Players' have got to stand up and be counted, says Bromley boss Mark Goldberg

BROMLEY manager Mark Goldberg says Saturday’s FA Carlsberg Trophy tie against Didcot Town is a massive game to win to rebuild confidence within the camp, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Ravens suffered their fifth successive defeat when they crashed to a 2-1 home defeat to fellow strugglers Hampton & Richmond Borough last night, their opponents playing with ten-men for the final 29 minutes.

Goldberg’s side went into the game on the back of a 6-1 defeat at Chelmsford City and have now picked up only six points out of 30 available and as a result of losing to a side that were third-from-bottom in the Blue Square Bet South table they are now languishing in a precarious position in seventeenth place, just two points clear of the relegation zone.

Bromley welcome Didcot Town to Hayes Lane for a place in the First Round of The FA Carlsberg Trophy on Saturday.

Didcot, who hail from Oxfordshire, are in the bottom-six of the Evo-Stik Southern League Division One South & West league table – three league’s below Bromley – with 13 points from 15 games.

And Goldberg, 48, wants his side to end their dismal run of form to kick-start their Conference South campaign, which resumes with a home game against Eastbourne Borough (3 December), before a trip to Dover Athletic (6 December).

He said:  “We’ve got a massive game on Saturday in the FA Trophy.  It’s massive for the club commercially. We need to get a win on Saturday and then we need to use that to springboard our season.

“Well, we know they’re on a one-off game, they held Oxford (City) in the FA Cup to a draw and we’re now in a situation where on their day they can give us a lot of difficulty.  We need to make sure we’re totally on our game.

“Players’ have got to stand up and be counted.  Confidence is a massive thing in football and you can see we’re not playing with confidence at the moment.

“We just need to go back on a run. I’m not the first manager to be in this situation, many managers’ have been in this situation.  I’ve never been in this situation in the league before but I need to adapt very quickly and make sure that we climb out of it.”

The club confirmed yesterday that striker Warren McBean and midfielder Harry Harding have both been released by mutual consent.

But striker Leon McKenzie is still currently registered with the club, despite being shipped out to Ryman League Division One North side Grays Athletic, on loan.

Goldberg handed Quadir Mayard, 19, his debut last night, having signed him on a non-contract basis, having progressed from the club’s Academy and the winger has also featured for the Bermuda national side.

When quizzed about McBean’s third exit from Hayes Lane, Goldberg said: “One doesn’t go into the reasons why, it’s not fair on the players’ and it’s not fair for everybody involved at the club.

“It’s very easy to point the fact that certain players are no longer here but within the budget restraints that we have at the club, I’d rather the club be commercially sound than throwing silly money at it.  I don’t think that’s the answer.”

Goldberg added: “It’s a matter of keeping within the budget, a mixture of having to balance the books and also maybe a few disruptions to the squad and the spirit of the camp and at the end of the day the spirit is more important.  The team spirit beats individuals’. What we had potentially was starting to be a few cliques, a few individuals’ who were thinking they were above it and I wasn’t prepared to tolerate that.

“Warren McBean’s an individual. I don’t really want to really say too much other than the fact that we don’t have the pleasure of Warren McBean sitting on the bench.  We can’t afford to have players’ like that not playing and at the same time we believe team spirit will see us through without those players’.”

Visit Bromley’s website: www.bromleyfc.net  

Bromley  v  Didcot Town
The FA Carlsberg Trophy Third Qualifying Round
Saturday 26^th November 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF