HAVANT & W 0 BROMLEY 3
IN-FORM Bromley picked up their third victory from the last four matches with a comfortable victory over a disappointing Havant & Waterlooville in a low key clash at Westleigh Park.
Dejected Hawks boss Lee Bradbury described his side’s performance as “their worst in a ,long time” as the Ravens took them to the sword.
Loan striker JJ Hooper opened the scoring six minutes before the break before second-half strikes from defender Jack Holland and Luke Coulson compounded the misery for the Havant chief.
“I made several changes today and they backfired,” he admitted. “Unfortunately we were not competitive enough and Bromley had far too much experience for us.
“We were flaky at times and that hurts. It would our worst performance for a long, long time.”
The Ravens always looked the most likely from when Hooper fired them into a 39th-minute lead.
Man of the match Coulson ghosted past Bradley Tarbuck before hitting a fierce low shot through a crowd of players. The ball crashed off the post and ex-Hawk Hooper was gifted a simple tap-in.
The game continued to follow a similar pattern after the break where Bromley played on the front foot and Havant lived dangerously.
And in the 65th minute the Ravens doubled their advantage when Frankie Sutherland floated in a free-kick that was headed home powerfully by skipper Holland. The Hawks huffed and puffed but failed to make serious in-roads.
Mark-Antony Akoye bundled the ball home from a Frankie Raymond cross but referee Paul Howard disallowed it for offside, but they weren’t to be denied five minutes from time when terrific wing play from new signing Zavon Hines saw him glide past two challenges before picking out Coulson, who scored at the second attempt.
Tarbuck rattled the crossbar for Havant with a curling 20-yard drive in injury-time but it didn’t take the smile off the face of visiting boss Neil Smith.
“Today my boys showed what they can do,” he added. “There was confidence amongst them after a great training session yesterday. We now need to keep showing ourselves how good we can be.
“I’m a very proud and pleased manager.”