A dominant display by Bromley, one in which their visitors FC Halifax Town spent a large majority of the game on the back foot, culminated in another three points and the stretching of their unbeaten run to five games.
With Bromley playing their third game in eight days, Neil Smith took the opportunity to freshen the side up following Saturday’s creditable 1-1 draw with Chester. Lee Minshull returned to the side in place of Ali Fuseini whilst Pierre Joseph-Dubois made his first start since the 19th December replacing Adam Coombes.
The opening 14 minutes of the game witnessed a cagey affair with both sides feeling the other out unable to fashion any clear efforts on goal or develop fluency in their approach play. However the game was to burst into life from the 15th minute onwards, Jack Holland sent in a fantastic cross that Adam Cunnington did well to head back across goal only for Moses Emmanuel to sidefoot wide inside the 6 yard box when it seemed easier to hit the target.
Emmanuel did not let the miss get to him and it was his tenacity on the left wing, four minutes later, that enabled him to dig out a cross that found Minshull on the back post. As Minshull struggled to dig the ball out from under his feet he could only succeed in toe-poking an effort at goal that took a late deflection off Scott Mcmanus sending the effort spinning just over the crossbar.
Minshull was to be central to the next Bromley effort at goal; the lively Joseph-Dubois went on a slalom-esque run through the FC Halifax defence that eventually led to the ball breaking to Minshull. Minshull’s cross back into the penalty area was expertly taken down by Emmanuel only for his swivelled effort to screw just wide of the post.
With FC Halifax unable to offer anything of note going forward, Bromley fashioned one more opportunity five minutes before the half time whistle. Joseph-Dubois collected the ball on the edge of the 18 yard box and as he cut across it he let fly with a dipping half-volley that flashed past the post with Johnson in the Halifax goal beaten.
Despite the bombardment of the FC Halifax goal and the dominance of Bromley in possession, they were unable to break the deadlock by half-time. The visitors had led a charmed life but had shown good defensive discipline to keep the scoreline intact.
The second half was to follow a similar pattern to the first but with FC Halifax growing in confidence, Bromley looked increasingly frustrated at their inability to break down the resolute FC Halifax rearguard.
Minshull was the first to go close seven minutes after the restart profiting from a forceful run by Dubois, the ball broke to Minshull on the edge of the box but he could flash his effort wide of the post.
In the 63rd minute, Dubois had dubious penalty appeal turned down when he ran on to a loose ball in the penalty area but as he looked to pull the trigger his effort was smothered by a combination of Hamza Bencherief and Matthew Brown.
When Neil Smith made the decision to substitution top scorer Emmanuel for Bradley Goldberg in the 68th minute, the FC Halifax defence could have been forgiven for thinking it was job done. However it was Goldberg who was to prove the difference maker, his fresh legs and incisive runs tormented the FC Halifax defence and it was one such run at the heart of the defence that led to the opening goal. Goldberg picked up the ball 30 yards from goal and used his quick feet and speed to run directly at the FC Halifax defence, as he drew men to him Goldberg was able to slip a slide rule pass through to Cunnington who finished expertly low across Johnson to break the deadlock.
The goal seemed to briefly spring FC Halifax into life and their one and only effort on target came nine minutes from time. Bromley failed to clear their lines from a corner and as a cross was sent back in, Bencherief turned brilliantly in the box only to see his effort rebound off the post via Alan Julian’s fingertips.
That was to be as good as it got for FC Halifax as the remainder of the game played out to little or no incident.
With the three points secure, Bromley moved up to 11th place in the Vanarama National League and perhaps far more importantly unto 51 points. To all intents and purposes this should now guarantee survival for Bromley this season and with 11 games remaining the Hayes Lane faithful can look ahead and enjoy the rest of the season knowing that any points from here on in are an added bonus. For interim manager Neil Smith, he may now be wondering if he can make a greater claim to be given the job permanently having now led Bromley to five games unbeaten and playing with a bit of the swagger of the early season.
Bromley will hope to make it six games unbeaten when they entertain Guiseley at home this Saturday.
Bromley: Julian, Holland, Anderson, Francis, Swaine, Chorley, Minshull, Joseph-Dubois (Dennis 77), Gordon, Emmanuel (Goldberg 68), Cunnington (Fuseini 87)
Subs not used: May, Coombes
Goals: Cunnington 75
FC Halifax Town: Johnson, Bolton, Bencherief, Brown, Roberts (Hughes 81), Mcmanus, Wroe, Hibbs, James (Macdonald 76), Burrows (Peniket 82), Mcdonald
Subs not used: Porter, Walker
Referee: Mr David Rock
Attendance: 706