BROMLEY 4 MAGPIES 1

THE Dorchester Town drawing board is getting plenty of use this season and the Magpies will need to go back to it yet again after another defensive off day at Bromley.

There were two changes at the back following the previous weekend’s 4-0 beating by Basing-stoke, but it was the same old mistakes that proved costly and saw Phil Simkin’s men concede four more.

After impressing in the mid-week thrashing of Hamworthy Recreation in the Dorset Senior Cup, Tony Rolls made his full league debut – and what a baptism of fire it was.

Harry Bell shook off a foot injury to come in at right-back but the Magpies had to cope without on-loan Brandon Good-ship after he was diagnosed with a hamstring problem on Friday.

That meant boss Simkin went with Jake Rowley up front on his own and Josh Wakefield tucked in behind, while Rolls lined up alongside Ashley Vickers at centre-half.

In the midfield, Jamie Gleeson took on friend and former team-mate Ashley Nicholls, who was facing the county town side for the first time since leaving for Bromley at the end of last season.

Like so many games on Satur-day, the swirling wind wasn’t making life easy, particularly for the two goalkeepers, and Alan Walker-Harris saw more of the action in the opening stages.

He saved Jay May’s drive from the edge of the box then saw Nicholls fire a shot just wide from 20 yards out.

Neil Martin’s first real impact on the match was, in fact, on ex-Terra Pierre Joseph-Dubois and the Dorchester man’s late chall-enge earned him the first caution of the afternoon with just 11 minutes gone.

And it wasn’t much later that the hosts took the lead. Nicholls saw his shot from Brendan Kiernan’s cross parried by Walker-Harris and Joe Anderson pounced to make it 1-0.

Half-chances followed at either end, May for Bromley and Martin for Dorchester, before the Ravens doubled their advantage on 36 minutes.

Captain Rob Swaine lashed home a close-range effort after Bradley Goldberg’s attempt had been blocked.
Walker-Harris denied Joseph-Dubois either side of the break and, after a last-ditch clearance from a Bromley corner prevented a third, the hosts all but put the result out of the visitors’ reach.

A long kick by keeper Joe Welch was flicked on by May for Joseph-Dubois and when his centre wasn’t dealt with Goldberg, son of Bromley manager and former owner of Crystal Palace, Mark Goldberg, volleyed in.

Nicholls was one of two Bromley changes just after the hour mark, five minutes before the Magpies were given a lifeline when Jack Holland handled the ball in his own area.

The penalty was hammered past Welch by Nick Crittenden to give his side a faint glimmer of hope.
However, minutes after Rowley was yellow-carded, the hosts wrapped up the points thanks to a cool left-foot curler from Elliot Buchanan, the man who had replaced Nicholls.

Young striker Dan Munday came off the Magpies’ bench for the last 10 minutes but by then the game was well out of reach.

So that drawing board will get another visit from the Dorchester management and players this week with Bath City next up on Saturday, while for now Bromley can savour their new status as Skrill South top dogs.

Magpies: Walker-Harris, Bell (Munday 80), Smeeton, Jermyn, Vickers, Rolls, Crittenden, Gleeson, Rowley, Wakefield, Martin. Subs not used: Jevon, Way, Twyford, Kennard.

Bromley: Welch, Pooley, Anderson, Waldren (Smith 62), Swaine, Holland, Joseph-Dubois, Nicholls (Buchanan 62), May (McDonnell 80), Goldberg, Kiernan. Subs not used: Parmenter, O’Connor.

Bookings: Magpies – Martin (foul, 11), Rowley (foul, 72)

Bromley – Anderson (foul, 34)

Attendance: 430