Good job I wasn’t at Bromley yesterday after all….
Instead, I’ll put up what people have emailed me about the whole thing. Firstly, from somebody who wants to remain anon:
Even thinking about writing a few words about CHEATING BARSTEWARDS 2 SERIAL VICTIMS 2 has made my blood pressure rise again.
Rarely can a fairly decent game of football be overshadowed so thoroughly by the last minutes worth of “action”.  The Dons took the lead very early with a Godfrey strike and harried and harassed Bromley throughout a one-sided first half; the failure to increase the lead beyond one being the only note of worry.  Bromley upped their game in the second half and, after equalising through a bit of a defensive mix up, looked likely to nick the win as they created a few decent chances only being denied by Pullen.
Just as it looked like we had held on for the draw the ball broke to the returning Lewis Taylor at the far post and his scuffed shot appeared to be tapped in by Rocky on his debut; cue pandemonium on the terrace. Â Barely a minute later, as the sign was raised to show 3 minutes of injury time, another Bromley attack broke down with Jay Conroy lying pole-axed in the box. Â The ball ricocheted around for a few seconds before Main controlled it and passed it out for a throw to allow Jay to get treatment.
When play restarted the ball was thrown to the Bromley winger with everyone, including the Bromley team, leaving him alone to pass the ball back to us. Â Instead, he suddenly teed the ball up and smacked it 40 yards over the stranded Pullen (who was waiting for the ball on the edge of the box) into the net off the post. Â Cue a bench clearing ruckus and 5 minutes of confusion where it appeared that the ref asked Bromley to let us score but was refused.
Instead we kicked off to a set defense and only a few seconds later the final whistle went with the Dons 2 points down on where we should have been if it hadn’t been for the most outrageous piece of poor sportsmanship I’ve seen for many a year – certainly a whole level worse than the Eastleigh volleyball incident.
Plus points: Lewis Taylor’s return; he added energy and width to the midfield.
Minus points: The death of sportsmanship …
The referee’s a….: Wasn’t all that bad really, and what can he do when someone “cheats” within the letter of the law.
Them: Cheating Barstewards one and all; the celebration of the guy who scored said it all.
Meet the manager: I think that if the Bromley manager met any of us in the near future he would have a little discussion on his hands.
Anything else? Did I mention that they cheated?
So, was it worth it? If we get the draw at H&R or beat Stale Buns, then oh yes.
In a nutshell: Another vital three points … oh, hang on a minute.
Next, some missives from Lloydy……………………
When the teams came out for kick off Bromley looked like a youth team compaired to us – I really did think we’ll walk all over them, and for the first 45 mins I was right.
We kept the ball well with Davis and Godfrey clever in possesion and Hussey and Conroy supporting from the wings, we seemed stronger, quicker and man for man a far better team – which we should considering we’re top but that’s not how it panned out…
Godfrey got us off to the perfect start with a left foot bullet from the edge of the area after some sloppy defending and although it as still early you really could see us going killing the game off before half time.
The only threat from Bromley came from possibly the fattest right winger in BSS history, he must of been all of 34 stone which unfortunatley went against him as his belly kept getting caught offside, he was level with the last defender, his gut wasn’t.. It was like the CCL days all over again.
Kedwell should of made it 2 up after a nice through ball from Hatton but his chip was well overhit, and Main missed another good chance which at that point would of finished Bromley off imo.
I would of loved to of been a fly on the wall at half time because we came out like a different team, no fight, no passion, no invention……I honestly think with miss Godfrey more than most fans realise. He does a lot of basic link up play which goes unnoticed but when he’s not on the pitch suddenly we run out of ideas.
Lewis Taylor came on Godfrey and surprisingly Finn came on Lee who again did gave it away at times too easily but has a strong presence which we need in games like this……when he went off, we got over ran in the middle off the park and allowed bromley, through their number 8, to literally run through us…about 3 times he ran 60 yards without a meaningful tackle coming in!
