A late Joe Kizzi goal was enough to earn Bromley three points against Solihull Moors in a game of few clear cut chances, leaving manager Neil Smith pleased.

Bromley manager Neil Smith was aware that, despite the visitors’ bottom half position in the league, it wasn’t going to be easy. “They’ve got a new manager and I know Mark (Yeates) very well. I’ve come up against him so many times and he’s a very organised manager.”

“He gets his teams to work hard so I knew that it was going to be difficult, we knew that we were going to have to be patient and when we got our chance we took it.

“To be fair, we had one in the first half and you’d put your money on him (Courtney Duffus) to score but the boys never gave up. We said yesterday that we wanted to start getting clean sheets and that’s the foundation that we worked on for today and I can’t question any of them. I thought that it was a deserved win.

“It was a great win.” he stated. “We haven’t beaten them twice for a couple of seasons now so to get that win is hopefully a big boost for those players.”

Kizzi’s goal came from a corner and a pinpoint Frankie Raymond delivery. “It’s not by accident.” said Smith. “We work on these. Mark Hammond works on free kicks and I’ve got a deliverer in Frankie Raymond that if you were doing that in the Premiership you’d be getting plaudits let alone in our division. 

“And then Kizzi, my full back going around the back and scoring so it was fantastic. It’s something we’ve worked on, it’s come off so we’re pleased but I’m really delighted with the clean sheet today.

Seven days earlier, Kizzi had been sent off in a decision that was overturned by a tribunal two days later, so he experienced the extremes of the games emotions is the space of one week. Smith said “It happens. That’s how football is. One minute you’re up. Next minute you’re down. It’s how you take it and I thought we worked and were deserving of the win today.”

Although the victory took the Ravens into the play-off zone which pleased him, Smith remains grounded. “As long as you’re there after the last game of the season.” he said. “It doesn’t count for a lot if you’re in there now and you drop out so we’ve got to make sure that the time is right but, to a man, they deserved that.

“I’ve just said to them, enjoy the win for the next twenty minutes because we’re now prepping for Sutton. They’re top of the table, flying, it’s going to be a tough game. We narrowly lost to them a couple of weeks ago, it’ll be tough so I’ve got to make sure I’ve got the bodies in there ready for the game.”

It was a good team performance but Smith was keen to state that it was not a one-off. “I could say that for the last few weeks.” he said “Probably the last game that we didn’t perform to our best was Dagenham and Redbridge. Other than that we’ve been in every game, Even the Sutton game, we just switched off for the last ten minutes. Other than that I thought we were dominant and strong.”

After starting with the same line-up for three games, Smith was enforced into making one change at centre-back through a hamstring injury suffered by Jack Holland in midweek. Smith confirmed that it was not going to be long term absence. “Jack Holland, hopefully, isn’t too far away.” he said.

I took Webby (Byron Webster) off just as a precaution towards the end. It’s going to be down to the squad now with all the games coming thick and fast. Everyone’s going to be needed and everyone’s going to have to be on their mettle if people have got to come in. Bushy (Chris Bush) did today after having his games off. Everyone’s got to come in and do well and try and stay in the team.”

Bush made a crucial block in the opening exchanges and Smith said “He’s been patient. He’s obviously frustrated as well watching the players doing so well in front of him. He got the opportunity to come in and showed that he fully deserved to be part of the starting line up. 

“Now it’s up to someone to try and dislodge him. It gives me a headache, but a very good one. I’m very pleased.”.