After a rare midweek without a fixture Bromley are back in National League action on Saturday afternoon when they take on Barnet at Hayes Lane.
The Ravens go into the game on the back of a 2-1 victory away to Eastleigh last weekend, with Jack Holland and Courtney Duffus scoring second half goals to give Neil Smith’s men all three points.
The win down in Hampshire moved Bromley up to eighth in the table with 37 points from 25 league games played, one point off the play off spots.
Taylor Maloney made a welcome return to the starting line up at Eastleigh replacing Billy Bingham in midfield, while Frankie Raymond continued to deputise at left back with Chris Bush suspended.
Smith was full of praise for his side’s efforts in all departments and how exiting he is at the blossoming strike partnership between top scorer Michael Cheek who has notched 15 so far and Courtney Duffus who joined in January, scoring 5 goals to date.
Barnet make the trip down from North West London sitting 22nd in the table with 12 points from 24 National League matches played. They were without a game last Saturday, but on Tuesday night The Bees hosted Wrexham at The Hive and were defeated 2-0 by the Red Dragons, their fifth consecutive loss.
The Bees have struggled this season with manager Tim Flowers resigning on Wednesday night having only taken over in December following the sacking of Peter Beadle who had replaced Darren Currie in the summer.
Former manager Paul Fairclough is now in temporary charge of the first team while the club assess its options. Among The Bees squad is former Ravens striker JJ Hooper, who is from the Bromley area and played for both Cray Wanderers at the start of his career and then Bromley on loan from Grimsby Town for the second half of the 2018/19 season before moving to Wrexham that summer.
When the sides met at The Hive in November Bromley won the game 3-1 with goals from Michael Cheek, Joe Kizzi and James Alabi, before Barnet pulled one back through Michael Petrasso.
In the last meeting at Hayes Lane in January 2020, Barnet won 2-1 with goals from Simeon Akinola and Josh Walker either side of a Josh Rees strike for Bromley, with The Bees eventually making it into the play offs on PPG after the early ending to the season.
With no real clarity over the relegation issue or whether the new proposed mini league below the National League will start playing, Barnet are left to battle things out and try to claw their way out of the bottom three under their third manager of the campaign.
While Bromley, who have only lost once in their last five, are setting their sights on making it into the play offs for the first time since promotion to this level back in 2015.
If The Ravens are to achieve this then Neil Smith’s men need to start by winning back to back league games for the first time this campaign.
Games continue to be played behind closed doors due to Covid 19 Restrictions, but supporters can watch the live stream via the official Bromley website for £9.99.