How Terry keeps faith with Hatton is beyond me…….The second half just completely bypassed him again…
Lewis Taylor was the one plus point from the second half………..At last someone with a bit of fight and desire to win!! he got stuck in, fought for everything and kept the ball well. He’s a better version of Hatton!
They equalised after their number ten cut inside another non exisitent tackle and drove the ball past Pullen inside his near post. From then Bromley were the only team who looked like scoring with Pullen pulling off a couple of fine brave saves, one diving at the feet of an rushing forward to push the ball wide.
AFC as an attacking threat were as potent as Mr Bobbitt….. despite Keds working his socks off, if only Main would do the same we actually might create something. Main for about the 5th game in a row was poor. Knocked off the ball too easily, no movment, negative body language…….he should of been subbed imo and it seems to me he’s completely knackered which isn’t surprising after the amount of games he’s played.
Our second goal came courtesy of corner which finn won on the left and after Hussey finally (at the 12th attempt) put a good ball in which fell to Lewis Taylor at the far post. He scuffed his shot into the path of Rocky stuck a toe out who stabbed it in from a yard out. A typical Wimbledon goal…….
Plus points – Lewis Taylor
Negative – No fight, no invention (when Gods went off) and Bromley being a bunch of cheating cunts
Finally, a short and sweet one by Wazza.
(Yesterday) made me realise just how pleased I am to have Terry and Stuart in charge, as I would walk away from the club if we did what the cheating scum did. Now, it’s about getting even and creating a siege mentality, which, combined with playing how we did in the first half, will see us through to where we deserve to be. For 45 minutes, we looked like the all-conquering Wombles from earlier on in the season, and should have put the game out of sight. The second we didn’t keep it up, but in Lewis Taylor we have an outstanding midfielder that can win us the title.
The ironic thing about all this is that once the dust eventually settles, we are effectively where we hoped we’d be come 2.59pm yesterday – just one more win needed.
But then, it’s not about that is it? We should only need a draw over two games to clinch promotion, yet that was taken away from us in the worst possible circumstance. If you concede fair and square then that’s one thing. But this is beyond any definition of fairness. No, they didn’t break the rules in doing it, but there’s “doing the right thing” too. Deliberately scoring from a backpass after a player is down injured is the footballing equivalent of shagging a dying man’s simple daughter in front of him, or being a Franchise fan. Legal, but those who do it should be sectioned.
Actually, I was going to liken Bromley’s morals to those of a sewer rat. However, the legal representatives of the rat were about to sue for deflamation of character over being likened to the chavs, so I won’t.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that they not only did that but celebrated it like they’d won the World Cup. Is it true that the referee told them to let us walk the ball into the net to restore our lead but refused to? I’ve been accused in the past by some people of having precious little respect for this level of football, the people and teams involved. But when you get incidents like this, there’s no way you could ever warm to this culture, this “purity” that is demanded of you in the Ryman and manifests itself in places like where we were yesterday. What Bromley did wasn’t just petty, it was the smallest of small time things to do. Couple that with their deep-rooted bitterness and resentment and the only surprise is that they haven’t tried it before.
You see, Bromley don’t have much going for them as a club. They’re mostly shunned by the local population, they struggle to get crowds of 500 on a good day, and even then half of them are bored Palace fans. They haven’t had that one shot at FA Cup folklore that Slutton and Leatherhead have lived off for years. And they’re bitter. Completely and utterly bitter.
We’ve seen this bitterness not only with Bromley, but with H&R, W&H, Dulwich Hamlet, Ramsgutter, hell even Withdean 2000. While I appreciate that not every club we play finds us wonderful, these clubs have resentment from top to bottom, a resentment you just don’t see at many other clubs.
When they play us, it’s their one shot to be something. Teams like Bromley and Dulwich and Walton and Hersham are always the first to complain whenever somebody takes the piss out of non-league football. They’re always the first to moan that fans of bigger clubs patronise them. “Oh, you’re little Bromley are you? Well done”, complete with head patting. They hate that. You would not believe just how much they hate that attitude, and in us they see the same condesension but they have a chance to do something about it. That’s the reason behind their second goal – they wanted to stick it to the Man, to show themselves to the world, to swipe a punch at us.
