Ravens Rising (Short)

[viperk1]

Many people say that there are events that remain long in the memory – that stay with you as you grow old. I used to say that they were all talking nonsense. However, now that my days are coming to an end, I know now that they were right.

There was a time, over forty years ago now, when I was a football manager. Despite my international pedigree as a player, my career on the touchline started down in the small London borough of Bromley. I never knew, back then, that I would take them on a journey that would stun the footballing masses.

Affectionately known as the Lilywhites or the Ravens by their supporters, the Nationwide Conference South club played their football at the little known ground of Hayes Lane. It paled in comparison to the venues that made me the most highly regarded footballer in England – but for me, it was home.

I joined Bromley following their promotion to the 2nd tier of non-league football in 2007. They had just lost their manager under acrimonious circumstances and needed someone to keep them in the division – though naturally, they didn’t expect someone like me to show up at the doors to Hayes Lane.

Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

[viperk1]

Back then, everyone expected us to be dragged back into the league from whence we came – and with the squad of players in my possession, I knew exactly why. Whilst there were the odd shining lights such as the former Comber Recreation FC centre-back Scott McCrory and young striker Garath McCleary, I felt that the squad would be eaten alive in the Conference South. It was practically abysmal.

However, that soon changed. For the books to be balanced properly, the fringe players of the squad just had to go – with no fewer than eleven players being shown the door that season. All those years ago, expectations had been pretty low at Hayes Lane – the board only expected survival. Even then, players like left-back Lee Marshall and right winger James Reilly would’ve struggled to achieve even those.

With the wage budget freed up somewhat, my scouting team scoured the British Isles for the right kind of players for the Bromley squad. As I found out that they came up trumps, the face I made was apparently picture perfect. Just to prove that point, the scouts took a photo of it – I think I have it around somewhere in the loft, back when I was tall, dark and handsome.

Anyway, I digress... I wasn’t sure if it was my reputation within the world of football or just the fact that the free agents just wanted to play football again.

Naturally, the reasoning made very little difference to the outcome. Players such as Welsh Under 21 international midfielder Dan Martin and teenage defender Nathaniel Kerr, formerly a part of Crewe youth academy,were donning the colours of the Lilywhites. With the quality of players we now had at Hayes Lane, I didn’t expect us to survive.

I expected us to aim for the top.

[copperhorse21]

Nice opening. Though I've assumed managerial duties at many clubs, I've never assumed leadership of Bromley, though it is a London area club with distinct historical influence, if my wikipedia research is accurate. I had considered doing a career save with them but never got around to pursuing it as I wrote my Alfreton save instead.

I'm intrigued...

[viperk1]

copper: I thank you for taking time to read this - can't say I understand why you're intrigued though.

The Nationwide Conference South was an almost anonymous league way back when, in a country whose press coverage was dominated by the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United. It still is, to be honest – despite the multiple name changes over the years. Once again, I’m wandering away from the point....I really need to stop doing that.

As I was saying, the morsels of exposure that Bromley FC ‘commanded’ almost always stated that the club’s opposition, whoever that would be, would earn an easy three points.

How wrong they were.

The small-time bookies who had taken bets on our match against Eastleigh made a decent profit – and the Hampshire side went back home humiliated. Despite our profligacy in the early stages of the match, former Yeovil Town goalkeeper Dan Barker, one of my new signings, ensured at we would go into the break level – or so I thought.

With a matter of seconds to go before half time, we won a free kick just inside the Eastleigh half. With the visitors napping, right-back David Dunphy took the opportunity to launch the ball towards another of my new signings – right winger Adam Brown. Noticing that Ellis Remy was free of his marker in the area, the former Doncaster trainee crossed the ball in – and Bromley’s top scorer last season headed the ball straight past James Pullen in the Eastleigh goal.

We added a second goal nine minutes after the restart from a Brown free kick out wide on the left – which was headed into the net by the former Bradford midfielder Craig Bentham. My players had knocked the stuffing out of Eastleigh – and as both teams left the field of play after the final whistle, the result sent out a stark message to the rest of the Conference South.

Under my stewardship, Bromley were not a team to be taken lightly.

[ScottleeSV]

One fact about Bromley - they have the most inept county court in the country (take my word for it). Central London court isn't much better either. Maybe it's a London thing?

I've got a guess as to where the story will end up after 10000 words but I'll keep it secret for now, although "Ravens Nesting" wouldn't be a bad title for a sequel in the BSP.

[viperk1]

Scottlee - we'll see

From what I remember, the non-league papers had put our good result against the Spitfires down to a stroke of good fortune on our part – and still maintained their claims that we would be propping the table up by the end of the season.

Naturally, that was something that the players and I refuted – and by the end of the club’s inaugural season in the Conference South, me and my team continued to prove that the win on the opening day of the season was by no means a fluke. McCleary, Remy and Millwall loanee striker Christopher Zebroski managed twenty five goals between them – with a further forty four goals by the rest of the squad.

