Bromley 2-1 Eastleigh

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Sep 05, 2022

After a difficult opening twenty minutes, Bromley rallied to secure a smart win against a predictably beastly Eastleigh.

Peter Etherington returns with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Line-up vs Eastleigh

The Good

Marriotts of Fire. Adam Marriott netted two tidy goals in his first competitive game at Hayes Lane. The first was a slotted finish after a well-timed pull-back from Harry Forster, who in turn was unlocked by a chef’s kiss pass from Billy Bingham. The second was an instinctive finish when Marriott found the ball at his feet after Michael Cheek’s header was blocked on the line.

It’s often said that goalscorers have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. But, as the legendary golfer and iced-tea aficionado Arnold Palmer once said, “the more I practice, the luckier I get.” With over a decade of positional nous in his noggin, the ball landed at Marriott's feet for a reason.

And, sure, goals are good, but my moment-of-the-match was Adam Marriott winning a corner. That’s right, a corner. He chased a long ball with an Eastleigh defender in hot pursuit, and took possession near Eastleigh’s corner flag. As he looked up, Adam realised that his nearest teammate was somewhere near Catford. Now, an inexperienced player might try to hold the ball up or take the defender on. Chance of success: minimal. An experienced head, however, smashes the ball into the shins of the defender and buys his team a corner. The defender knew what was about to happen, but could do nothing to stop it. Gold dust.

Swing low, sweet Marriott. (NB: If that song doesn’t catch on, I’m leaving).

Abrahams scored in the first minute. Yes, this is meant to be in ‘The Good’ section. Behold an alternate timeline… It starts the same way: Omar misses his header and Tristan Abrahams is through on goal. But, our timeline separates at the exact moment that Bromley’s goalkeeper, Reice Charles-Cook, clatters Abrahams just as he gets a toe on the ball. In our timeline, the ball loops into the net, Abrahams limps off to celebrate, and the referee overlooks Reice’s foul because conceding a goal is punishment enough. Ninety minutes later, Bromley are celebrating a 2-1 victory. We like this timeline.

In the alternate timeline, however, the ball drops wide of the post and Tristan Abrahams is writhing in agony on the deck. Reice Charles-Cook is in trouble here. He just clattered Abrahams outside the box and was entirely the last man. The Eastleigh bench are up in arms. Away fans are baying for blood. The referee only has one choice: it’s a red for Reice. Bromley have no substitute keeper and eighty-nine minutes to play. See what I mean? Abrahams scoring was a blessing in disguise.

Front to back.

Goalkeeper: Despite his brush with an alternate timeline, Reice Charles-Cook was excellent again. His little Cruyff turn in the first half was a joy to behold. Chapeau, gardien!

Defence: In his post-match interview, Eastleigh manager Lee Bradbury called Bromley’s defence “the land of the giants”. He has a point. Bar a few lapses in the first twenty minutes, the Spitfires’ attacks were firmly dealt with by the Bromley defence. We’ve seen this in several home games on the trot and it feels great. Special mention goes to Callum Reynolds, who didn’t put a foot wrong and played the dark arts to a tee.

Midfield: Corey Whitely, the Enfield Rifle, was at it again with a brilliant display. Whether he’s spearheading the midfield or, as in this game, making the wing-back position look easy, his consistency and all-round gameplay puts him in the category of the best players I’ve seen in a Bromley shirt. It was also great to see Bromley’s metronome, Billy Bingham, back in action. I can’t remember him misplacing a pass. James Vennings, on the other hand, had a wonky first twenty minutes, with passes and touches going astray. But he never hid. He kept opening himself up for possession and pushing the play forward. That takes guts and it paid off for him in the long run.

Attack: We saw the beginnings of a partnership between Marriott and Cheek, who orbited each other like planets and pulled puzzled defenders into their gravity. George Alexander has been excellent of late, but he’ll have to start bagging some goals if he’s going to challenge Marriott for a starting place. The final shout-out goes to Louis Dennis, who changed the game with his assist for the second goal, along with his deft touches and positive play. The migraine-inducing series of stepovers Louis unleashed before crossing to the back post for the winning goal will stay with me for a long time. At least the headache will.

