After two impressive 3-0 home wins which kept Bromley in touch with the National League leaders over the festive period, The Ravens make the trip to Notts County on Saturday afternoon to take on famous opposition at Meadow Lane.
Neil Smith’s side ended a run of three defeats with two wins in four days at Hayes Lane and kept clean sheets in both despite being without injured captain Jack Holland and losing fellow centre back Dave Winfield, who limped off in the first half of the Dover Athletic game on New Year’s Day.
The 3-0 win over Dover reversed the disappointing Boxing Day loss at Crabble and kept The Ravens in third place with 50 points from 29 games, thanks to goals from Frankie Raymond, Josh Rees and top scorer Michael Cheek.
In their first season following relegation from the Football League Notts County currently sit in seventh in the table with 43 points from 28 matches played, The Magpies drew 0-0 at Maidenhead Utd on New Year’s Day to extend their run of six games unbeaten under manager Neil Ardley, their last loss being a 3-1 FA Cup defeat to Northampton Town at the start of December.
When the sides met at Hayes Lane in September Bromley won 2-1 with goals from loanees Alfie Doughty and Shawn McCoulsky either side of a Kyle Wootton strike for County.
Doughty and McCoulsky have since gone back to their parent clubs Charlton Athletic and Forest Green Rovers respectively, Michael Klass being the only loan player remaining at Bromley, from Southend United. Another tight game is expected this time with both sides looking to cement play off spots and stay in touch with leaders Barrow.
With Dave Winfield now potentially joining the injury list of Jack Holland, Jake Goodman, Mark Cousins & Adrian Clifton, manager Neil Smith may be looking at reshuffling his back four again, although he does have winger Reeco Hackett-Fairchild & utility man Jordan Higgs back available.
A good number of Bromley fans look set to make the trip up to Nottingham for this one to see The Ravens play The Magpies at a stadium which last saw top flight football back in 1992 in the final season before the Premier League started.