They just have no self-respect at all. Which is a bit strange as with a bit of proper planning and marketing, Bromley may have the potential to push on towards the Conference. But they don’t, and never will. Their whole attitude, players, staff and fans alike will always drag them down. And that’s why their crowds are so shit. Clubs have a “feel” to them, and that’s why they’ll always be this bitter little backwater of a club, existing only for the odd season(s) when an AFCW pops into town.
When their second “goal” went in, the bitterness, the resentment, the small-timedness came out for all to see. Proper clubs don’t do that sort of thing, which is why Bromley milked it. And yes, their cup final got them much column inches which they’ll live off for many a year to come. I’m almost tempted to pat them on the head myself and say “well done for showing everyone what you’re made of”. Needless to say, they’ll probably think it’s a seal of approval.
Of course, I won’t begin to start on what they do whenever we do anything wrong. Christ, it then becomes a world record sprint to claim the moral highground when it comes to slagging us off. Unsurprisingly they’re taking potshots at our idiots who decided to smash an advertising hoarding (and if they caught who did it, send them the repair bill), and apportioning blame to us for anything that happened in the car park. While conveniently keeping quiet about the alleged verbal abuse aimed at a lone teenage AFCW female in the car park….
Still, let them enjoy this moment. Let them release the box set DVD of the “goal”, complete with interviews of the goalscorer and manager and recreations of the celebrations. It’s all they’ll ever have.
The upshot of all this is, as stated above somewhere, we only need one more win to get promotion. And perhaps more importantly, with a bit of fire in the belly as well. Suddenly, H&R on Saturday looks a bit more winnable. To be cheated once (Eastleigh handball) is one of those once-a-season-or-two happenings. To be cheated twice (Bromley) starts smelling a bit. If we get diddled out at H&R for the third time in about a month, then the whole thing officially stinks. It would just prove that there is a concerted effort to keep us in this division in the most dubious of ways.
Think about it. If luck evens itself out, then what the fuck are we owed Saturday?
I’ll preview the H&R game later in the week, but reading the reports above, it appears a tad like the WSM game was. If we were shit (or probably nervous if truth be told) in the second half, then Lewis Taylor’s goal was to be that one bit of luck that I’ve banged on about in previous reports. It does seem like the more we can’t get the second goal the more the nerves kick in. Same against Basingstoke on Friday, only with a better team yesterday.
Is all this papering over the cracks of a sheer inability to kill games off right now? Yes and no. Yes, because what happened in the last minute should not take away from the second half performance. We cannot pretend that playing like we did (apparently) then will even get us a draw on Saturday. By many accounts, for all of what happened with their second “goal”, we got away with it.
But no, because right now you feel anger, not nerves. Half our battle this past month or two has been the nerve factor. Come Saturday, we will have that sense of injustice with us again. We are due a good game but an away win too. Saturday is the time for both of those to happen. I know the comments about luck are perhaps getting almost as tedious as banging on about H&R’s lego stand. But really – you can’t say that we deserve not to go up now. Though one hopes this isn’t a perverse payback for scraping through the playoffs last season…
One final thing. I’ve never heard so many stories of mild mannered people (and yes, they are mild mannered) so willing to lash out at people afterwards. Stories are abound that one of the Bromley players got in to our dressing room wanting to continue a fight and no doubt try to make a name for himself. Well done our players for not giving him what he wanted.
What the fallout from this will be I don’t know. It wouldn’t be in the league’s interest to start docking points, as some people were worried about after the game. That would be a legal fight that would make Darlogate look like getting an indirect free kick. Fine? No doubt, and I hope people do a whipround for it. Touchline bans? Possibly. Nobody got red carded afterwards though, I believe the ref just told everyone to go home straight away.
And even if the worse did happen, and we do find ourselves in this division next season, we’d just have to fuck off everyone all over again, won’t we?