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A solitary Jack Holland goal was enough to seal the three points for Bromley and maintain their unbeaten start to the season, however Aldershot will feel somewhat aggrieved with the result after a second half siege on the Bromley goal.

Having been forced into a change from his side that drew 3-3 with Torquay United on Saturday, Bromley manager Neil Smith handed a first team start to Adam Mekki in place of the injured Reeco Hackett-Fairchild.

Mekki was making his first start for Bromley following his seven month injury lay-off and could have had a dream start to his return inside the opening five minutes.

Joe Kizzi did well to work space down the right wing and his cross found Mekki unmarked at the backpost but he shanked his effort wide.

With Aldershot taking a while to get into the game, Billy Bingham tested Mitch Walker from distance but his effort fizzed past the former Dover goalkeeper’s left hand post.

When going forward the Shots were most threatening from the wings, whether through the wing play of Aaron Eyoma or Harry Panayiotou and it was the latter who came close to giving the Shots the lead on the quarter hour mark.

A loose ball fell to him in the penalty area and his smart swivel and shot looked to be heading for the far corner of the net but for the fingertips of Mark Cousins in the Bromley goal.

Aldershot were to rue that miss as Bromley took the lead from their next meaningful attack. Having set up two and scored one on Saturday, Bromley midfielder Frankie Raymond was at it again as his corner was headed home by Jack Holland.

Mekki missed another golden opportunity five minutes later to stretch the lead. Luke Coulson ran unto Chris Bush’s long ball and set up Mekki inside the 18 yard box but with Michael Cheek screaming for the pass Mekki opted to shoot, curling his effort hopelessly wide.

Aldershot should have punished Bromley for that as from the resulting goal-kick, Robbie Tinkler’s right wing cross found Panayiotou unmarked six yards out but the St Kitts & Nevis international headed wide with only Cousins to beat.

With Bromley working more opportunities over the course of the first 45 minutes they would have felt they narrowly deserved a first half lead.

However the same could not be said for the second 45 as Bromley failed to create any shot on or off target handing the initiative to Aldershot for a glorified attack vs defence session.

Making all three substitutions by the 62nd minute, Smith changed shape to a 5-3-2 to counter the attacking four man Aldershot midfield but rather than give Bromley control it led to the Ravens dropping deeper and deeper.

With a monopoly on possession Aldershot went in search of an equaliser. Shamir Mullings saw his effort from the edge of the area deflected behind for a corner shy of the hour mark but the best opportunities were to arrive in quick succession 15 minutes from the end.

Firstly Cousins did very well to parry away Mullings header at the backpost before he had to do even better to tip Eyoma’s cross-cum-shot over the crossbar.

That was to be as good as it got for Aldershot as Bromley made the game scrappy and largely restricted Aldershot to shots from distance amidst increasingly tetchy scenes on and off the pitch.

Incensed by a highly erratic referring performance coupled with perceived Bromley gamesmanship, passions ran high resulting in Aldershot manager Danny Searle receiving a yellow card and a member of his coaching staff receiving his marching orders.

Despite late Aldershot pressure, Bromley held on to the win and the three points which sends them to 5th place in the fledgling National League table.

They next make the long trip to Hartlepool United on Saturday looking to preserve their unbeaten start to the season.

Aldershot Town (4-1-4-1): Walker; Tinkler, Fowler, Finney, Kinsella; Rance; Eyoma, Santos (Whittingham 73), Chislett, Panayiotou (Shields 64); Mullings

Subs not used: Hall, Rowe, Kudyiwa

Bromley (4-4-2): Cousins; Kizzi, Holland, Bush, Wood; Coulson (Okoye 60), Bingham, Raymond, Mekki (Higgs 54); Porter (Clifton 62), Cheek

Subs not used: Klass, Dunne

Goal: Holland 28

Referee: Mr Richard Hulme

Attendance: 1,774

Following a hard earned but deserved draw at Havant and Waterlooville and a well merited victory over Maidstone United, Welling United crashed at home to Bath City on Saturday and now have a difficult trip to Billericay Town on Tuesday.

It was a tough afternoon for the Wings on Saturday as they crashed three nil at home to Bath. Missing holding midfielder Connor Dymond, they struggled to contain the Romans and were three down by half-time. They introduced Dquame Copeland at the interval and were a little better after the break but by then the damage was done.

One win, one draw and one defeat isn’t a disaster after three tough games for a new management and new squad but the manner of defeat was disappointing prompting Mark Goldberg to say “Those first forty-five minutes were embarrassing and I apologise to the fans for that but at the end of the day it’s a long long way to go and after ten games we’ll know where we are.”

Two players returning from injury in the second half provided some positives. Joshua Oyinsan was lively up front and Gavin McCallum looked energetic despite having missed all of pre-season. Those two, along with Copeland, provide some alternatives for when Goldberg selects his starting line up at Billericay.

Furthermore, Anthony Cook and Reece Prestedge will also be available having missed the first three games through suspension. That gives Goldberg a decision to make should Dymond not be ready to return. “It’s a difficult one now because Dquame has come in and done a job so he’s got to be thought of as a possible starter.” he said.

Hosts Billericay fell to a surprise two-nil defeat at Chippenham Town on Saturday to end their one hundred percent start. However, last season, despite Welling finishing the season in third place, well ahead of the Blues, Billericay recorded the double over the Wings. The home defeat was early in the season and the defeat in Essex was in January.

In that game, the first half was goal-less but Billericay went ahead three minutes after the break through Kieran Cadogan’s low drive. Shortly after, Welling conceded again and the game was over as a contest. The goal-scorer of the second was Adam Coombes who is now back at Welling.

Both teams will be looking for a quick bounce back following their disappointments on Saturday so it should be an enthralling encounter.

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