Two newly promoted sides to League One battled out a draw on Saturday afternoon as Bromley hosted Cambridge Utd in front of nearly 5,000 fans at Hayes Lane.
The Ravens went into the game unchanged from their win at Barnsley last week, lining up 4-5-1 and with both teams playing a very similar style it was an uncompromising battle from the kick off.
The visitors started the game looking more positive, Ben Knight forcing an early save from Shamal George and they had a couple of penalty shouts as they did the initial pressing, Jacob Mendy making some vital blocks for the home side.
Bromley’s first chance fell to Corey Whitely on his 250th appearance for the club, hitting a half volley from range that was saved by Jake Eastwood. As the half went on there was no respite for The Ravens, Cambridge doing all the pressing, the lively Liam Bennet was denied by George and after a brief late rally from Andy Woodman’s side, Knight and Isaac Heath had further efforts saved by the Bromley keeper to keep the scored tied at zero.
The second half saw Woodman make two changes and move to a back three, but they were soon pressed back again when Heath saw George only palm his effort upwards, fortunately Mitchell Pinnock was there to clear the ball off the line. The Ravens finally got going from there, Michael Cheek having a shot saved by Eastwood, but just as they were building momentum, Cambridge scored on the break.
A long pass out to Knight on the right saw him beat Kamal Grant to the ball and cut inside the box before slipping the ball past George into the far corner of the net for 0-1. The Ravens kept going though and they nearly equalised when Marcus Ifill’s corner was headed over by Grant at the far post.
For the final twenty minutes Bromley went with two up front, Kamal Conteh firing over from distance, before the equaliser came on 81minutes. A long throw into the area from the left came out to sub-Victor Adeboyejo who hit a powerful curling effort from 18 yards out that sailed into the top left-hand corner of the goal to make it 1-1.
The final ten minutes of the game was wide open, with both sides having good spells, but in the end, it finished with both teams taking a point, staying unbeaten after two games.
Bromley now have a week to prepare ahead of their trip to Sheffield Wednesday next Saturday for another landmark game in League One for Andy Woodman’s team.
Bromley: George, Ifill, Mendy (Headman 45), Sowunmi, Grant, Conteh, Thompson (McKiernan 45), Pinnock (Archer 72), Whitely (Adeboyejo 72), Hondermarck, Cheek (Kabamba 78).
Subs Not Used: Brenan, Mason.
Cambridge Utd: Eastwood, Perry (Bradshaw 85), Watts, Jobe, Mpanzu, McLoughlin (Kaikai 48), Ball, Bennett, Heath (McConnell 84), Knight (Bauer 73), Appere (Lavery 73).
Subs Not Used: Efobi, Hughes.
HT 0-0 FT 1-1
Goals: BFC – Adeboyejo 81mins. CUFC – Knight 67mins
Att: 4,938
Referee: Ms Kirsty Dowle