Staines Town 0-2 Bromley - I still want us to score more goals, says Bromley coach Neil Smith

Bromley, who went into this Third Qualifying Round replay in seventeenth-place in the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South, turned the tables on eighth-placed Staines Town by playing some quality passing football on the immaculate playing surface at Wheatsheaf Park.

The Ravens booked their place in the First Round – a home tie against third-placed Boreham Wood on 24 November – after taking two of their twenty chances.

After being profligate in front of goal during an impressive first half performance, Bromley took a deserved lead through Tony Finn’s solo finish after 48 minutes, before substitute Ali Chaaban – who scored 72 goals in 145 appearances in four spells for Staines Town – chipped home a second with two minutes remaining.

Bromley were held to a 1-1 draw by Staines Town at Hayes Lane at the weekend and Smith, 41, was delighted that his side got through.

He said: “We asked for a response because we said up until the final third we were doing everything right but without scoring and I still think we could have gone in at half-time with a couple of goals to the good.

“But as an overall performance I think if you’re going to come away from home to a Staines side that are sitting pretty in the league and have got a good home record, it was a perfect match for us, without still scoring when we had the chances in the first half.

“Full credit to the boys, they’ve shown a fantastic attitude because I do believe there were some people not thinking we could come away from home and get a result and it sets up nicely against Boreham Wood.”

Bromley started the game on the front foot and they created their first of many chances inside the opening six minutes.

Finn cut inside and slipped the ball to Ian Daly and the Irishman’s left-footed drive from nineteen-yards rolled into Jack Turner’s gloves.

The impressive Finn then cut the ball back to the edge of the penalty area but midfielder Danny Waldren sent his right-footed shot flashing wide of the far post.

Marcus Gayle’s side created their first chance after sixteen minutes when nine-goal striker Louie Theophanous latched upon Liam Harwood’s sliced clearance before swinging his cross from the by-line out to central midfielder Troy Ferguson, whose right-footed drive from 22-yards whistled wide of the left-hand post.

Bromley should have taken the lead in the 21^st minute when left-back Marlon Patterson linked up well with Daly before whipping in an excellent first-time cross but striker Pierre Joseph-Dobois won his aerial battle against Matt Drage but planted his header over from eight-yards.

Staines tried to hit Bromley on the counter with an over-hit through ball inbetween Moses Swaibu and Harwood but keeper Joe Welch came rushing out of his penalty area to pump his clearance up field and Daly’s pass was latched onto by Finn, but his weak shot rolled into Turner’s gloves.

The Staines Town keeper wears a pink kit to show his support for breast cancer awareness after having two members of his family suffer from the disease.

Bromley skipper, Ali Fuseini, lofted his right-footed shot from 30-yards wide of the left-post after he was given time and space to turn and shoot, before they went closer on the half-hour mark when Fuseini swept the ball out wide to Sanchez Ming, who whipped in a cross towards the edge of the Staines penalty area for Daly to turn and crack a left-footed shot from eighteen-yards, which flashed narrowly wide of the right-hand post.

Bromley fell asleep following a Staines Town free-kick and they allowed central defender Jordaan Brown to cut inside from the right towards a central position before having time and space to crack a left-footed drive from 30-yards, which only just cleared the crossbar.

The longer the first half went on, the more the 40 travelling supporters became frustrated.

Ming played the ball forward to Joseph-Dubois, who laid the ball off to Daly, who opted to ignore Ming on the overlap to cut inside before crossing towards the far post to pick out the unmarked Finn, who hooked a right-footed shot wide of the near post.

Staines keeper Turner had to make two comfortable saves within fourteen seconds as Joseph-Dubois cut the ball back to Elliott Buchannan, whose left-footed shot rolled into Turner’s hands from 25-yards, before Fuseini’s right-footed daisy-cutter forced Turner into getting across his goal to dive low to his right to make the save.

A forty-yard run from Finn saw him carve open a chance for Buchannan, but he scuffed his left-footed shot from 25-yards, which rolled into the Staines keeper’s hands.

Bromley should have eased their frustrating first half twenty seconds into stoppage time when Finn put Waldren through on goal and his shot trickled across the stranded keeper and agonisingly bounced against the foot of the far post and Drage managed to get back and stabbed the ball behind for a corner.

