CARSHALTON ATH 3 BROMLEY 1 – FA TROPHY 01/11/03

This game will only be remembered in Bromley fans eyes for two things, the awful display of referee Mr Evetts and the horrific challenge that saw Colin Luckett carried off with a suspected broken leg. We played well, the Robins were very strong and to be honest who wants to go to Villa Park anyway?

Carshalton started brightly putting us under pressure and on 5 mins they scored with a header from a corner. They looked so much bigger than us it was always going to be tough defending set pieces against a well drilled Smith / Wakeling team. Only minutes later ref Evetts chose to ignore a clear handball on the line by Hartburn when he palmed away a Reid header. On 34 mins Boateng scored a second for the Robins with a great solo run and shot. At 2-0 we could have folded, but the Ravens came back well and just before the break Reid chased down the wing and squared a great ball to Amoako who rode a strong challenge and directed the ball past Borg into the goal. The game was alive going in at half time.

Bromley started the second half well and the closest they came was when Huggins crossed for Amoako who should have done better with his free header, but nodded it wide. With about 15 mins to go Bromley were breaking quickly from defence when Luckett was hit by a two footed over the ball foul by ex-Raven Justin Bowen, Evetts waved play on, Amoako was fouled, he waved play on again, Huggins was offside and he blew his whistle! After lengthy treatment to stabilise Luckett’s injury, which saw several players square up to each other, he was carried off and Bowen was only booked. The game re-started with a Carshalton free kick and the ref then refused to let sub Michael Harney on for another few minutes, leaving us with ten men! Deep into injury time John Wilfort was sent off for a foul on Hawthorne, which was the final straw for many Bromley fans and of course ex-Raven Conrad Kane turned home the free kick to end the game at 3-1.

Quote for the game: ’Oi Keeper hurry up, Toni & Guy shuts at 5!’

Team: Harwood, Smith, Willy, Vines, Luckett, Forbes, McKoy, Hammond, Reid, Amoako, Wilfort.

Subs: Hunt, Huggins, Butler, George, Harney.