The New Year’s Day Game: Highs and Lows

A walk down a New Year's memory lane with Colin Head

While football players might be dead on their feet by this point, the New Year's Day game can come as a relief to fans. It offers a bit of fresh air to clear the cobwebs and a chance to catch up with friends and wish them a happy New Year. 

The professional Bromley players of today are probably in bed by half-nine, but in the Isthmian and Ryman years, the guys chasing after the ball on New Year’s Day may well have been nursing a hangover themselves. Sometimes it showed.

This year, however, tragic news emerged from National League HQ. The New Year’s Day games were to be moved to Saturday December 30th, depriving us of an age-old tradition. 

To keep the fire burning, I’ve picked some year-launching games from the past to give a window into where the club was at the time.

Did you attend any of them?

January 1st 1995 

Isthmian League Premier Division

Walton & Hersham 2 Bromley 3

Att: 453

For those who made the journey to Surrey on that freezing cold New Year’s Day, this game is part of Bromley folklore. As a footnote, it occurred during the controversial one-season experiment with kick-ins, which is explained in this article by Bromley’s then league mates Horsham FC.

As trains on the day were looking rather sketchy, the travelling fans hitched a lift to the game on the players’ coach. When it pulled up at Walton & Hersham’s old Stompond Lane ground, we blagged our way in for free as we walked into the stadium with the players. 

Just about every game in the league had been called off for a frozen pitch, but somehow this game had survived. Why it survived is another matter. From the stands, with a six-lane athletics track separating us from the pitch, we could hear the players' studs scraping on the rock-hard pitch. But the referee deemed it playable, so the game was on. 

The scorers that day were Joe Francis, Ricky Antione, and Pat Gordon, but that wasn’t the real story. 

Reserve keeper Peter Dale started the game between the sticks for the Ravens, but he got injured early in the second half. Without a sub keeper to turn to, striker Mickey Brown grabbed the gloves and added his name to football’s list of outfielders who took a turn in goal. He didn’t just make up the numbers, either.

Mickey made a world-class save late on to preserve three points for George Wakeling’s hard-working team. It also meant that Bromley began 1995 in second place in the table. 

Once the players and fans had been persuaded to leave the stadium bar, the coach journey home was a very happy one.

January 1st 1999 

Billericay Town 2 Bromley 2

Isthmian League Premier Division

Att: 777

Little did we know, this would be the last game in George Wakeling’s first spell as Bromley manager. The Ravens had started the season on fire and were topping the table in September, but with injuries and the departures of key players, results had tailed off and we were hovering in mid-table. 

Despite the lingering gloom, this was a fantastic game of football. Danny Carroll and Ian Rawlings were on target for Bromley in an end-to-end thriller. 

As we watched from the stands in Essex that New Year’s Day, we had no idea that George Wakeling would soon leave the club. The back-room drama certainly wasn’t evident on the pitch. 

Despite starting 1999 in mid-table, Bromley only won one more league game and were relegated on the last day of the season. So began a six-year stay in Division One.        

   

January 1st 2001 

Bedford Town 3 Bromley 0

Ryman League Division One

Att: 676

It’s hard to believe this was 23 years ago, as it feels like only yesterday we travelled to Bedfordshire for this bleak encounter. The club has certainly come a long way since then.

With Bromley struggling near the foot of the table under manager Dave Garland, a beleaguered few made the trip for the first game of 2001. I squeezed into a car with Rob, Garvo, Stokesy, and Will, as the trains to Bedford were messed up.

With us behind the goal that day was Machel, who was down from university for the Christmas break. Having been away, I think he found this lame performance harder to take than those of us who had endured the steady decline since relegation. “Has it been this bad all season?” Machel asked. I just nodded and sighed.

I think Bromley managed maybe one effort on target all game. Honestly, 3-0 flattered us. 

No one could question the efforts of the players representing the club. Unfortunately, the ever-changing lineup of veterans, kids, and loanees just couldn’t reach the required level. Relegation looked a very real prospect.

It was a solemn journey home.

January 1st 2008

Thurrock 2 Bromley 1

Conference South

Att: 346         

This was our first season in Conference South and Mark Goldberg was in the hot-seat. Having beaten Thurrock 8-1 at home on Boxing Day, hopes were high for the reverse fixture on New Year’s Day. We travelled over the Dartford Bridge confident that we were about to record a quick-fire double over our Essex neighbours. But that just isn’t the Bromley way. 

Instead, we muttered, stuttered, and fluffed our lines in front of a crowd that was mostly made up of Ravens fans. In retrospect, I guess there was no way that Thurrock were going to be that defensively generous twice. 

Gareth Williams netted the solitary Bromley goal that day. It was a mid-table kind of season.

January 1st 2019

Bromley 2 Sutton Utd 1

National League

Att: 1,428

Finally, a home game to warm the heart. There’s nothing like a last-minute winner against your local rivals to ring in the New Year. Particularly in front of the BT Sport cameras.

Having gone behind early on, JJ Hooper equalised for the Ravens just before half-time. The second half was a tense affair. Half-chances came and went, but the game seemed to be drifting towards a frustrating stalemate.

Then, when Bromley won a corner in the 89th minute, they substituted battle-scarred right-back Richard Brindley for hulking centre-back Jake Goodman, who sprinted straight into the fray. When Frankie Raymond’s corner drifted toward the back post, guess who was there to meet it? 

Jake’s thumping header sent the home fans into rapture and had Hayes Lane bouncing again after a difficult few months. The win might have only taken Neil Smith’s Bromley up to sixteenth in the table, but the Ravens had stolen three points from their neighbours and had every right to swagger into 2019. Even so, it was another mid-table kind of season.

So, how about you? Do any New Year’s Day encounters come to mind?

Happy New Year!

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