Bromley made really hard work of beating The Rams who played for over an hour with ten men and a player in goal! Up to the sending off Bromley looked the better side and had launched several promising attacks, one of which resulted in Grant Watts putting us in front on 6 mins. He combined well with Kirk before wrong footing the keeper and coolly sliding the ball in from 6 yards. The only scare provided by Athletic came when Harwood was left stranded by a lob and Harris had to clear off the line, until on 26 mins Dickson equalised for Croydon with a bizarre miscued volley that floated into the top right hand corner of the net. The main talking point of the game came two minutes later when Grant Watts was clear through one on one with goalkeeper Frankland. As he knocked the ball past him they collided on the edge of the box and the keeper received a red card. With no reserve custodian on the bench Rams put in an outfield player and his first job was to pick Luckett’s free kick out of the net after he floated one in over the wall. The scoring was done at 1-2 and Bromley hardly troubled the stand-in from that point.
The second half saw Croydon Ath go close a couple of times and really raise their game, defending brilliantly and limiting The Ravens to only a couple of late efforts. Smith blasted just over and Luckett missed the easiest of chances when clear through after a great move involving Amoako and Khalouq. The game ended in a bit of anti-climax, with the props going to the home side, but the points going to us.
Quote of the game, ‘Oi, Trevor Clever!’
Team: Harwood, Smith, Luckett, Vines, Manuel, Harris, Drewett, Myatt, G Watts, Harney, K Watts.
Subs: Martini, Khalouq, Amoako, Butler, Amaning.