by Ben.

“We seem to be converting our chances at the moment, which we weren’t doing earlier on in the season.”

Goldberg added: “It looked too easy for me so I need to see it on the video but I’m very disappointed with how we conceded that goal.”

Pooley (playing against his former club) whipped in a free-kick from the left and Kiernan cracked a right-footed volley across Edwards from 12-yards, the ball sailing agonisingly wide of the far post.

Bromley manager Goldberg made three substitutions around the hour-mark and this helped The Ravens increase their urgency levels in a bid to claw themselves back into the game, which left their Kent rivals on the back foot.

Brown added: “The game was under control at that point but by opening the door and allowing them to score their tails were lifted and their substitutes came on and looked bright and lively to be fair.  They’ve got bright and lively players anyway and I thought they added a little bit more to their game and we spent a large spell of time under pressure.

“There were opportunities to break out actually on the counter attack. We just made the wrong decisions at times and we panicked under pressure a little bit.”

Bromley were rewarded for their gung-ho style of play when target-man Jay May scored his fourth goal of the season, as Bromley rekindled hope of a comeback in the 68^th minute.

Substitute Elliott Buchanan floated over a free-kick from the left into the centre of the penalty area and May hooked a stunning left-footed volley on the turn which sailed into the far corner, leaving Edwards stranded to the spot.

Goldberg said: “It was an excellent finish, a great free-kick but we had other chances.”

And when asked he believed his side could snatch a draw, Goldberg replied: “I definitely did – if we had enough time.  I felt we could (get back into it).”

Brown added: “I’m disappointed with the goal they scored, a free-shot from a wide free-kick and there was certainly some body language from Bromley players that suggested they thought the tie was over but they nicked a goal.

“They’ve just thumped Chelmsford 5-0 and they’ve got goalscorers May and Goldberg who are good goalscorers and they get goals across, throughout the team, not just the front two.

“In one respect we’re disappointed that we’ve conceded a goal but in another respect we’re delighted that we’ve won the game 4-1 and restricted Bromley to shots from distance.  I can’t remember any one-v-ones Preston’s saved or anything substantial like that, but they were decent enough shots that he had to deal with.”

Bromley pressed forward as they searched for a second and Anderson stroked a deflected left-footed free-kick agonisingly wide of the near post from 25-yards.

Bromley skipper Swaine then steered his towering header harmlessly wide after Kiernan put in his ninth-corner of the game.

Buchanan burst forward before unleashing a left-footed drive which Edwards dived low to his left to make a comfortable save.

A well-weighted through ball from Buchanan released Kiernan through on goal, who rounded the advancing Edwards but lacked composure in the box and instead of making it a grandstand finish by scoring, the former AFC Wimbledon winger cut the ball back across goal and the home side got bodies back to clear their lines.

“Brendan got in one-on-one a couple of times and it’s just a final touch and the final ball,” said Goldberg.

“He can be so effective and so creative and he can penetrate the defence and give you so much but just sometimes the final ball was lacking.

“That’s the difference between the sides today. I think they were more clinical than we were.”

Bromley substitute Ben Swallow then whipped in a cross from the left but Goldberg’s left-footed volley on the turn from 22-yards sailed over the Ebbsfleet crossbar.

Edwards was to thwart Bromley inside stoppage time when he beat out Jay May’s fiercely struck right-footed drive from 25-yards, before catching Pooley’s right-footed rebound.

Bromley keeper Welch came off his line to bravely save at Osborn’s feet but he could do nothing to prevent substitute Bricknell joining Ben May on seven goals for the season, as Ebbsfleet United grabbed a fourth with virtually the last kick of the game.

Striker Bricknell was put through on goal and slotted home past Welch with a right-footed shot to give the scoreline a more flattering look.

Goldberg said: “At the end when they scored the fourth, we knew it was all over. Up until they scored the fourth, yes, there was only one team pressing and really it’s just disappointing that we didn’t make the pressure count because we’ve had chances.

“I thought in the second half their only real chances of the second half was their goals, which at that late stage of the game, a lot can happen when you’re chasing a game.

“It was almost like how the hell are we losing 4-1?”

Brown was pleased that substitute Bricknell got his name on the scoresheet.

He said: “Bill’s come on, always works hard, always desperate to score goals. 

“You look at the goalscorers today, a left-back and three strikers and that’s pleasing.

“Bill’s come on, scampers around, works hard and he actually nicked it from a throw in off their central midfielder and got the return ball and you give Bill a sniff, generally more often than not he takes the opportunity.

“I’m just pleased for Bill. It’s difficult for Bill being out of the team, like any striker or any player really. He doesn’t want to be out of the side. It’s a great response from him to come on for 25 minutes, work his socks off and get a goal for his reward.”

When asked about Monday’s First Round Draw, Brown replied: “I’m not fussed! Cup ties are Cup ties. I thoroughly enjoyed my Cup ties against Dartford (in The FA Cup) and it wasn’t an ideal draw for either side but I thoroughly enjoyed the Cup tie and we were unfortunate to go out.

“Getting a home tie, we’re difficult to beat here. I don’t know exactly what the stats are but we’ve only lost once here in all competitions and if we get a home tie we’ll give anybody a cracking game. I think we’ll give anybody a cracking game whatever but you always kind of want the home advantage.”

When asked whether his side hold the psychological edge over Bromley ahead of their Boxing Day trip to Hayes Lane, Brown replied: “Possibly, not for the title but for the two games that we have over Christmas.  They’re a different proposition at home. They score goals for fun at home. They have a slightly weaker away record but not by much but I think the two sides will probably be different when we get there just by the sheer amount of games and the injuries that we’ll pick up.

“It’s just a very good win for us today. It was a tough tie. It came out of the hat and I thought that’s a tough one and we’ve come out with flying colours.

“It might give us a psychological edge in as much as we’ve now seen what they’re about, how they play, the players that they have. They have seen what we’ve got as well but I think we’re very competitive at the moment and I do fancy ourselves when we do enter the field of play.”

Goldberg, meanwhile, refused to get drawn into the mind games and said: “I thought there was a little bit of false sense of security here in terms of they’ll look at this, I’m sure, and think they got the better of us 4-1.  We don’t really see the game that way but the scoreline is such that in a cup competition it doesn’t really matter whether you lose 1-0 or 4-1 – you’ve lost!

“But it’s just disappointing to be out of The Trophy but we’ve got to concentrate on the league and take what we’ve learnt today. We’ll certainly won’t stop believing in ourselves because some of the football we played today was excellent.”

Bromley are in action on Monday night when Hythe Town visit Hayes Lane in the Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com Quarter-Final.

“Well, last year it was important to us that we won a Cup competition (London Senior Cup),” said Goldberg.

“I do need to watch who I’m playing on Monday night because to play Saturday and Monday is a tough ask and we’ll see.  We’ll find out who needs rest and who can play but we’ll still put out a strong enough side as we can to get a result on Monday night but we might involve a few reserve players.”

Ebbsfleet United: Preston Edwards, Chris Sessegnon,  Aiden Palmer, Daryl McMahon, Paul Lorraine, Osei Sankofa, Alex Osborn, Dean Rance (Michael Corcoran 68), Ben May, Michael Thalassitis (Billy Bricknell 66), Anthony Cook.
Subs: Joe Howe, Brandon Hall, Stacy Long