Tuesday 22 October 2002
Ryman League, Division One South

Bromley 3 Walton & Hersham 0

Swans failed to arrest their desperate and sudden loss of form, and leaking of goals, as they went down to their fourth successive defeat at Bromley on Tuesday evening.

Adam Thompson returned in place of Francis Dolan, who could not make the kick-off, and he was the only Swans player to do himself real justice on the evening.

Marcus Rose also started in place of Richard Newbery.

Once again there was little sign in the early stages of the problems to come as Swans carved out a series of good scoring opportunities.

After five minutes Paul Harkness seized on a mistake in the home defence to put Scott Edgar through on goal, but Bromley keeper Martini was quickly out to block Edgar�s shot. Amoako fortunately headed straight to Lee Edwards in Swans� goal as he was left free to get on the end of a cross from the left. Walton replied with a fine free-kick to the far-post from wide on the left by Steve Warren that forced Bromley to put behind for a corner. There were already signs of the vulnerability of Swans� defence as they failed to clear the ball and Akuamoah fortunately only half hit his shot, and Edwards saved. Chris Whelan played a fine pass to put Edgar clear on the right, but with Marcus Rose unmarked in the middle Edgar chose to shoot, and the ball flew over the crossbar. Warren then struck a tremendous free-kick from fully 35 yards that took a deflection before Martini did well to tip the ball over his crossbar.

Whelan drove the ball in low from the right and it eluded all the Bromley defenders to find Harkness in front of goal, but the ball flew off his foot and over the bar. Midway through the half Swans were left ruing their missed opportunities as they were hit by two goals in as many minutes. Saunders was allowed to knock the ball forward following a right-side corner leaving Amoako the simple task of stabbing the ball past Edwards. Straight from the restart Akuamoah set up Luckett on the edge of the box, and he struck the right-post with a fierce shot. But Luckett soon had better luck as the ball was laid off to him in yards of space on the left, and he drove the ball first time past Edwards and in to the far corner. Swans responded with Garfield Blackman passing to Harkness on the right, and he made a clever attempt to chip the ball over Martini, but the Bromley keeper just got across to take. As the half drew to a close Akuamoah burst clear in to Swans� box, but Whelan did well to get back and make a last-ditch tackle.

Ten minutes after the restart Martini launched a huge clearing kick that Akuamoah got his head to, but Edwards just managed to get his fingers to the ball to tip it wide. But from the resultant corner-kick taken by Luckett, Bartley was left unchallenged to plant a straightforward header past Edwards. Soon after Alan Dowson was booked for a clumsy challenge and was then substituted along with Lee O�Donnell, with Rob Wimble and Richard Newbery coming on. Unfortunately the referee�s assistant reported Dowson to the referee for something said and the Swans defender was red-carded and ordered from the dugout. The opportunity to at least gain some consolation was then spurned by Swans with ten minutes left.

Blackman made a run in to the right side of the Bromley penalty area and was bundled over by Saunders, the referee awarding a penalty. Martini however dived to push away Harkness�s kick, and when Harkness was left with what appeared to be the simple task of heading in the rebound, he somehow put the ball well wide of the right-post. Swans� last chance fell in the final minute as a neat move was completed by Newbery playing the ball through to Pickett in the six-yard box, but he could not quite reach the ball at full stretch.

Match Statistics

Walton Team: Edwards, Thompson, Andrews, Dowson (Newbery 60), Whelan, Blackman, O�Donnell (Wimble 60), Harkness, Edgar, Warren (Pickett 44), Rose.

Subs. not used: Dolan, Goggin.

Goalscorers for Bromley: Amoako (22 mins.). Luckett (24 mins.). Bartley (55 mins.).

Caution & Dismissal: Dowson (Walton), caution, 59 mins., foul.

Dowson (Walton), sent-off, 62 mins., abuse of official.