An injury ravaged Bromley travelled to Altrincham on Saturday and grounded out a goalless draw that did nothing to ease the relegation fears of their hosts and gave Bromley another point towards their quest for a top ten finish.
Formerly interim manager Neil Smith had been delighted to be named permanent Bromley manager in the week but had his work cut out for him in his first game as official manager.
Injured and unavailable for the Altrincham trip were, Ben Chorley, Alex Wall, Max Porter, Louis Dennis, Ben May, and Adam Cunnington. In addition to this Paul Rodgers was still serving his suspension following his Easter Monday red card.
Consequently Smith was forced to name 4 youngsters on the bench and an unfit Rohdell Gordon. On top of that a few players had to pass late fitness tests to take their place in the starting line up. Most intriguingly for the Bromley fanbase was the opportunity to witness a strike partnership of Moses Emmanuel and Bradley Goldberg breaking the tried and trusted big-small man formula.
Alas the first half of the match was a desperately poor half of football; neither side was able to demonstrate any fluency as fans took to entertaining themselves in search of some level of excitement.
The first opportunity of the game came courtesy of the lively Josh Ginnelly in the 21st minute. Bursting on to a through ball he was able to slalom past Sean Francis but his goalbound effort was superbly blocked by Bromley captain Rob Swaine.
It took Bromley until the 40th minute to fashion an opportunity at goal. Goldberg’s shot following an enterprising run deflected off Jake Moult and span narrowly wide past the right hand post.
That chance seemed to spring Altrincham briefly into life and twice in consecutive minutes they came close just before the half time whistle. Firstly Moult had his twenty yard drive deflected goalwards by Michael Rankine only for Alan Julian to pull off a fine reaction stop.
Julian then had to be at his best to again deny Rankine, palming away the striker’s powerful header from an Altrincham corner.
The second half witnessed a much livelier affair and one in which Altrincham came out of the traps the brighter side. As early as two minutes after the restart, good interchange between Ginnelly and James Lawrie allowed Michael Rankine to profit and place his effort past Julian however the goal was rightly ruled offside.
Bromley immediately retorted when Goldberg ran on to Ali Fuseini’s through ball beating a couple of defenders but Tim Deasy was equal to his effort.
However Altrincham quickly regained the ascendancy, first Lawrie headed just wide from a corner before Ginnelly missed Altrincham’s best chance of the game. Rankine played Ginnelly through on goal but despite gliding past both Bromley centre backs Ginnelly placed his effort past Julian and the post when it seemed easier to hit the target.
From that point on Altrincham seemed to run out of ideas and over the remaining twenty minutes of the game Bromley could only have themselves to blame for not snatching three points as wayward finishing let them down.
On 70 minutes Goldberg went close when his jinking run saw him beat two defenders inside the penalty area but his curling effort did not have enough bend on it to nestle inside the net. Ten minutes later, one touch exchanges between substitute Jordan Higgs and Emmanuel saw the latter skip past his marker before shooting wildly over the crossbar when well set 18 yards out.
Emmanuel was to go even closer five minutes from time, Goldberg played Emmanuel in on goal but as he bore down on Tim Deasy, Emmnauel poked his effort wide of both Deasy and the far post.
Emmanuel completed his hat-trick of missed opportunities in the final minute of normal time. A defensive error was quickly seized on by Emmanuel but despite having a free run on goal from 25 yards Emmanuel rushed the effort and Deasy was able to save the low drive.
That Bromley finished the match the stronger would surely have pleased Neil Smith especially in light of the injury problems the side face. Yet if not for wasteful finishing Bromley should have come away with three points and that will add an element of frustration upon reflection.
With three games remaining for the season, Smith has set his sights on claiming a top 10 place and it will undoubtedly go down to the last day of the season to see which of Macclesfield, Lincoln, Bromley and Barrow can claim the position.
Altrincham: Deasy, Sinnott, Leather, Havern, Griffen, Moult (O’Keefe 68), Richman, Lawrie, Ginnelly, Crowther (Reeves 75), Rankine
Subs not used: Heathcote, Williams, Saville
Bromley: Julian, Holland, Swaine, Minshull, Anderson, Francis (Gordon 46), Joseph-Dubois, Fuseini, Coombes (Higgs 74), Emmanuel, Goldberg
Subs not used: O’Conner, Crean, Stanic-Stewart
Referee: Mr Steven Rushton
Attendance: 1035 (73 Bromley)