Smith said: “You’ve got to say it’s got to hit the target – it did but I think he thought it was going in!

“He seemed to bend his run around waiting for the celebration and it hit the post because everyone thought it was going in, they didn’t follow up!

“But what we’ve said is we have to create the chances and we have to start taking them.  As you said, (at least) eight clear-cut chances on goal in the first half.  It’s great.  You can’t moan about it but we have to start making those count!”

Finn swung in the resulting corner towards the far post and Swaibu rose to loop his header towards goal but Turner plucked the ball out of the air from underneath his crossbar.

When asked what was said during the interval, Smith replied, “Same again! Same again, but with an end product!

“We said you’re doing so well up until the last third, up until the 18-yard box, but we have to kill them off because a team like this will take a chance. Their centre forward, Theophanous, was always going to be a danger and he got through a couple of times but I thought Moses at the back was superb.”

Despite their wastefulness during a dominant first half, Bromley took only 177 seconds to deservedly open the scoring on the break.

Joseph-Dubois swept the ball up to Daly on the halfway line, who flicked the ball past Drage to release Finn (who narrowly beat the offside trap) through on goal.

The midfielder made his run from the half-way line and then cut inside and ran straight through the heart of the pitch and kept his composure when he reached the edge of the penalty area, rounded the keeper and calmly slotted his right-footed shot into an empty goal.

Smith revealed: “It was absolutely fantastic!  I didn’t actually see it because I had my eyes closed! I was more concerned, is he going to miss?

“It was a great run, great timing from Tony Finn as well and his composure around the keeper was superb to finish it.  That’s what we need. We just need a bit more composure, belief in ourselves that you’re going to score a goal.”

Smith also praised Ian Daly, who played for Manchester City as a teenager, for setting up Finn’s second goal of the season.

“I thought Ian Daly, who came in was very good today,” he said. “He held the ball up well, he’s very intelligent. It was his first start, I think, up front. I think he’s played for us in midfield.  He did ok. It was a new environment.   The boys have been under a bit of pressure and he just came in and took the pressure off everybody because he’s got a nice touch and created space for other people.”

Bromley now had a lead that they had to protect and Swaibu was once again immense at the heart of the Bromley defence – so much so that Smith admits professional clubs should be taking an interest.

“I’ve got to be honest with you, I can’t see why people aren’t looking at Moses Swaibu at the moment. I think his consistency since the start of the season has been phenomenal!

“I’d give man-of-the-match to Moses and that’s saying something when we’ve created so many chances but he cleared up when we were under the cosh.  Moses has been absolutely superb since the start of the season.

“I can’t believe people aren’t knocking on the door enquiring about Moses Swaibu.  I think he’s overall defending, his distribution could be a bit better, but as a defender he’s ideal for us.  He comes back with his pace, just defends when other people would be out of the game.”

Bromley keeper Joe Welch was back to his best after making two vital saves before the hour-mark.

Bromley survived a corner and the ball came out to Ferguson, who cracked a stunning right-footed volley from 35-yards, which forced Welch into diving to his left to push the shot around his post in the 51^st minute.

Staines keeper Turner also proved his worth when he tipped Finn’s curling right-footed free-kick over his crossbar after the Bromley midfielder went for goal just outside the corner of the penalty area.

Staines’ right-back, Lewis Ferrell, then pumped a cross towards the edge of the penalty area and Theophanous brought the ball under control with his chest before turning and cracking a right-footed shot, which Welch got down low to his left to push around the post to prevent the ball nestling into the corner of his goal.

Smith said: “Joe’s been great! He’d say himself the one game he’s probably let himself down was Fleetwood (a 3-0 defeat in the FA Cup First Round when he gave away two penalties) if anything but I’d take that after the amount of games he’s played. He’s only had one bad game. He was superb tonight, again, when he was called on.

“But I think their keeper made two fantastic saves late in the game, the free-kick and he’s just plucked one out of the side, I think it took a deflection and was wrong footed, from Elliott Buchannan.

Bromley skipper Fuseini then released Finn, who cut in from the left before sweeping a low left-footed shot towards the near post, which was saved by the home side’s keeper.

