Bromley suffered their first home defeat of the season on Saturday afternoon at the hands of high flying Boreham Wood who are now unbeaten in the first five games.
Lining up 3-5-2 Bromley started the game well and after James Alabi had been fouled by Will Evans, Billy Bingham saw his free kick deflect wide off the wall for a corner, but as the game got going Wood started to threaten.
Scott Boden had a header hit the underside of the bar, as he was flagged for offside, but Bromley didn’t heed the warning and fell behind on 15 minutes.
The Ravens defence failed to clear a set piece and the ball eventually fell to Boden who crashed the ball home from close range to put the visitors in front. Bromley rallied from there, Harry Forster had a powerful drive tipped over by Nathan Ashmore and Louis Dennis also fired over from long range.
Forster was at the heart of anything The Ravens created, but in general they gave the ball away far too much and lost possession in key areas and the game was hindered as a spectacle by offer fussy officiating.
Evans had a header saved from a corner for Wood and they missed a great opportunity to make it two soon after, when Mark Cousins under hit a ball to Byron Webster which was intercepted by Tyrone Marsh who then played in Josh Rees, but the former Bromley man turned his chance wide of the far post.
Bromley manager Andy Woodman made two changes at half time bringing on Chris Bush and Liam Trotter and initially it paid off with The Ravens drawing level on 47 minutes. Corey Whitely winning a corner down the left, which Dennis played short to Bingham and after exchanging passed, it was Bingham who crashed the ball home for 1-1.
Parity only lasted six minutes though, as Boreham Wood exposed Bromley’s lack of mobility at the back by opening them up with quick passing along the ground. Marsh playing in Rees to coolly slot the ball into the corner of the net against his old club.
After a quiet spell, The Ravens pulled level again though, when Dennis’ corner found Cheek at the near post and the top scorer headed home powerfully in a crowded area.
Rees had a free kick saved by Cousins as the game opened up for a spell, while at the other end Forster crossed for Bingham whose shot across goal was saved by Ashmore.
Late in the game Ashmore made a superb one handed save low down to his right to deny a Dennis volley and that stop proved to be key as the match entered stoppage time.
Bromley pressed from a corner, but were caught out on the break as Femi Ilesanmi cleared the ball up the left to Marsh, who then turned and ran with the ball before exchanging passes with Kane Smith on the right and firing the ball past Cousins from the edge of the area to make it 3-2 to the visitors as the game ticked into injury time.
From there Bromley had no time to respond and were left to rue their defensive frailties as Boreham Wood celebrated their impressive start to the season.
Woodman now has to quickly lift his side, who have slipped to sixteenth, for their trip to tenth placed Woking in the National League on Tuesday night.
Bromley: Cousins, Partington, Webster, Sowunmi (Bush 45), Forster (Mnoga 82) , Bingham Arthurs (Trotter 45), Dennis, Alabi, Cheek.
Subs Not Used: O’Brien, Skeffington.
Boreham Wood – Ashmore, Ilesanmi, Ricketts, Evans, Rees (Stephens 90), Boden (Clifton 82) , Marsh, Fyfield, Raymond (Smith 67), Meny, Smith.
Subs Not Used: Green, Munns.
Goals: BFC – Bingham 47, Cheek 66mins. BWFC – Boden 15, Rees 53, Marsh 90mins.
HT 0-1 FT 2-3
Ref: Elliott Swallow