Kentish Football 
Turning Patterson from Claret into a White will add spice to FA Cup tie at Chelmsford, says Bird
Wednesday 06th October 2010
BROMLEY assistant manager Hayden Bird says his side are more than capable of coming away from Chelmsford City’s fortress with a positive FA Cup result on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.
The Third Qualifying Round showdown has been described by Bird as the “tie-of-the-round” and if Bromley are going to book their place in the final qualifying round draw next Monday morning then the Lillywhites will need to pull off a special performance in Essex.
Bromley go into the Cup tie sitting proudly at the top of the Blue Square Bet South table with 24 points from their opening 10 games, courtesy of seven wins and three draws.
Chelmsford sit in third with 22 points (seven wins and a draw from 10 games) but Woking, Eastleigh, Dartford, Dorchester Town, Chertsey Town and Maidenhead United, have all failed to score and have lost to the Clarets at Melbourne Park this season.
“If it was a league fixture it would obviously be a very big league game, as it stands, it’s probably the toughest draw that we could’ve had. Bird told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.
“I think they’ve played six and won six at home and I don’t think these guys have conceded a goal yet (at home) so clearly at Chelmsford they’re a force to be reckoned with but all of that said we’re in good spirits, we’re in good form and we feel we are capable of going to Chelmsford and at least forcing at least a draw.
“These are two highest ranked teams in the competition as it stands, obviously the rest of the Conference National clubs aren’t included at the moment until the next round so it’s a really big game, probably the tie of the round.
“We’re fully aware of how difficult the game’s going to be, but that said, we feel as though we’re capable of going to Chelmsford and winning.”
The Lillywhites swooped to entice left-back Marlon Patterson to leave the Essex club to sign for his home-town club recently - and Bird believes this will add more spice to the game.
“He’s available for selection and will definitely be in the squad for Saturday,” confirmed Bird.
“I think it’s fair to say that’s added a little bit more spice to the game, the signing of Marlon. I’m sure Chelmsford will want to put one over Marlon and Bromley and at the same time Marlon will be determined to show Chelmsford exactly why he’s come to Hayes Lane.”
Former Corinthian young-gun, Reis Boyle is expected to keep his central defensive birth after his impressive display during last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Ebbsfleet United, as Jerrome Sobers is suspended.
“Everybody at the Ebbsfleet game could see that we had an excellent performance from Reis Boyle, who stepped in for Jerrome Sobers and he will give the centre backs a run for their money,” Bird said of the left-back.
“I think Reis Boyls has the potential to be another Harrison Dunk. We are hoping Harrison is going to be available. We are hoping he’ll be returning to training on Thursday and will declare himself fit to travel with us on Saturday so we’ll pretty much go to Chelmsford with a clean bill of health.”
Bird, meanwhile, revealed that former Braintree Town goalkeeper Craig Holloway, “is nearing a return but probably not quite ready yet.”
Bromley are enjoying their best ever season so far and Bird reflected on a good job well done.
He said: “I said to the players at the start of the season that we would assess the start of the campaign after ten games, as you rightly say, that tends to be the first yardstick that managers use.
“I normally identify a good start with the players picking up a ratio of two points per game so if the team has 20 points after 10 games we’re on course where we want to be or need to be.
“As it happens we’ve got 24 so we’re ahead of schedule and ahead of where we wanted to be, which is excellent.
“One or two games, which we were disappointed to have drawn, Ebbsfleet being one, albeit I thought it was a fair result, St Albans, Dartford, they obviously equalised in the last minute, but at the same time there’s one or two games where we’ve been a little bit fortunate to have won ourselves.”
“Twenty-four points after 10 games is really an excellent start to the season and every single player within Bromley Football Club deserves compliments for that.”
When asked where Bromley would be after 42 games, Bird replied, “I think it’s far too early to say! I wouldn’t like to put myself in that position to start making predictions.
“I think the usual suspects are now beginning to coming to the fore. Chelmsford being one, Dover (in fourth place with 20 points) being another one, even though they had a disappointing result at Hampton last weekend.
“I think these two teams are going to be really up there in May. I think these two teams are possibly still the favourites, added to that, I think Farnborough (in tenth place with 14 points) will do well and gather pace and get stronger during the course of the season.
“As for Bromley, well, let’s wait and see! We hope to do as well as we can. I’ve always said to you the most important thing for this football club is improvement and if we improve on last year’s campaign everyone will be happy.
“Progress is success but ask me the same question at Christmas and you may get a different answer!”
Visit Bromley’s website: www.bromleyfc.net
Chelmsford City v Bromley
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) Third Qualifying Round
Saturday 9th October 2010
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Melbourne Park, Salerno Way, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 2EH
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd