The title is a Siouxsie & The Banshees track; it is a 1985 single from the Tinderbox album which made number twenty-one in the UK singles chart. That group started out in 1976, and Siouxsie Sioux was well known as a follower of the early Sex Pistols, and those followers were known as the “Bromley Contingent”. As Robert Smith of The Cure was guitarist for Siouxsie & The Banshees for two periods in the late seventies and early eighties, then perhaps this fixture should be known as the Robert Smith derby.
Quiz time answer — Apart from Salford, how many other current league sides beginning with the letter S also use the City suffix in their names. Two – Stoke City and Swansea City.
We’ve had a bit of a break since our last game, the heartbreakingly disappointing loss to Salford City last month. Having stayed in Manchester all weekend, I went to the Manchester Transport Museum the day after the Salford game, it dragged up a couple of memories from when I lived there, but there were far too many references to Salford City (albeit it in a transport authority sense) for my liking after the game the day before.
On the Tuesday night, it was goals galore again at Moor Lane, as Salford lost 2-7 to Rotherham, who scored 7, from 8 shots on target, only 9 shots in total and 41% possession (I’m sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere) in the Vertu Trophy. And then Peterborough, who knocked us out of the trophy, went and lost to Swindon in the first round of the knockout stages, and therefore their hold on the trophy is severed.
And on Sunday, Boreham Wood repeated the 3-0 FA Cup win trick, this time in the second round at home to Newport County, and received scant reward, another home tie, but against Burton Albion. The draw for the third round was a lot quicker than the one for the World Cup held during the week, and there was no FA peace prize given out, but then again Boris Johnson isn’t Prime Minister anymore, so no egotist to be stroked.
I spent most of Sunday driving myself crazy. Despite knocking these match reports out with thousands of words of drivel and having done an accompanying piece for the Salford game, converting that into an article for the new supporter produced programme was giving me hives. It’s a world of difference between writing something for yourself, on your own blog page, that maybe fifty people might see if you are lucky, and something that is going to go into print and have a (potentially) much larger readership. I hate editing at the best of times, for reducing six thousand words down to two thousand was difficult, and although I’ve submitted a piece, I can’t say I’m overly happy with it. And there’s no pressure; it’s not like the local paper has had part of an article on there being a new programme. Oh, they did.
Going into the game we are fourteen places and thirteen points behind Bromley, who are going well and are in the playoff places. They could go into the automatic promotion places with a win, whilst a loss for us could see us slip into the relegation places if results go badly for us elsewhere.
The two Harry’s – Forster and McKirdy both used to play for Bromley, and our assistant manager Neil Smith used to play for them and also used to manage them for a while as well. There are no ex-Crawley players in the Bromley squad, although they do have Dillon Addai, the younger brother of Corey in their ranks. Others to have played for both include Ellery Balcombe, Mason Bloomfield, Frankie Sutherland, Dennon Lewis, and Ryan Hall.
No cards, but there is a fall back now that there is the Panini album for this year’s EFL teams, with eight of the twelve players included for Bromley in the collection this year below – Corey Whiteley, Marcus Ifill, Idris Odutayo, Ashley Charles, Kyle Cameron, Byron Webster, Grant Smith, and Deji Elerewe.
With it being only Bromley’s second season in the league, we haven’t played them before in the football league, in fact games against them are scarce, there have only been a few competitive games against them, mainly coming in the FA Cup Qualifying Rounds, winning at home in 1977, winning in a replay at home in 1988, a loss at home in 1996, and a loss away in 1999. The only other game came in the FA Trophy in 2007 with a home win. We have also played them six times in pre-season friendlies, twice at home in 1981 and 1983, winning both, and four away in 1985, 2010, 2012, and 2023, winning all apart from the 2010 game which we lost 1-0. I have no programme in the collection from games against them.
It is my first time on the supporters’ coach going to a game this season. With it being a Tuesday night fixture, and a reasonably short journey I can just about cope with the coach travel, and there wasn’t the need to take any time off work for the trip. If it has been a weekend game, I’d have gone on public transport though.
A quick mooch around outside the ground, it’s a compact, if not necessarily bijou stadium, and they are still working on it to improve it now they are a league club.
The club shop was OK, but lacking in pens and fridge magnets, so not ideal, and they have a monthly magazine in lieu of a programme, which has two pages of content on Crawley.
Inside the ground the facilities available for a sizeable away support were woefully inadequate. This was it (in the photo below), and the half time queue was only finishing being served at 71 minutes into the game.
We had two changes to the team which lost at Salford with Ryan Loft and Charlie Barker both returning from suspensions, and Kabby Tshimanga and Louis Flower dropping to the bench. Bromley lined up in an all-white kit apart from black arms, and we were in our all-red kit.
Jay Williams kicked off for us, and he was sporting a smaller bandage than when he finished the game last time out. And he was involved in an early heavy challenge. On him, and he was down receiving treatment.
Bromley are peppering our box with enough crosses to keep a horde of vampires away, and we are just about managing to deal with them, but not managing to clear fully, and the ball keeps coming back.
When we do break it is from a poor pass back by Bromley, straight to Harry McKirdy, he gets to the edge of the area but is being forced away from goal, but manages to dink a cross to the far post where Ryan Loft is there to head goalwards, it somehow manages to squirm past the keeper and into the net and we lead 1-0 with pretty much our first attack of the game.
In traditional style we try to gift a goal back to the opposition, a stray ball across the front of the box goes straight to a Bromley attacker, but JoJo Wollacott does just enough to distract them, and the shot goes just wide.
There are a few quiet minutes until we concede a free kick thirty yards out in line with the left edge of the penalty area. The wind takes the ball straight to Wollacott, and he pumps it long to McKirdy, but his cross drifts out wide on the far side. The wind is taking the ball wherever it wants to as soon as it gets above head height.
We have a bit of pressure in and around the box and win a corner. It’s swung in well by Harry Forster and just headed off the line at the near post and cleared. Some decent work between McKirdy and Ade Adeyemo down the left sees a ball into Louie Watson in the box and his shot is saved and goes for a corner. Another wicked in swinging Forster corner is headed clear from under the crossbar, it goes to the back post and Josh Flint is bundled over and Bromley break, and Adeyemo picks up a yellow card for bringing it to a halt in midfield.
Straight after Bromley break again, this time from a throw which should have been a Crawley throw all day, they get into the box and have a shot which goes across goal and wide. We attack with a bit of pace down the left again, McKirdy to Adeyemo, the cross in somehow eludes Reece Brown and then Loft, and ends up with Forster beyond the back post, his shot in is saved and put out for a corner which gets hacked clear.
Not sure if we are playing football or auditioning for the WWE, Loft has been body slammed to the ground twice, with nothing given, something which is an ongoing theme throughout the game, with no punishment coming. Watson has a shot from the edge of the area, but it tamely goes to the keeper.
Bromley have some pressure, they get a corner, it is headed out for another one on the other side of the pitch, which comes in and Wollacott manages to flap the ball clear for a third corner back on the original side of the pitch. It’s no real surprise when that one comes into the box and is bundled home from about two yards to make it all square at 1-1 a couple of minutes before half time. Or five minutes if you include the three added minutes at the end of the half, and that’s the score when the half time whistle goes.
The second half sees Bromley firing on all cylinders, an early let off as a ball isn’t dealt with and ends up with the Bromley number 9 in the six-yard box but thankfully he slices his shot onto the roof of the net. A left wing cross sees two Bromley players vying to get a touch on it in the box and they manage to steer it just wide between them. We are really struggling to get going. We half clear a cross and it drops to a Bromley player thirty yards out, their shot hits two Crawley defenders on the way through and totally wrong foots Wollacott in goal and we trail 1-2. Hopefully, that will wake the players up, as they really haven’t turned up for the second half yet. I’m not sure what soporifics were used in the half time team talk, but they need to cut that shit out. (Or get the kind of team talk the Bromley players must have had.)
