Bromley were comfortable 3-1 victors over Altrincham at Hayes Lane in a pulsating game on Saturday afternoon. 

Inside the opening 5 minutes, Bromley had a dream start. After some fantastic play from Jack Bridge and Billy Bingham, the ball found its way to Michael Cheek who got himself into into a scoring position and fired in a low shot across goal, leaving Tony Thompson with no chance.

The visitors kept on attacking down both wings on numerous occasions, but, in a slick counter attack for the Ravens, Frankie Raymond’s pass found Courtney Duffus down the left, who showed excellent technique to get past his man on the edge of the penalty box and forced a good save from Thompson. With less than 10 minutes remaining of the half, Altrincham equalised. Connor Hampson found Jake Moult with an excellent cross, the midfielder made no mistake and scored with a crisp first time effort from the delivery.

However, Bromley would respond quickly. Frankie Raymond delivered a precise corner, which was met by the head of Joe Kizzi at the far post who nodded in. It was Kizzi’s third goal of the season.

However, the Ravens were not finished for the half just yet, minutes after Kizzi’s goal, Bromley had a penalty after a foul on Jack Holland. Cheek, who has been so reliable this season, made no mistake and easily dispatched his spot kick to make it 3-1 to Bromley, his 14th National League goal of the season.

In the second half, Chris Bush’ audacious free kick produced an incredible save out of Thompson, who somehow tipped the ball over the bar. The free-kick gave Bromley confidence. Liam Trotter then led a quick counter attack, with Michael Cheek shooting low, forcing another great, one handed save from Thompson.

With 10 minutes to go, Mark Cousins made a crucial save from Yusifu Ceesay’s low driver effort. A pivotal moment in the game as the Robins looked to force a way back into it and piled on the pressure.

Despite Chris Bush being shown a straight red card one minute into five added on at the end of the game, the Ravens defended well and secured a welcome three points.

Bromley face Sutton United next at Gander Green Lane on Tuesday 2nd March, kickoff 7pm.

1 Mark Cousins, 2 Joe Kizzi, 4 Billy Bingham, 5 Chris Bush, 6 Jack Holland (C), 7 Luke Coulson (Williamson), 8 Frankie Raymond,  9 Michael Cheek (Alabi) 11 Courtney Duffus 16 Liam Trotter 24 Jack Bridge (Wakefield) 

Unused Subs: 14 Kory Roberts, 22 Liam Vincent 

Report by Alex Exadactylos