Bromley supporter Colin Head gives us his perspective of a day on the road supporting his side in the FA Cup.

6.00am the alarm goes off, I quickly turn it off. In all honesty I’ve been more or less awake for the past hour.

6.40am I leave for Hayes Lane, making the walk towards the ground I’ve made literally thousands of times before,  my wife and my son are still asleep.

6.50am I go into the CO-OP on the corner of Homesdale Road and Masons Hill to get a coffee and breakfast, there are dozens of Bromley fans in there including my mate Antonio who gives me a lift to the ground, as we pull up his Dad David is also just heading up to the driveway.

7.00am The Venue bar is packed with over 200 fans making the most of the free coach travel offer from the club and breakfast boxes on sale from the Tea Bar. There is a real buzz about the place, we’ve suffered disappointment at this stage of the tournament many times in recent history, but there is still hope we can do better today.

7.30am After a little confusion about the allocation of coaches, everyone is on board and the first of the six Anderson Coaches heads off to Bristol. By 7.50am we are all on our way. The club had done a great job in allocating the seats as I’m on the same coach as lots of people I have watched games with over the 40 odd years I have been a Bromley fan.

10.30am We stop at the services. More coffee is consumed and I buy a note pad for my report as I forgot to pack one! I catch up with more fans who are very guarded about their optimism, but full of praise for Neil Smith and his current squad. If there was ever a time we could possibly make a mark on this FA Cup it’s now.         

11.15am I get a text from my mate Sue to say they are all in The Wellington pub near the ground. It’s full of Bromley fans who have made their way down by train.

11.30am We arrive at The Memorial Stadium after some very impressive manoeuvres from our coach driver to squeeze through two lines of illegally parked cars just outside the ground. 

11.40am I think about going to the pub, but decide on lunch instead. The time flies past as I catch up with loads of fellow fans inside the ground and take advantage of the £5.50 pasty & coffee meal deal, which are both excellent quality. I like the Memorial Stadium a lot, but you can tell it was formerly a rugby ground by the way it is set out. The away end is basically a tent over some temporary seating, I check out where my allocated seat is and it’s in the front row directly in front of a metal support pole giving zero visibility of the pitch. Thankfully a steward tells me we can sit where we want. The music is cranked up by the DJ and as we hear the familiar tunes of ‘Sweet Caroline’ and ‘Hi Ho Silver Lining’ while standing in a marquee, you could be forgiven for thinking you were at a wedding reception.

12.00pm The team news is in and the most surprising selection is Sam Wood dropping out of the starting line up for Huddersfield Town loanee Rarmani Edmonds-Green at left back. Adam Mekki gets the nod for the number 10 role behind Michael Cheek with Josh Rees on the bench. It later emerges that Sam has picked up an injury during the week.                                  

12.35pm The 521 Bromley fans who have travelled are almost all in the stand ready for the cup tie, the teams come out to a great reception. I manage to find a space in with guys I have known for decades, Mash, Will, Pete & Ben. We’ve seen the good times and the terrible too. Everyone is relaxed, there is no pressure today, it’s all on Bristol Rovers who are two divisions above us.     

12.40pm There is a memorial service on the pitch prior to kick off. 

12.45pm Kick off. The game gets off to a predictably frantic start. We count down the minutes to half time and recall previous FA Cup first round rubbings at the hands of higher opposition and early goals that snuffed out hope.  

12.48pm Three minutes in 0-0, it’s already better than Fleetwood.

12.54pm Nine minutes in 0-0, it’s already better than Rochdale. 

1.00pm Fifteen minutes in 0-0 it’s already better than Colchester. 

1.30pm Half time 0-0. We have more than held out own, despite losing Luke Coulson to injury, Josh Rees has slotted in to the midfield. It’s a really good cup tie. 

1.50pm The second half is underway we are kicking down the slope towards the Bromley fans. The noise at times is deafening. It’s now better than Orient in 2012, Gillingham in 2006 and Enfield in 1996. Nothing will ever match the game with Dartford in 2014 for drama, but we lost that one as well in the end 4-3.      

2.00pm Edmonds-Green goes off injured for Sam Wood. Woody gets a huge reception when he runs on. The exhausted looking Mekki then departs for Adrian Clifton. We’ve used all three subs and there is half an hour left. 

2.05pm Clifton goes down injured, it looks serious. He tries to keep going but is basically just standing on the half way line and looking to get in the way of any Rovers defenders challenging for headers. Cheek has dropped in behind him. 

2.20pm A spell of Bristol Rovers pressure ends with a goal. We’ve been level for 78minutes, but there is a sense of resignation in the away end. At least it wasn’t later that would have hurt even more. Clifton limps off, we are down to ten men. There are no complaints, but let’s hope we done capitulate like we did at Swindon in 1977, where we went from 0-0 to 7-0 down in the last twenty minutes. 

2.30pm A Wood pass to Cheek leads to a corner for Bromley, there is a huge roar from the fans, could we? The Frankie Raymond corner catches the Rovers keeper out of position, he can only tip the ball to the far post where Chris Bush hooks it back over him and towards the un-guarded goal, it’s one of those moments that goes into slow motion. The ball drops over the line, Cheek runs in and smashes into the net to make sure, Goal! 1-1. Chaos.  The away end is shaking, fans pile forward to celebrate with the players.

2.35pm Following the kick off we nearly go in front, but Joe Kizzi heads narrowly wide, from there though it’s all Rovers. There will be a minimum seven minutes of injury time! It’s a complete rear guard action now. Ten men behind the ball. Players throw themselves in front of challenges and keeper Ryan Huddart seems unflappable when handling big balls into the box.

2.42pm We hold on. Full time 1-1. A replay at Hayes Lane. The result is celebrated like a win by the Bromley supporters. I can feel the emotion welling up inside me, this all we’ve ever asked for as Bromley fans  in the FA Cup and Neil Smith’s side have delivered. 

2:45pm. I catch up with Sue. Talk is already of tickets for the replay. 

3.00pm The coach heads back to Bromley full of smiling people who all look like they have just lived through something special. For the first time since 1946 We are in the hat on Monday night for the second round draw, ball number 19.  

7.00pm Home. An eleven hour day, worth every minute.