St Albans City came close to slowing Bromley’s pursuit of the Conference South championship until the one on-target shot the Ravens mustered during an uninspiring encounter at Hayes Lane denied the Saints a justified share of the spoils on Saturday.
Bromley substitute Moses Ademola had been on the pitch for just nine minutes when he fired the only goal of the game past former Ravens keeper Joe Welch, and it came at time when St Albans suggested that they could possibly steal all three points from the improbably named Fortress Stadium.
Playing their first match since club captain Ben Martin quit to join league leaders Boreham Wood, City recalled Lee Chappell at the end of his three-match suspension although he was pushed to wide on the left of the midfield, as Nathan Green retained the left-back position.
Cameron Lancaster was given his first league start but lasted less than half an hour before a crude challenge by Bromley skipper Rob Swaine cut short his participation.
Remarkably, that foul by Swaine, for which he was booked, was one of just two committed by the Kent side throughout the entire match.
City, on the other hand, picked up another four bookings to inflate an already alarmingly high total for the season.
One look at the heavily sanded pitch made it clear that flowing football would be difficult and so it proved, as the game failed to scale any great heights. Good honest endeavour was not in short supply, but excitement certainly was.
City, though, were denied an early goal when John Frendo was adjudged to have shoved Swaine when chasing a high ball into the home penalty area. Swaine had, in fact, moved across to block the City striker but Chappell’s neat finish was still rubbed out.
A good chance went begging for the home side when Damian Scannell’s cross from the Bromley right was volleyed over the target at the back post by Louis Dennis.
The home side went close to grabbing a freak lead when a cross by Danny Walden swung and dropped suddenly in the breeze onto the roof of Welch’s goal.
City also had a let off when Welch slipped as he came out to collect a deep free kick into the penalty area but, fortunately for the visitors, Swaine, under pressure from Green and Darren Locke, was just unable to reach the ball.
Swaine’s fluctuating afternoon took another twist when he was booked for a shocking challenge on Lancaster. Given some of the red cards City players have received in recent weeks the Bromley man was most fortunate to stay on the pitch.
David Keenleyside replaced Lancaster and within seconds, after a Green corner was only partially cleared, the City substitute chipped a good cross into the goalmouth that just eluded the diving Frendo.
Chappell had the first, and City’s only, on-target shot of the day when ending a lengthy run with a tame shot through to one-time Saints keeper Seb Brown.
The half ended goalless, something that underlined just how commanding both sets of defences had been.
The second half continued in much the same vein although a good run by Corcoran early on almost created an opening.
Corcoran then spread a pass wide to James Comley who fed a good ball into the box to Keenleyside whose shot, following an excellent piece of control, was blocked by Jack Holland.
Such was the dominance of the City backline that the prospect of a Bromley goal was diminishing fast until, virtually out of nothing, the Ravens struck on 77 minutes to secure a fifth straight win.
A through ball by Comley was cut out by Holland who quickly fed Dennis. After shrugging off John Kyriacou, Dennis flighted a perfect chip into the City penalty area for Ademola to seize upon, cut inside Green and fire left-footed past the impressive Welch.
Bromley looked to be holding onto their lead in relative comfort until Comley so nearly capped a tireless display with a bizarre goal.
Captaining City in a league match for the first time since Martin’s departure, but the 44th time overall, Comley chased a Holland back pass and got to the ball at the same time as Brown.
As the keeper tried to clear his lines Comley dived in to block the ball that crashed into his leg, looped high over the keeper and dropped to thud against the top of the crossbar.
City were awarded a corner from that incident, which Chappell crossed to Corcoran whose header went wide of the target.
A close call it most certainly was but Bromley had survived to reduce Boreham Wood’s lead at the top of the table and nudge City down to 10th.
Speaking after the game the joint City manager James Gray admitted that there are vacancies within the squad following the recent departures of central defenders Martin and Tom Ward. Striker Loick Pires also had his contract terminated on Friday.
A third central defender, Ian Gayle, has had his loan from Dagenham & Redbridge extended by another month but, so far, the Saints have been unable to secure Charlie Smith’s from Luton Town for a further 28 days. |
