Last season, Bromley thrashed us 7-3 at Plainmoor on 19 September, our worst and most embarrassing result for many years, though Kevin Nicholson cannot really be blamed for this: he was not appointed manager until 28 September..
However, on 16 April, we gained a measure of revenge when we won 2-0 at Bromley with goals from McDonald and Richards. Of more significance is the fact that this result secured our great escape from relegation.
Bromley, like ourselves and other clubs across the country, signed a number of players during the summer. These include ex-Ebbsfleet defender Joe Howe, ex-Welling forward George Porter, winger David Martin, striker Tobi Sho-Silva, midfielder Connor Dymond, defender Daniel Johnson, and former West Ham and England under-19 midfielder Blair Turgott.
On the first day of the current season, Bromley were beaten 2-0 at home by Tranmere Rovers, and the Gulls, as we know, lost 2-0 away to Macclesfield town.
Teams last time out:
Bromley:
Julian, Howe (Swaine 86’), Anderson, Prestedge (Porter 73’), Holland, Chorley, Martin, Turgott, Porter (Dymond 57’), Cunnington, Sho-Silva. Subs: Johnson, Swaine, Porter, Dymond, Goldberg. Yellow cards: Prestedge, Martin.
Torquay:
Moore, Rowe-Turner, Lathrope (Chaney 57’), Richards, Young, Gerring, Blissett, Sparkes, Verma, Williams (Reed 56’), McGinty. Subs: Chaney, Duke, Scrivens, Reid, Nicholson. Yellow cards: Richards, Williams.
Bromley will be no pushovers. The game is certainly winnable for the Gulls, but they will need to get stuck in rather than backing off opposing attackers as they seemed to do on Saturday. But Kevin Nicholson and the players will have learned from that game, and with our support should get their first points of the season. So let’s all get up there to fortress Plainmoor and make it a great occasion !
The weather forecast for the evening is good. The high heat of Saturday's energy-sapping summer afternoon will have dissipated. However, there will be a referee at the game (k.o. 7:45 pm), who seems determined to remain anonymous..
