Bromley suffered another home defeat in their debut League Two season as they fell to Tranmere Rovers, who themselves hadn’t won since August, caused by some profligate finishing at one end and calamitous defending at the other from Andy Woodman’s team.
Starting with same team as their previous league outing, Bromley began on the front foot looking to be positive. Michael Cheek played in Danny Imray who blazed over from tight angle, quickly followed by a Corey Whitely cross that was scrambled away for a corner.
From the set piece Imray then went close again. Tranmere’s first chance came when a long ball up field found Connor Jennings, but he slipped just as he shaped to shoot on goal.
With The Ravens pressing and causing problems down the right, Ben Thompson crossed for Olufeloa Olomola whose shot at the far post was saved by Luke McGee.
Thompson then won the ball on the edge of the Rovers area and unleashed a powerful drive that McGee made a superb save from. As the game took on a more physical edge Whitely was caught late by Cameron Norman and after a scuffle involving several players Olomola and Woodman were booked for their protests.
Tranmere rallied from there briefly, but Bromley then pressed again. Callum Reynolds had an effort from corner saved by McGee, before Imray crossed for Olomola who shot wide. A great move on the half hour saw Whitely & Idris Odutayo combine to set up Imray who slid in at the far post, but could only turn the ball wide.
Late on Tranmere started to look dangerous, a long ball up to Jennings saw the forward unleash a powerful striker that Grant Smith did brilliantly to turn on to the post. With Nigel Adkins side finishing the half strongly, Luke Norris then headed wide.
The second half saw Bromley start with two changes, Levi Amantchi and Lewis Leigh coming on and it was Amantchi who made the first impact when he raced away towards goal and had his shot deflected wide for a corner.
Imray crossed for Odutayo whose header was blocked on the line, before Imray and Karmarl Grant put efforts over the bar from set pieces. Lee O’Connor fired over on a rare Tranmere attack, before Leigh had two powerful shots saved by the inspired McGee in the away goal.
Rovers finally started to get back into things when Omari Patrick played in Norman who went close for the visitors before they made the vital breakthrough on 75 minutes.
A long ball upfield by Jordan Turnbull found Patrick on the left and the Tranmere top scorer cut into the box before rolling the ball past Smith to make it 0-1.
From there Bromley had a great chance to level when a scramble from a corner fell to Amantchi, but the big striker shot over from ten yards out. The second and killer goal came on 80 minutes when substitute Harvey Saunders cashed in on a terrible short back pass from Reynolds and slid the ball past Smith to make it 0-2 with his first touches of the game.
The Ravens had a strong shout for a penalty soon after when Grant appeared to be hauled to the floor at a corner and they also went close when Imray had a shot saved by McGee and Leigh fired over.
Cameron Congreve went close from range after a good run, but it wasn’t until late into injury time that Bromley grabbed a goal back when Odutayo crossed for Louis Dennis to turn the ball in and make it 1-2.
Sadly for Bromley it was too late and they fell to their third home defeat of the season.
Bromley, without a win since August, have now slipped to third from bottom in the table and will have to regroup ahead of their trip to Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night.
Bromley: Smith, Imray, Grant, Reynolds, Sowunmi, Odutayo, Whitely, Thompson (Congreve 77), Charles (Leigh 45), Cheek (Dennis 55), Olomola (Amantchi 45). Subs Not Used: Long, Jenkinson, Webster.
Tranmere: McGee, Turnbull, Davies, Walker, Jennings (Bradshaw 57), Patrick (Saunders 80), Finley (Merrie 80), O’Connor, Norman, Norris, Davison (Hendry 57). Subs Not Used: Dennis, Murphy, Taylor.
HT 0-0 FT 1-2
Goals: BFC – Dennis 96mins TRFC – Patrick 75, Saunders 80mins.
Att: 3,376
Referee: Scott Tallis