The 2005/06 season began with Bromley back in the Ryman League Premier Division after eight years away following promotion via the Division One Play Offs. The managerial team of George Wakeling, Billy Smith & Frank Coles kept most of the promoted team together but did lose Sam Okafor & Danny Carroll to work commitments. On the plus side they added striker Nic McDonnell & midfield dynamo Des Boateng from Carshalton, Joe Vines came back to the club, Barry Gardener joined from Welling and Club Captain Mark Willy returned to central defence after a year out with a broken leg.
After a fairly good pre-season we got an indication of how tough life in the Premier Division would be in our opening game at home to Chelmsford City when we conceded a last minute equaliser against a big physical direct side. We edged out fellow promoted side Walton & Hersham 1-0 away in the next game, but defeats to East Thurrock & Hendon left us near the drop zone. Things picked up after a great 1-1 draw away to AFC Wimbledon and we went on a ten game unbeaten run, which also saw us progress to the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup beating Bedfont, Chipstead & Mangotsfield after a replay on the way. This set us up with an exciting tie against Conference high flyers Aldershot at Hayes Lane, which saw 1,500 people roll in for a keenly fought game that we lost 1-0 after conceding the only goal on 24seconds!
Three days later another 1,000 plus crowd turned up at Hayes Lane for the visit of the Wombles of Norbiton and we put on one of the best displays of the season winning 2-0 with goals from Nic McDonnell & Sam Wood. November saw us start to stutter in form with several injuries to key players and the curse of the last minute goal striking a few times. We recorded wins in the Kent Senior Cup over Ashford and League Cup over Margate & Dover, but the league form tailed off with the only positive result being a remarkable 1-0 win over Billericay against the run of play. We also fell at the first hurdle in the London senior Cup at Met Police and got a 4-1 tanking in the FA Trophy from eventual semi finalists Boreham Wood.
From 29th November 2005 to 14th January 2006 we failed to win a single game and drew only two out of nine, this included gifting basement boys Rebbridge their first three points on the way. This disasterous run wasn’t helped by the terrible problems we had with injuries at one stage we were only able to name one sub for the trip to Harrow Borough. With all the budget accounted for, mostly on players sitting crocked in the stand Wakeling & Co. were unable to add to the squad, but did eventually blood some kids from the Youth Team one of which Adam Greenaway did enough to earn a regular start in midfield from then on.
The dreadful run eventually came to an end with a 1-0 win at home to Walton & Hersham thanks to a Colin Luckett penalty, it was fitting that we should win this game as it was the Memorial Day for Chris Small a fellow supporter who had died at the tragically young age of 29 on 21st December. We lost out to a fantastic Fisher side 2-1 the following Tuesday but the improvement was there for all to see and the revival had begun. Ellis Remy came in to strengthen the forward line with McDonnell out injured and he proved to be a vital asset in our escape from the drop zone and Danny Carroll became more available to help our midfeild. With the league defeats turning into draws we continued the good run in the Kent Senior Cup securing a semi final spot with an outstanding 7-0 win at Welling United who chose to field a young team to save their legs for the FA trophy game the next Saturday, which they also lost!
An unbeaten run of eleven games saw us move
into mid table safety and also reach the semi final of the League Cup, but
after the 3-2 win over Wealdstone in the Quarter Final the news broke That
George, Billy & Frank had been sacked 6 weeks earlier during the bad run
and would be leaving at the end of the season. The news became even more
shocking when the replacement was unveiled as Mark Goldberg Chairman Jerry
Dolke’s brother in law and Coach Murray Jones. The game at home to Heybridge
after the announcement was played out in silence with an air of stunned
disbelief among the Bromley faithful.
A two legged semi final in the league cup saw
us face Billericay with a league came against them thrown in two days before!
We drew the league game away 2-2 and the first leg 2-2 at home, but after
losing Ellis Remy to Staines we were edged out 2-1 in the second leg and had to
settled for the Kent Senior Cup Final which we reached thanks to a majestic 4-0
win against Division One Champions Ramsgate.
The final month of the season saw us go
unbeaten with the squad back to full fitness and real team spirit emerging, big
Irishman Donal O’Sullivan joined from Southall and added strength to the front
line and then central defence. The season was capped with a trophy when we took
on Conference side Gravesend & Northfleet at home in the Kent Senior Cup
Final in a pulsating cup tie we edged our professional opponents out 3-2in
extra time with goals from O’Sullivan, McDonnell & Simon Mitchell. The
final game of the season was just two days later at Wealdstone but the tired
players still managed a 2-1 win to give George, Billy & Frank a fitting
send off for all their hard work in re-establishing Bromley as a Ryman Premier
side.
We used 42 players over the season Bromley
legends like Wade Falana, Adolph Amoako & Mark Tompkins left the club
during the nine months and Danny carroll said goodbye at the end, but others
established themselves as possible new heroes Nic McDonnel scoring 26goals in
38games, Andy Walker having another excellent season in goal and Sam Wood who
won the Player of the Season award for his tireless rampaging displays down the
left wing. The foundations are now set and we’ll have to wait and see if the
new managerial regime came build on them.
Col.