Bromley 0 Braintree 3 - TFT Match Report

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Bromley 0 Braintree Town 3 – BSS – 09/04/2011
Braintree picked up a vital three points in their title bid at Bromley in a hard fought encounter that turned in their favour after Ravens striker Leon McKenzie was sent off early in the second half.
Braintree dominated possession in the first half and put Bromley under pressure with their direct style, but the home side’s defence coped well with the task and as the half went on it was The Ravens who created the best chance when a McKenzie knock down fell to Harry Harding who blasted an effort straight at Nathan McDonald and Tutu Henriques fired the rebound wide.
The second half was just eight minutes old when McKenzie was judged to have fouled Adam Bailey Dennis when challenging for a header and he was shown a second yellow card by Referee Cook. Braintree piled the pressure on with an aerial bombardment and got their break through on 57mins when Kenny Davis’ smart finish beat Craig Holloway. Jerome Sobers went close for Bromley before the visitors went 2-0 up on 68mins when a low cross from Bradley Quinton was tapped in by Cliff Akurang. Bromley continued to be positive going 3-4-2, but their attempts came to nothing and The Iron made it 3-0 on 88mins when Harrison Dunk was judged to have given away a penalty which Jai Reason tucked away to complete the scoring. The final score was harsh on Hayden Bird’s men, but Braintree look to have what it takes to win this league with their organisation and uncompromising style.

Quote for the game, 'I'm lost for words.' - Garvo.

Bromley: Holloway, Graves, Dunk, Sobers, Harwood, Nnamani, Daly, Harding, Henriques, Ide, McKenzie. Subs: McBean, Finn, Udodji, A Fray, Jones.

[Mash]

Can't really complain about the performance, we were well in the game till the sending off. That changed the game and as expected Braintree went on to win the game.

The ref was woefully inept at best, not in so much as the sending off but the general inconsistency. Once he had decided that any challenge by Mckenzie in the air was a foul why was every other aerial challenge seen as fair?

Their number 4 needs to have a long hard look at himself, there is no doubt he played to get Mckenzie sent off (through the course of the game) and some of the other players rolling around had to be seen to be believed.

Still all that said its not hard to see why Braintree are top, long ball, cynical and uncompromising... its what gets you out of this league and they seem to have perfected it, so fair play to them

[exiled]

Can't complain about our performance, up until the sending off we battled well and looked solid at the back. Main problem was the lack of a meaningful threat going forward, particularly as McKenzie was on a "last chance" from the ref from about the 25th minute onwards.

Braintree were cynical and the referee bought everything hook, line and sinker. Weakest and worst bunch of officials I have seen this season. Not suprised to hear later that it was the same ref that played 8 minutes of 2nd half injury time at Chelmsford in the Cup earlier this year. Happy we won't be playing them again next year and will enjoy watching them lose every week in the league above.

[rich]

Yes the officials were poor but then when aren't they at this level ? I heard several fans around me predict that McKenzie was a sending-off waiting to happen today (early yellow card + Oscar-award winning defenders = inevitable red) - hindsight is always great but didn't this cross the management's minds too ?

[Swaine's Ginger Cat]

If Bird's future is being judged at the moment, then I'd say today was a positive result for him. At half time Braintree had shaded possession but we should have been 1-0 up. When you think that they're scrapping for the title & we have nothing to play for, that was a good show from Bromley, we were really up for it & having a go at them.

However, the one big mistake I think Bird made was not swapping mcKenzie for McBean at half time. I was amazed that McKenzie even made it to half time, they were doing everything they could to get him sent off & the ref was happy to go along with it all. He was like an injured player start of 2nd half, because he couldn't dare challenge for a ball because he knew they'd fall over. The lino on the dug out side was equally poor, particularly 2nd half.

The officials aren't all rubbish at this level - wasn't Massey good the other week? Equally, you don't need a great ref if you have 2 teams trying to play football rather than con the ref - you only need good officials when players are trying to con them all the time.

Makes sense why despite being top of the league, they don't have many fans. Wonder what it's like playing for a team like that too? I guess you build up a team spirit that ignores what the opposing fans think, & what would you think about having to play like that? Chelmsford are a big physcial team, but didn't see the need to con the ref constantly, but hopefully Braintree will go up because I don't want to watch them again next year, & hopefully they'll struggle in BSP as there's no much quality in their team compared with Chelmsford, Welling & Dover. I did think their keeper was excellant today, & the 3 played well too, but overall today I just felt dismayed that my afternoon was being spoilt like that, but I handed over my season ticket application for the 1st time in 25 years of following Bromley.

[mikeyh]

The ref wanting to send McKenzie off and their 4 trying his best to get him sent off was a bad combination for us ,suppose Bird could have subbed him but i thought Leon was being careful to avoid challenges and looked to be our best chance of getting a goal so i dont blame him for leaving him on. We did ok while it was 11 v 11 so maybe we should take it as a compliment that they were trying so hard to get him sent off.Anyway more importantly didnt look like we picked up any injuries before tuesday.

[bern]

Got to agree with most of the comments re the ref etc. but McKenzie was stupid to even get into that situation, and shows that he is lacking in his thought process, that aside No4 needs to take a look at himself. I remember a wrestler in the 70's called "Jim crybaby Breaks" who cried like baby when anyone touched him, much like No4.
The comment about the goalie having a good game, seemed strange to me, as I can't rember any shots on goal. The closest was Tutus volley,unless of course you are talking about all the corners which went straight to him!

[Swaine's Ginger Cat]

Yeah he didn't look the tallest keeper in the world but dealt with all the crosses perfectly