Report | Wealdstone 3 Bromley 2
Wealdstone thrillingly fought back to earn a well-deserved three points against Bromley in a cracking first league game of the season.
Goals from Olufela Olomola, Rhys Browne and Jack Cook saw the Stones battle from 2-1 down to defeat Bromley 3-2 in a thrilling contest at Grosvenor Vale.
The Stones raced out of the blocks quickly and almost found themselves ahead just three minutes into the game when Max Kretzschmar saw his acrobatic volley brilliantly saved by Bromley keeper, Reice Charles-Cook.
Once the game began to settle, Bromley started to see more of the ball and saw two efforts from both Michael Cheek and Corey Whitely go agonisingly wide of Sam Howes' goal.
Bromley continued to dominate the ball, but the Stones looked dangerous on the counter and managed to break the deadlock on 17 minutes, when Olomola smashed in a rebound, after Kretzschmar forced another brilliant save out of the Bromley keeper with a header.
Needing a response to the Wealdstone goal, Bromley began to pile on the pressure and found their equaliser on 34 minutes when Omar Sowunmi powered a bullet header past Howes from a corner. Ten minutes later Andy Woodman’s side went ahead when a pinpoint cross from Whitely was converted expertly by Cheek with a header into the far corner.
The Stones began the second half in spectacular fashion would’ve gone ahead just five minutes into the second period if it wasn’t for two more incredible saves from Charles-Cook to deny Olomola, once from a direct free-kick and again from a header in the centre of the box.
The pressure finally paid off on 66 minutes when substitute Rhys Browne was taken down inside the box by Charles-Cook to earn the Stones a penalty, which Browne slotted home into the bottom left corner.
With 10 minutes to go, Wealdstone continued to attack the Bromley box and took the lead when Kretzschmar lifted the ball into the box, finding Stones Captain Cook, who powered his header into the back of the net.
Bromley thought they’d levelled the scoring in the final minutes of injury time when a corner was flicked on at the near post and the ball was kept out spectacularly by Howes from point-blank range.
Wealdstone: Howes; Barrett, Cook (C), Elerewe, Kinsella (Mundle-Smith 52’); Charles, Ferguson, Allarakhia (Browne 66’), Napa (Hutchinson 60’), Kretzschmar, Olomola. Not used: Sesay and Mongoy.
• Report by Will Beaman
• Pictures by Jon Taffel