WWW.BROMLEYFC.COM - MATCH REPORT
BROMLEY 4 HORSHAM 1 – LEAGUE 14/08/04
A fantastic start to the season in front of a good crowd at Hayes Lane. Despite having two players in the squad who had not played a single friendly Bromley rolled over ten man Horsham and scored some really nice goals.
Horsham started brightly and had a definite penalty for a foul turned down by ref Mr Hoare with almost their first attack. Walker made a good save after Bromley’s defence was opened up once again, but slowly we came back into the game and put some nice moves together. Taywo sent over a fantastic ball from the right, which saw Bennetts have a good header saved by Burton. Two corners followed and from the second Burton was caught flat footed and Arkwright crashed in a header for 1-0 on on 19 mins. There was a brief lull following the goal and Horsham got back level on 31 mins when Hardy headed home a good cross from the right. Bromley responded brilliantly to this though and grabbed the lead back 2 mins later. Amoako beat French for pace and was pulled back, an offence only spotted by the linesman. after Mr Haore consulted with him he awarded a free kick to Bromley and sent French from the field. After a lengthy delay Taywo hit a perfect free kick from the edge of the box, which curled over the wall, dipped and landed just inside the post. A beautiful set piece goal in the Zidane mould that had the Hayes Lane faithful jumping. With the home fans still talking about the goal Watson added a third with a brilliant piece of close control in the box before volleying home and unstoppable shot. 3-1 at half time and the Nest was buzzing.
Just inside the second half Frost limped off and Macca brought Vines on switching to 4-3-3 and putting Bennetts in at left back and Okafor in the centre, who looked much more comfortable there. Matt Kember got stuck in providing the perfect foil for the creative Taywo in centre midfield, who received a standing ovation when replaced by Henriques. Walker was steady all game in goal and made saves when called upon. The officiating became more and more eccentric as the game went on and Graves deliberately tried to get a couple of Bromley players booked and succeeded in duping Mr Hoare to book Drewett. Green came on for his debut replacing the exhausted Amoako up front and looked sharp. Horsham scrambled a corner off the line before Bromley finally put the game to bed on 88 mins when Arkwright headed home another corner as the visitors flapped. A great start to the season, still a lot to improve on, but just what we needed.
Quote for the game: ‘For the first time in my life I’m speechless!’ – Garvo.
Team: Walker, Potterill, Okafor, M Kember, Frost, Arkwright, Drewett, Taiwo, Watson, Amoako, Bennetts.
Subs: Green, Vines, Henriques, Akdag, Hunter.