Bromley 2 Gillingham 1 - TFT match repor

[col]

Bromley 2 Gillingham 1- Pre-Season Friendly – 09/07/2011
This was Bromley’s first game of Mark Goldberg’s third spell as manager at Hayes Lane and it ended in an unlikely win for the Conference South side against their neighbours from League Two.
The first half saw The Gills, fielding a mixed team of established players and trialists, start on top and create some good chances with Gregory Ngoyi missing the best opportunity when heading over from close range. Bromley improved as the half went on with Danny Hockton forcing a save from Ross Flitney after good work by Ryan Dolby down the left, but it ended goalless.
The second half saw wholesale changes on both sides with the visitors starting the better again, Darren Hawkes & Alex Brown went close before Luke Rooney put Gillingham in front on the hour with a great finish from the edge of the box. Bromley rallied again with Salifou Ibrahima firing over before Ross Hill equalised on 68mins with a header from a Rob Hughes free kick. Rooney & Stefan Payne went close for The Gills before late on The Ravens won the game when Hill found the corner of the net for his and Bromley’s second goal finishing off a low ball from Hughes. Dean Rance missed a late chance for Gillingham before Bromley could celebrate a positive start to the pre-season.

[Mash]

Really good workout yesterday and some interesting new and old faces playing and spotted around the ground. The result is largely irrelevant but tactically it was a good show by the side.

Too early to really know how we will be lining up for the new season but I'll take an early stab at saying that certainties for the squad will be

Gillman (if he wants in)
Cornielle (if he wants in)
Udoji
Dolan
Boyle
Patterson
Dolby
Salifou
Harding
Tutu
Hockton
Tuna (would love to see him sign)
Jones

leaves 5 places up for grabs in my book (4 if you include the fact we'll need a keeper)

[mikeyh]

Agree Mash ,a quality keeper could be the difference between a ok season & a poor one . Tuna looks ok but he is a midfield player not a support striker. If we create chances for him Hockton will score goals & if he scores goals then no one can slag him off .

[dazza]

I agree we need a keeper but i also think we need a leader in the middle of defence.Think Tutu playing a defensive midfield role would give some stability along with the fact he can shout to all players from that position.Another striker with some pace to either come off the bench and hassle the defenders or put a chance away from a long ball near the end of a game would be of benefit.Harding is the interesting one from Mash's line up though as i honestly didn't think he would be at this level this season.Would love it if he did stay.

[col]

If Tuna can recapture the from that made him captain of Turkey's Under 19 side then we'd have a good player on our hands.
No disrespect to Agu, but a Keeper is the main thing we need to bring in.
Get the right man next to Hockton and he may prove me wrong.
If Gillman & Corneille accept the money we can give them then they too would give us strength at the back and if Harding signs then we should be ok.
Lots of 'ifs' there, but then there is a month to go to the start and plenty of changes before the ko no doubt.
On the whole not anywhere near as grim as I had feared before Saturday.

[rich]

Really hope that Gilman and Corneille both sign on the dotted line : two definite positives if that were to happen

[bromlee]

Mash, would you add Hill to your above list if we can afford him? I know he scored two but as i was not at the game i dont know how he played except for the goals. Have to agree on the keeper as well, dont think we will be able to get wes back on loan so not sure who.

[mikeyh]

Rory Hill took his goals well especialy the 2nd one ,he was released by Gillingham Jan 2009 (explains why he looked so happy to score) had a loan spell at Salisbury in Conf prem ,then was at Croydon Athletic when they had cash ,finished last season at Lewes & scored a couple of goals.Cant find any info on Aaron Rhule the striker who played the 1st half.

[markc99]

Although I wasn't at the match, I'm not going to comment too much on 2 or 3 names mentioned (purely because we've currently got a no negativity thing going on). One thing I will say is hoping Tuna and Dolan stick around but really glad Sali's back. He may be sent off 3 times a year but rarely is disappointing when he features. He's add a bit of solidity to the centre of the park and doesn't try anything too flashy.