A hat-trick from midfielder Ben Thompson punished some sloppy mistakes from Gillingham as they were comfortably beaten 4-1 by the League Two leaders.
After being 3-0 down in the 28th minute, the Gills briefly looked like they might make a remarkable comeback with Bradley Dack’s goal at the end of the half, but Bromley killed the game off with their fourth goal at the start of the second half to secure the points.
Manager Gareth Ainsworth made one enforced change from last Saturday’s 3-0 win away at Harrogate as Garath McCleary replaced the injured Jonny Smith. Both of Gillingham’s new signings, Cameron Antwi and Ronan Hale were named on the subs bench.
Bromley made five changes to the 11 who started Tuesday’s 2-2 draw against Crewe as new signing Zech Medley, Ben Thompson, Jesse Debrah, Will Hondermarck and Marcus Ifill started in place of Omar Sowunmi, Kyle Cameron, Jude Arthurs, Ben Krauhaus and Lakyle Samuel. The other January signing, Damola Ajayi started on the bench.
The first half started scrappily with both sides struggling to keep the ball on the floor, particularly with the pitch looking quite boggy in places.
With Gillingham playing a regulation four in defence and only having Remeao Hutton and Ethan Coleman as defensively-orientated cover on the bench, it was clear that Ainsworth’s plan was to attack the league leaders, rather than look to defend and secure a point.
The deadlock was broken in the 10th minute. Gillingham were on the attack with Aaron Rowe looking threatening in the box and Bromley defending deep with numbers behind the ball. Bromley got hold of the ball and launched a quick counter-attack with two excellent cross field balls that found Corey Whitely lurking to the right of the Gillingham box. He cut the ball back for Ben Thompson, who powerfully struck it into the roof of Glenn Morris’ net.
Bromley very nearly made it 2-0 a few minutes later with a leaping header from captain and top-scorer Michael Cheek, who directed it just over the bar.
In the 19th minute, things went from bad to worse for Gillingham. After a brief period when they looked to have more of a foothold in the game, Andy Smith lost possession in defence to Cheek. His shot was parried away by Morris, but fell to Thompson, who thundered it into the open goal to double his and Bromley’s tally.
Gillingham then began to attack more freely. Josh Andrews had a glancing header that was comfortably deflected away, then Bradley Dack found Rowe through on goal with an incisive pass. Rowe’s shot was well-placed to Grant Smith’s right, but it was well-saved.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Gillingham again found themselves outnumbered at the back as Thompson found Whitely just inside Gillingham’s half. Whiteley – whose pace had troubled Max Clark all afternoon – raced clear of Clark and found the net at the near post from a narrow angle, making it 3-0 to Bromley inside the first half an hour.
In an effort to stop the flow of goals, Ainsworth made a change to the formation, moving Rowe to right-back and shifting Gale into centre back alongside Conor Masterson and Andy Smith.
The shift in formation stemmed the flow of goals and Gillingham looked more solid. However, they suffered more misfortune in the 41st minute as Masterson came off injured and was replaced by Ethan Coleman, with McKenzie moving to centre-back. Given how long Masterson has spent injured this season, Gills fans will be desperately hoping this one isn’t too serious.
In the 44th minute, Gillingham found themselves on the attack with McCleary on the left wing. He wove his way past a couple of defenders and got a shot away which was parried, but only into the path of Dack, who struck it into the roof of the open goal.
Deep into first-half injury time, Bromley had an excellent chance to make it 4-1, but Cheek’s shot was straight at Morris.
Gillingham made a substitution at half-time, bringing on new signing Ronan Hale for Rowe.
In the first minute of the second half, Hale put in an excellent cross for Andrews, who appeared to be brought down in the penalty area, but the referee waved play on.
A minute later, Thompson completed his hat trick for the away side as he thundered a powerful shot past Morris into the top right corner of the Gillingham net.
Despite the early setback, the home side carried on attacking. Armani Little picked up the ball in his own penalty area, but ran the ball deep into the Bromley half, courtesy of a one-two with McCLeary, before finding Hale in front of goal who had his shot saved by Smith.
The Gills created more chances. One searching cross almost found Hale unmarked in front of goal then, following two corners, McCleary aimed a looping ball to Dack, who struck a stinging volley that was blocked by Smith.
Gillingham continued to attack, but Bromley held firm, with plenty of players behind the ball. Dack had a free kick in a promising position but missed the target; Clark put a few good deliveries into the box, but the home side struggled to win headers against Bromley’s towering centre-backs.
By the 80th minute, the intensity had gone out of the game, with Bromley looking calm and assured on the ball, while Gillingham found chances difficult to create.
There was a brief glimmer of hope as Ethan Coleman’s cross found Hale in the six-yard box, but his well-placed header was expertly saved by Smith.
This was followed up by another chance when Sam Vokes headed a whipping cross narrowly wide.
New signing Camerion Antwi came on in the 85th minute to add some more creative flair, but by that point Gillingham’s fate was sealed.
The final whistle blew just as Bromley had dealt with a Remeao Hutton long throw.
In terms of the season overall, the loss it not a disgrace for Gilingham; Bromley have been the best team in the league this season. However, the margin of the loss and the mistakes they made to concede the goals will be frustrating for Ainsworth.
The playoff places are still within reach, but the Gills will need to learn from Bromley and be more ruthless for the rest of the season.
Gillingham: Morris, Clark, Masterson (Coleman ’41), A Smith, McCleary (Hutton ’73), Little, Andrews (Vokes ’73), Rowe (Hale ‘45), McKenzie, Dack (Antwi ‘85), Gale.
Subs Not Used: Turner, Palmer-Houlden.
Goals: Dack ‘44
Booked: Little ‘6
Bromley: Smith, Medley, Charles, Thompson (Krauhaus ’70), Cheek (Kabamba ’88), Pinnock (Ilunga ’88), Debrah, Hondermarck (Arthurs ’64), Whitely, Ifill, Odutayo.
Subs Not Used: Long, Webster, Ajayi.
Goals: Thompson ’10, ’19, ’48, Whitely ‘28
Booked: Pinnock ’27, Whitely ‘45+2, Medlay ‘90
HT 1 – 3 FT 1 – 4
Att: 8164 (1313)
Referee: Mr Alan Young.
Picture supplied by Bromley Football Club.