Bromley get another corner and by the time we make some substitutions on 58 minutes I’m not sure we’ve managed to get out of our own half in the second half. McKirdy and Adeyemo depart and are replaced by Kabby Tshimanga and Kaheim Dixon. We are briefly a bit better after, but Bromley are back on the attack and win a couple of corners on the spin. We scramble the second one away and attempt a break with the ball out to Loft down the right, he plays it into Forster in the middle and he fails to beat his man near the edge of the box and Bromley clear, and come up the other end and win another corner.
Having dealt with the corner we decide it is time for some more fannying about at the back. Some may recognise this from pretty much every game for the last eighteen months. We lose the ball and Bromley are into the box, the final pass looks as if the receiver of it may have been offside, but nothing is given and they slot it in and we trail 1-3.
The Bromley players divert from where they were going to celebrate and deliberately run across the pitch to celebrate in front of the standing Crawley fans and are giving it loads and gesturing at them. Fortunately, we’re not as big a scumbags as Chesterfield so nothing is thrown, as just before the restart the ref does wave a non-committal yellow card in the general direction of any one of half a dozen Bromley players.
At some point whilst that was going on we appear to have slipped Jack Roles onto the pitch. As they don’t have working speakers in the away end, we’ve no idea what they announced, but a check of those on the pitch would make it seem it was Watson who was replaced. We have an attack, a ball into Loft in the box and his shot is deflected wide for a corner, which comes to nothing. A couple of minutes later there is another attack, a deep cross from the left is collected by Forster and he fires a ball across the six-yard box which nobody is near, and it goes out for a throw on the far side.
A Crawley fan has collapsed in the terrace, and the police, stewards, and the St John’s Ambulance people are all over there helping out. Meanwhile the classless Bromley fans are chanting ‘we can see you sneaking out’ as people remove themselves from the area so the bloke can get treatment. Nearly ten minutes later he is up on his feet and able to get out of the stand with some help. Hopefully, he is all right.
At the far end Forster is bundled over in the box and lands on the ball, so of course it is a free kick to Bromley for his handball as he fell over. Bromley have another corner; there is a shot and Wollacott saves. We must have had an attack as most of the team were in the Bromley half as they break and Geraldo Bajrami picks up a yellow card just in our half from stopping the break. It was a long way from goal, but he did look the last man, the way the second half had gone, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a red there. A minute later Roles is cleared out on the left and Bromley pick up a yellow.
There are three minutes added at the end of the second half as well, not that we’ll do anything with it, but it was definitely light considering all the subs, stoppages, and general timewasting. The final whistle goes and it is another dispiriting loss Crawley Town 1, Bromley 3. (Or should that be The Cure 1, Siouxsie & The Banshees 3? At least they didn’t play ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, that really would have been rubbing salt into the wound.)
McKirdy wants to get into it with the fans after the final whistle again, and the ‘fans’ response is to chant at him ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt.’ That kind of shit from both sides is helping no one. Frustrations are running high, and second half non-performances like that aren’t going to win friends and influence anyone. It is worrying times.
Results elsewhere see us drop two places in the league to twenty-first. It is a subdued coach journey home, and the man of the match vote was more a case of ‘do we have to’ and ‘who were the non-playing subs’ than anything else. But Harry Forster won. It was tempting to ask the coach driver to break the speed limit, at least that way we might have brought three points back with us.
Quiz time — Apart from Bromley, how many other current league sides beginning with the letter B full names also end with a Y?
Next up, we have Oldham Athletic at home on Saturday, a fixture which will see the first issue of the new fan produced match programme. An initial run of 250, so get there early to get your copy. The cover is already set, see the picture below so you know what to look out for. Also if anyone spots a win whilst out and about during the week, can they bring that to the game for us on Saturday.
Come on you reds.