After a month of pre-season fixtures Bromley begin their fifth consecutive National League campaign on Saturday with a trip Lancashire to face newly promoted Chorley at Victory Park. 

The Ravens manager Neil Smith has brought in several new faces to the squad over the summer as he looks to improve on last season’s twelfth place finish. Mark Cousins has come in from Barnet as keeper, Joe Kizzi from Billericay at right back and centre back Chris Bush from Ebbsfleet.

In midfield former Gillingham player Billy Bingham has slotted into the centre, with Reeco Fairchild-Hackett from Charlton on the left. Up front has seen wholesale changes with Michael Cheek coming in from Ebbsfleet, Adrian Clifton from Maidenhead and youngster Korey Henry from Braintree. One cause for concern for the boss will be the lack of goals so far from the forwards, with only Henry finding the net over the warm up games with a solitary goal against Maidstone.

Smith has kept several key players from last season’s squad including captain Jack Holland, fellow centre back Marc-Anthony Okoye and left back Sam Wood. In midfield Frankie Raymond, Jordan Higgs and Luke Coulson have been retained and utility man George Porter who can play in a variety of positions and Adam Mekki is now close to a return from a broken leg. Topping up the squad are some promising academy players including Briggs Ojeman, Billy Craske and Ollie Tanner.

Pre-Season has seen Bromley win three, draw two and lose two matches, scoring seven goals and conceding the same amount, on Saturday they lost 1-0 at home to a Charlton Athletic XI despite having over a dozen efforts on goal.

Chorley won the National League North play offs last season after finishing second to Stockport County in the title race, they defeated Spennymoor Town on penalties in the final after a 1-1 draw. The Magpies return to non league football’s top flight after an absence of 28 years and several near misses in recent times, with manager Jamie Vermiglio finally bringing fifth tier football back to the club.

In pre-season Chorley have won 4, drawn 1 and lost 3, but have also struggled to find the net in their last few warm up matches, drawing 0-0 with FC United of Manchester last weekend.

All the preparation and hard work has lead up to this with Chorley on a high from promotion and Bromley looking to make  a good start this will be a close hard fought encounter to kick off the National League season for 2019/20.