A quick rearrangement of the fixture due to the current state of the pitch at The Shay saw Bromley host this National League game, but unfortunately for Neil Smith’s side their troublesome home form continued as lost to a hard working Halifax Town.

The Ravens played with ten men for most of the second half after Liam Trotter was sent off.

The Ravens brought in winger Jack Bridge for his debut, keeping the 4-4-2 formation from the previous Tuesday and moving Ben Williamson to the bench.

The game started with both sides looking positive, Chris Bush went close with a shot from range early on, while Kieran Green fired wide at the other end.

The deadlock was broken after 15minutes when Michael Cheek burst into the box and went down under the challenges of Luke Summerfield and Green.

Referee Karl Evans pointed to the spot and Cheek got up to powerfully convert the penalty making 1-0 to Bromley.

The lead didn’t last long though, Halifax had a good spell of pressure following the goal and drew level on 20 minutes when Tahvon Campbell just got to a Jack Earing cross before Mark Cousins and the Bromley keeper brought him down on the edge of the six yard box to concede a penalty.

Summerfield then sent Cousins the wrong way with the spot kick and it was 1-1. Soon after Green headed narrowly over from a corner as The Shaymen continued to press and he then shot over from long range, while Jef King also had a volley from a corner well saved by Cousins.

The game developed a more physical edge as the half went on with some heavy challenges going in and a flurry of yellow cards. Late on Bromley rallied, but Halifax almost went in front with the final chance of the half when Cousins saved from Earing low down to his right.

The second half started in the worst possible fashion for Bromley, a long ball from Tom Bradbury found Jamie Allen and as Kory Roberts slipped the Halifax striker ran though and coolly slotted the ball past Cousins to put the visitors in front.

To make things worse Harry Forster then went off injured as Bromley struggled to get going. One brief response saw Bridge and Bush combined to set up Cheek, but the top scorer saw his curling shot from the edge of the box come back off the post.

Any real chance of a come back was thwarted on 68bminutes though, when Trotter misplaced a pass, which was intercepted by Danny Williams and then as Trotter slid in to make up for his error, the influential midfielder was late and high with his challenge and Referee Evans sent him off, Williams having to go off injured soon after.

The resulting free kick hit the wall and Summerfield then drove the rebound of his initial shot wide.

As the half progressed Halifax kept the ball superbly well and made Bromley work hard to gain any possession, a brief response saw Williamson denied by Sam Johnson as he shot from the edge of the area, but The Ravens really struggled to get going.

Jeff King went close with a shot from a corner for the visitors,before in eight minutes of injury time Bromley pushed on with Cheek denied by a great challenge from Jack Senior and Joe Kizzi having a shot deflected over the bar, but it was too little too late for Bromley who suffered their seventh home loss in all competitions this season, which saw then slip to fourteenth in the table.

The Ravens are back in action on Tuesday night at home to Woking as they look to reignite their play off challenge.

Bromley: Cousins Kizzi Bush Webster Roberts Bridge (Wakefield 65) Bingham Trotter Forster (Forster 53) Cheek Duffus (Raymond 70)

Subs Not Used: Alabi, Holland.

Halifax: Johnson King Byrne Bradbury Allen Earing Williams (Senior 70) Summerfield Maher Campbell (Tear 90)

Subs Not Used: Benn Davison-Hale, Belehouan, Tear.

Goals: Bromley- Cheek 15min pen. Halifax – Summerfield 20, Allen 48mins.

Pictures supplied by Ed Boyden Photos.