A six goal thriller amidst severely blustery conditions saw Bromley and Torquay share the spoils although both teams will perhaps feel they could have used the conditions better when they were in their respective favour.

 

Goals from Jack Holland and Joe Kizzi sandwiched a Jamie Reid penalty to give Bromley a half time lead. Before Torquay turned the game on its head in the second half with goals from Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Jake Andrews.

Torquay’s joy was to be short-lived however as Frankie Raymond equalised direct from a corner to make sure honours ended even.

Bromley had caught Torquay cold in the opening minutes of the match when Frankie Raymond saw his free kick held up in the wind. Neither the Torquay defence nor Shaun Macdonald in the Torquay goal judged the flight correctly allowing Jack Holland to bundle the ball in.

Despite the wind being in Torquay’s favour for the majority of the first half Bromley did well to restrict the Gulls to shots from distance.

Indeed Luke Coulson could have stretched Bromley’s lead when he seized on Ben Wynter’s slip but Macdonald did well to save Coulson’s shot with his feet.

When Torquay eventually drew level it was referee Matthew Russell who was to take centre stage. 10 minutes before half time he adjudged that Lemonheigh-Evans had been fouled by Coulson inside the penalty area. 

The decision sparked huge protestations but the decision stood.

Reid kept a cool head to drown out the protestations and smash the penalty home to draw Torquay level.

Having got the equaliser Torquay could have taken the lead when they were awarded an indirect free-kick inside the penalty area, following Mark Cousins picking up Holland’s backpass, however Andrew’s free kick was blocked on the goal-line by several Bromley players.

On the stroke of half-time Bromley retook the lead. Holland met another Raymond free-kick with a looping header that crashed off the crossbar into Kizzi’s path and he had the simple task of heading into the net.

As much as Torquay had failed to make the most of favourable conditions in the first half they were excellent playing against the wind in the second 45.

Coulson should have stretched Bromley’s lead shortly after the restart but he shot wastefully over the crossbar when played in by Kizzi.

Bromley did not kick on from there and when the Torquay equaliser came it was no more than they deserved.

Intricate passing opened up space for Frank Vincent and his excellent left wing cross was outrageously volleyed home by Lemonheigh-Evans with the outside of his boot.

With Bromley increasingly ponderous in possession, Torquay promptly took the lead with a carbon copy goal but this time from the right. 

Kalvin Kalala swung in an excellent cross for Andrews to sweep in first time at the backpost past Mark Cousins.

However no sooner had Torquay taken the lead than Bromley equalised with their next attack. Frankie Raymond’s wind-assisted corner beat Macdonald to nestle into the top corner of the net. 

Coulson should perhaps have won it for Bromley 14 minutes from time, exchanging passes with Michael Cheek the winger broke into the penalty area but screwed his shot wide when it was easier to hit the target.

The remainder of the game played out to little or no incident ensuring that Bromley maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

Bromley (4-4-1-1):  Cousins; Kizzi, Holland, Bush, Wood; Hackett-Fairchild  (Clifton 67), Raymond, Bingham, Coulson (Mekki 79); Porter  (Higgs 79); Cheek 

Subs not used: Okoye, Klass, 

Goals: Holland 2, Kizzi 45+1, Raymond 70

 

Torquay Utd (4-2-3-1): Macdonald; Wynter, Niate, Cameron, Vincent (Lewis 85); Hall, Little (Keating 90); Kalala, Lemonheigh-Evans, Andrews (Edwards 85); Reid 

Subs not used: Duku, Covolan

Goals: Reid 35, Lemonheigh-Evans 63, Andrews 69

 

Attendance: 1,398

Referee: Mr Matthew Russell