This week’s game saw Bexley Athletic travel to Bromley, to play Bromley Sporting who were second from bottom before kick off with four points from five games played. A farcical start to the match resulted in a late kick off and John Church Senior kindly volunteering to referee to get the game on with the original referee being sent to the wrong ground.
Adam actually won the toss and smartly opted to change ends so we were not playing into the bright sun. The game got off to a slow start with both teams seemingly cancelling each other out. Despite this, it wasn’t long before Bexley were ahead after a deep corner from Mark was neatly headed back across the box by Laurence for Laurie to power past the goalkeeper.
Both teams looked dangerous in attack, with the Bromley left winger causing particular problems for the defence down the right, but was dealt with very well by John and ultimately let down by his team mates in the final third. Bromley did equalise eight minutes before half time when a ball down the middle was poorly defended allowing the Bromley player to slot home from ten yards.
Bexley responded positively and were quickly back in front with a well uted attack through the Bromley team was finished neatly into the corner by Elgin, Bexley’s goal scoring machine from the left wing. This was undone by more disorganisation at the back when a high free kick which the goalkeeper may have just collected should he decided to claim was not defended by Bexley, who then failed to respond to the second ball when it rebounded off Dan for Bromley to score a scuffed shot through three players on the line. The inquest then begun at the back with no one prepared to hold their hands up as the teams went in for half time.
Bexley used the interval to allow Peter to reorganise, and introduce James Hall to the stage replacing the far from sober Matt Bennet. A cautious start to the second half saw Dan save one vs one from a narrow angle. This was the final defensive lapse as Bexley tightened up the defence and controlled the midfield, Steve Bird giving a particularly impressive contribution despite his second testing back pass in two weeks.
Bexley’s third goal came courtesy of James Hall who took down a precise free kick from Lee with a Messi like touch, closed in on goal and slotted it past the goalkeeper superbly. Impressive defending shut out Bromley from there on, restricting them to opportunities from tight angles and one dangerous moment from a corner. Distance was put between the two teams when a mix up with the Bromley goalkeeper and defenders allowed Laurence to easily find the net. The match as a contest was later ended when James whipped in a dangerous corner for Laurie to head his second into the top right corner.
To their credit, Bromley continued to attack and were some what boosted when Peter outrageously couldn’t bear to be an unused sub again. He bought himself on for the captain Adam Guildford who again played a very good game. The arm band was lobbed in disgrace as the entire team didn’t quite understand the strategic reason behind this decision. Peter hobbled around at left back for 7 minutes even taking a throw in, but was surely relieved to hear the full time whistle.
A good result and over the 90 minutes a good performance to take into a challenging Cup match at home next week. (Rating this week done by Peter Baulsom)
