We want to be in the top half, play-offs if we can, says Bromley coach Neil Smith

BROMLEY coach Neil Smith says the club are aspiring towards the top half of the Blue Square Bet (Conference) South league table this season.



Mark Goldberg’s side endured a miserable campaign last season and they only escaped relegation in the penultimate game of last season, finishing in seventeenth-place, two points above the relegation zone.

The Ravens open their pre-season campaign with a visit from League One side Crawley Town on Saturday.

Crawley opened their pre-season campaign with a 4-0 win over Tonbridge Angels at  Longmead Stadium last night.

Smith, 40, is looking forward to a brighter season at Hayes Lane this term.

He said:  “It’s a new beginning. We’ve put last season behind us. Obviously we’ll try and learn from our mistakes and start afresh. The boys have been in and been working hard and are looking forward to a tough opening friendly against Crawley Town.

“It’s all about fitness and hopefully getting through the pre-season without any injuries, looking at fitness and see how they fit in, seeing and assessing how far we are pitch wise.

“We don’t expect to be at full-tilt because we want to be on 18 August when we start our league campaign.

“We want to make a good show of ourselves.  We don’t want to embarrass ourselves. It’s another fitness test for the boys.

“They’ve been working hard and it’s just a little cherry on the top at the end of the week playing against a very good Crawley team.

“It will be a very tough game and an eye-opener for the boys but they’re all looking forward to it.”

Smith says the club are searching for a prolific goalscorer – something that they missed last season.

The club has already confirmed that Liam Harwood, Moses Swaibu, Albert Jarrett, Ali Fuseini, Joe Welch and Pierre Joseph-Dubois have re-signed for the club.

Smith said: “The majority of the boys are here from the end of last season – including Danny Waldren.

“All these guys, who were our rock at the end of last season and have kept us up have come back in and looked after themselves during the close season and fitness levels are really good at the moment – but we can only get better!

“There will be a couple of new faces that we’ll be looking at to see if they want to get on board.  It’s a long pre-season and I imagine there will be new faces along the way.

“We know we need goals at the end of the day.  Against teams like Truro we created enough chances but we couldn’t finish them. That’s what we’re looking for at the moment.  It’s not about creating chances now – we have to take them. 

“We need someone who can score us a goal when we’re up against it and we can go up the other end and get us a goal and turn draws into wins and losses into draws.

“It’s a very important position but we know there will be good centre forwards out there, but it’s about making sure they fit into our framework.”

Smith ruled out making an approach to Beckenham-born striker Mark Lovell, 28, who played in the second half of Tonbridge Angels’ defeat to Crawley Town last night.

Bromley had made an official approach to Ramsgate for his services last season, before the striker had to leave the Ryman League Division One South through work commitments.

“I wouldn’t have thought so at the moment, again, I wouldn’t say never,” came Smith’s reply when asked whether Goldberg will approach the player, who is currently on trial at the Angels.

“Mark’s looking at players and we’ve got players’ names down. We’ll sift through them as soon as we can. The guys’ who started with us ten days ago in the pre-season will get the first bite of the cherry.  If they do well, we’ll keep them on board.

“We’ll keep looking at them at pre-season.  If a name is given to us and we go and have a look and we like what we see then we’ll take it from there.”

When asked how they will be treating the Crawley game, Smith replied, “I think we’ve got a squad of probably about 18, maybe 19, but some players will play the 90 minutes and there will be other positions who play a half.

“Again, as long as we come out of the first game with no injuries, give everyone a good run out. We’re playing against a League side and everyone wants to put themselves in a shop window and they want to be playing for the first team on 18 August.”

Bromley then make the short trip to Beckenham Town next Tuesday, knowing that Jason Huntley’s side have already beaten Cray Wanderers in pre-season.

Looking ahead to the Eden Park Avenue outing, Smith said: “That’s important. It’s another game. It’s another fitness one. Who and how long they play we’ll decide after Saturday.

“We’ll give every game 100%.  We want to get into good habits now. That’s not taking the foot of the pedal because it’s Beckenham Town.

“Beckenham Town will have some fantastic players on a fantastic pitch like as always and they want to beat us like we want to beat Crawley.  We don’t want to be embarrassed by these teams.

“We’re looking for good character and good attitude like they would do on a Saturday in the league.”

Bromley’s aspirations are simple.  To do a lot better than last season!

Smith said: “We want to be in the top half, looking at the play-offs if we can.

“We know it’s going to be tough. We know teams like Tonbridge have gone out and spent a bit of money on players so they’re going to be up there like they were last year.  You’ve got Welling again. The teams that have come down, Hayes & Yeading and Bath City, will want to come straight back up - and Chelmsford.

“We know it’s going to be tough, but we want to make sure we progress better than we did last season.

“We weren’t happy with how last season was, but the boys showed character.  We’ve kept the majority from last season.  The boys know we’ve got the fight.  We know when our backs are against the wall we can produce.

“We’d love to see them with no pressure on them apart from the pressure that we’re doing well and they want to stay in the team.”


Visit Bromley’s website: www.bromleyfc.net  

Bromley  v  Crawley Town
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 14^th July 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Hayes Lane, Bromley, Kent BR2 9EF