The Bad

Slow-motion mistakes. In the very first minute of the game, a long ball that shouldn’t have been allowed to bounce caught Omar Sowunmi flat-footed and put Tristan Abrahams through on goal. When managers talk about ‘the basics’, this is what they mean. It felt like everything went in slow-motion as Omar backpedalled to try and make up for his initial hesitation. It was too late. The slick ball skimmed Sowunmi’s shaved head and landed in the path of Eastleigh’s main goal threat. Omar’s teammates were quick to offer support, but with just one minute on the clock, it was a nightmare start for the big man. To his credit, he bounced back as the game wore on.

Reece Hannam injured. Speaking of avoidable slow-motion mishaps… Under almost no pressure, James Vennings (I think - correct me if I’m wrong) pinged an unnecessary crossfield pass towards Reece Hannam that forced the left wing-back into an inevitable collision. A text-book ‘hospital pass’, this half-thawed turkey hung in the air for several hours, giving the Eastleigh defender ample time to cover the twenty yards he’d previously yielded.

Reece had to go for the ball, but given the momentum of the challenging defender he was always likely to come off worse. If the collision was hard, the landing was harder. The winded Palace loanee battled on for five minutes but had to withdraw. Ribs or shoulder? Cracked or bruised? Don’t hold your breath for an injury update.

Squad depth. Following on from the last point, Corey Whitely stepped in at left wing-back and did a great job, as usual. But what happens if both he and Hannam are unavailable? I suspect Jude Arthurs is the answer. Jude seems to have become Bromley’s bench-warming Swiss Army knife, walking in the ominous footsteps of fellow Bromley youth product Jordan Higgs. Is this a waste of Jude’s obvious talent, or should he just be glad to get on the pitch wherever and whenever possible at his age? Would a loan move be more beneficial than a supporting role? I’m split.

The Ugly

Sprinklers. Prior to the game, with a gentle breeze blowing, the Eastleigh fans got soaked by the sprinkler in the away corner. Not a single drop landed on the pitch. Why these behemoth water cannons were placed at the sides of the pitch will always baffle me. Does any other club on earth have such an ill-conceived set-up?

Scoreboard. You spoke, they acted. Sort of. Since the big screen arrived on the side of the Glyn Beverly Stand, fans have been lobbying for it to be used for something other than a giant billboard. At first they asked for the score to be displayed, and it was, but that was never going to be enough on its own. The lobbyists turned their attention to getting a clock added to the scoreboard and finally got their way at the Eastleigh game. However, midway through the second half, with the clock twenty or thirty minutes behind the action for some reason, it was axed.

It’s an odd scoreboard set-up in general. When updating the score, the whole scoreline seems to need to be re-typed. Weird, but forgivable. Less forgivable is the fact that Bromley’s first goal wasn’t updated until about five minutes after it was scored. That’s just sloppy.

I also feel for the club’s main sponsor, LSP, who’ve gone from having their logo fill half of the screen to having it squeezed in at the bottom, resized in such a naff way it looks like a Microsoft Paint bodge-job.

In truth, the scoreboard doesn’t really matter. We’ve been doing just fine without it for years and if you’re sitting in the Glyn Beverly stand you can’t even see it. But I’ve always been of the opinion that if you’re going to do it, do it right. Apologists, however, will say that the system is just bedding in and will be sorted in time, and they’re bang on the money. So, there, that’s settled.

If you think I’ve missed anything, set me straight in the comments section below.

Player ratings:

Reice Charles-Cook - 8

Harry Forster - 7.5

Callum Reynolds - 8.5

Byron Webster - 8

Omar Sowunmi - 7

Reece Hannam - 6.5

Billy Bingham - 8

James Vennings - 7.5

Corey Whitely - 9 (star man)

Michael Cheek - 7.5

Adam Marriott - 9

Subs:

Louis Dennis - 9

Ethan Coleman - 6

Jude Arthurs - 6.5

From Bromley with love

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