The Ravens travelled to the Lake District on Saturday to face Barrow AFC in the National League. The Cumbria side matched Bromley last season, winning the National League North in order to gain promotion and have cemented a mid-table position in recent weeks.

Neil Smith made two changes from the midweek defeat away at Eastleigh, Moses Emmanuel and Ali Fuseini both returned to the starting line up in place of Bradley Goldberg and Ben Chorley. The match started with Barrow holding possession of the ball which then led to Barrows Andy Cook having two headers defended well by Bromley. Alan Julian got down well after Ali Fuseini had cleared the previous attempt off the line.

Ali Fusieni had the first meaningful effort for the Ravens, he struck from distance but Barrows Joel Dixon was well behind the ball. The home side then looked to test Alan Julian further, Paddy Lacey had a long-range effort before Nick Wilmer-Anderton took down the ball on his chest and hit a strike that looped precariously over Julian’s goal. Neither side seemed to have a definitive edge in the first half and the score line stayed level at the interval.

The second half continued in the end to end matter that it had become, despite some early efforts from Barrow, Bromley had seemed to moved up a step and their persistence paid off 12 minutes after the restart. Moses Emmanuel was the provider, he set the ball to Adam Cunnington who took it in his stride and fired an effort into the top of Dixons goal. The finish was the spark of quality that the travelling Bromley fans had been waiting for.

With Bromley looking to claim all three points the home fans got right behind their team and put some impotence back into them. Two efforts came in fairly close succession, Jordan Williams went close from 25-yards after Ben Tomlinson had fired a strike high and wide of the mark.

The Ravens did have chances to seal the win, Emmanuel had his close range effort saved well by Dixon, Then Captain, Rob Swaine had a header from a corner cleared well off the line. Bromley were indeed made to pay for these misses as ten minutes from time Barrow’s equaliser came.

Jason Walker was impeded by Jack Holland and a penalty was awarded to the home side. The substitute took the spot kick himself only for Alan Julian to superbly deny him. Julian’s efforts were wasted however as the rebound was bundled in with the Bromley defence unable to react in time. 4 minutes of additional time were shown with both sides attempting to grab a late winner but the tie ended as a draw which was fairly apt of both sides performances. Following the match Bromley remained in 11^th place with Barrow three places below them in 14^th.

FULL TIME: Barrow AFC 1-1 Bromley

Barrow AFC XI: Dixon, Sutton, Wilmer-Anderton, Livesey, Grand, Lacey, Harvey, Donohue (Haworth), Cook, Tomlinson (Walker), Williams.

SUBS: Haworth, Walker, Pilkington, Williams, Parry

Bromley XI: Julian, Francis, Swaine, Holland, Anderson, Joseph-Dubois, Minshull, Fusieni, Gordon (Dennis), Cunnington (May), Emmanuel (Goldberg).

SUBS: May, Goldberg, Dennis, Coombes, Higgs.

Attendance: 1,123.