Bromley should have made the game safe in the 77^th minute when Waldren played a clever reverse pass from a quickly taken free-kick straight to Joseph-Dubois, who was left unmarked, but the striker smashed his right-footed shot on the turn wide from fifteen-yards.

Substitute Michael Malcolm then teed up Chaaban, who cut on to his left-foot before cracking a looping shot which Turner got a strong right-hand to palm away from underneath his crossbar.

Turner then excelled when Buchannan picked up Fuseini’s square pass and unleashed a left-footed drive from 30-yards, which took a deflection on its way, but Turner dived to his right to make a smart block before gathering the loose ball.

But Staines gifted Chaaban the clincher, two minutes from time when Ferrell played the ball inside to Chaaban, who ran forward before seeing Turner had strayed off his line before sending a delicate right-footed chip over the stranded keeper’s net and the ball dropped down into the middle of the empty goal from 25-yards.

Smith revealed why he and manager Mark Goldberg waited until the 65^th minute before unleashing Chaaban at his former stomping ground.

He said: “That was always in our thought and Ali wanted desperately to score. He wanted to play obviously. We thought about starting him.  We thought we’d bring him on as a sub and Ali did what Ali can do.  It was a great finish. Again, composure.  The keeper’s off his line, he chipped it in. If it doesn’t go in he gets slaughtered but he had the belief in himself to do it.”

There was still time for one more Bromley chance, but Malcolm steered his shot from an acute angle towards the far post, but Turner got down quickly to his left to turn away.

Smith was delighted with the performance and the clean sheet and progress into the First Round since Chippenham Town were defeated 2-1 at Hayes Lane in the Third Qualifying Round back in 2007, before their run was ended at Crawley Town, who scored the only goal of the game in the First Round.

Smith said: “It was a game out there to prove a few people wrong I think.  There were a few people, a few murmurs that we’re going away from home and we won’t get a result and we wanted to prove people wrong.

“Like I said to you yesterday, that was our problem on Saturday, we didn’t take our chances and if you don’t take your chances there’s always a chance of teams are going to score against you.

“Ali (Chaaban) came on and scored a great goal as well, which was great after he’s 90 minutes last week against Harrow Borough and obviously Tony Finn deserved a goal. I thought he was excellent tonight.”

Smith added: “I think that was a convincing 2-0!  I still want us to score more goals because I believe there’s a good score coming up if we keep creating those chances we’ll get on the end of them, if we play like that!  Don’t get me wrong, if we don’t play like that, if we just think we can turn up, then we won’t thrash anyone, but if we put in performances like that and create the amount of chances we have, it can’t go on that we only nick a goal or we get a 0-0.”

When told that Bromley’s last win in The FA Trophy was back in 2007, Smith replied, “Wow! Well that’s amazing!  I know last year we went out to Didcot.

“We’ve got Boreham Wood at home. It’s a fantastic draw for us. It’s a home game. It should be a decent crowd there but it’s another tough game, a team that are up there buzzing around at the moment.”

Staines Town: Jack Turner, Lewis Ferrell, Max Worsfold, Bradley Simmonds, Jordaan Brown, Matt Drage, Max Noble (Cyril Ocansey 62), Troy Ferguson (Scott Taylor 61), Louis-Rae Beadle (Elliott Godfrey 81), Reece Hall.
Subs: Adam Faith, Teddy Ngoy

Booked: Jack Turner 54, Max Worsfold 76

Bromley: Joe Welch, Sanchez Ming, Marlon Patterson, Ali Fuseini, Moses Swaibu, Liam Harwood, Danny Waldren, Elliott Buchannan, Pierre Joseph-Dubois (Richard Pacquette 90), Ian Daly (Ali Chaaban 65), Tony Finn (Michael Malcolm 72).
Subs: Jerrome Sobers, George Howard

Goals: Tony Finn 48, Ali Chaaban 88

Booked: Danny Waldren 80

Attendance: 191
Referee: Mr Darren England (Wombwell, Barnsley, South Yorkshire)
Assistants: Mr Mark Engelbretson (Uxbridge, Middlesex) & Mr Christopher Evans (Eailing, London W13)