No matter whether the result of the match before was good, bad or indifferent, I continually checked the league table to affirm my belief that we would throw the predictions of the media straight back into their faces. The expected plummet down to the bottom of the table never transpired. In reality, our lowest position all season was 13th – and the media were soon eating humble pie.

However, what I never expected from my cobbled side of discarded teenagers and veterans was a reasonable attempt at promotion at the first time of asking. Much to my surprise, my own team proved me wrong week after week – and as I read the Conference South table, following the penultimate game, I was stunned:

 | Pos   | Inf   | Team               |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
 | 1st   | Pl    | Cambridge City     |       | 41    | 22    | 11    | 8     | 59    | 38    | +21   | 77    |
 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
 | 2nd   | Pl    | Gravesend          |       | 41    | 22    | 9     | 10    | 83    | 31    | +52   | 75    | 
 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
 | 3rd   | Pl    | Tamworth           |       | 41    | 21    | 12    | 8     | 52    | 30    | +22   | 75    | 
 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
 | 4th   | Pl    | Fisher             |       | 41    | 20    | 13    | 8     | 76    | 56    | +20   | 73    | 
 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
 | 5th   | Pl    | Bromley            |       | 41    | 19    | 12    | 10    | 66    | 41    | +25   | 69    | 
 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
 | 6th   |       | St. Albans         |       | 41    | 16    | 14    | 11    | 66    | 46    | +20   | 62    | 
 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

By quite a merry margin, my Ravens had made the playoffs.

[copperhorse21]

I was making my assessment based upon a few factors, of which one was the narrator's voice. It was intriguing because it seemed to amble along at its own pace, like a grandfather might do when recounting the tale to his grandson on a hot summer's day out on the porch.

The pace of the opening post seemed to contradict the word limit of the short story format and I was curious to see how you'd work your way out of it.

I see now.

[Offspring8]

Viper, you have a story on the boards again :D great to see you back and I'm looking forward to following this

[viperk1]

copperhorse - I see your point. It did seem as if I would be telling the story at the pace of the love child between a sloth and a snail

Offspring - you won't have as much to follow this time around. Thank you for your comment

Given how close the top four were in the table, it had become apparent that any one of them could be our opponents in the playoffs. Somehow, I found myself checking the result of the last top of the table clash of the Conference South – Cambridge City v. Gravesend & Northfleet.

Both sides had taken four points from us during the season – three at home, one at Hayes Lane. However, the Fleet, relegated from the Conference Premier in the previous season, taught us a footballing lesson with a three-nil hammering – whilst City only narrowly beat us three-two.

I certainly knew which team was my preferred choice if we were to play either in the playoffs. Somehow, I found myself cheering on Gravesend to secure a win and get promoted automatically.

On the other hand, our record against the other two teams, Tamworth and Fisher, were far more preferable. In our only win against the top four, we won against the Lambs with a score line of one-nil at Hayes Lane – though we were soundly beaten two-nil by Tamworth at the Lamb Ground. In all truth, Fisher were the only side in the top four who had been unable to defeat us home or away – with a two-two all draw and a one-all draw respectively.

As it turned out, Gravesend did beat Cambridge one-nil at the City Ground, whilst we and Tamworth also won our last matches of the season – though our result didn’t matter quite so much. Given those results, Fisher’s nil-nil draw with Basingstoke also didn’t matter – as they, like us, couldn’t climb the table any higher than their fourth place position.

With the format of the playoffs as they were, we knew that we would face the runners up of the Conference South – and as Gravesend and Tamworth both finished on seventy eight points, goal difference would settle who ended the season in that position. With a colossal goal difference of +53, the league champions were Gravesend & Northfleet – so our opponents in the playoffs, because of their goal difference of +23, would be Tamworth.

Since it was so long ago, voicing my opinion about it would make no difference to the outcome – so I won’t.

[viperk1]

Despite finishing below Tamworth in the table, we would have home leg advantage for the second leg. Because of this, I felt that we had to try and grind out a draw to give ourselves a chance for the second leg.

However, that didn’t mean I would change my formation to counter whatever Tamworth threw at us – I was always stubborn in that regard. The 4-3-3/4-5-1 that I had used since the start of my tenure was rolled out once again – and the players who had gotten us this far were given the chance to show that we deserved to play at the highest level of the non-league ladder.

I had to make a few changes thanks to injuries and whatnot, but it was basically the best line-up that we could come up with in time for the away leg:

Barker, Corneille, Serrant, Hessey, Kerr, Bentham, Coutts, Martin, McCallum, Duncan, McCleary

Subs: Walker, Dunphy, McCrory, Remy, Brown

I am certain that I saw a surprised glance from centre-back Sean Hessey as the team read the sheet. Given the magnitude of the game in question, Hessey had expected Scott McCrory to line-up alongside Nathaniel Kerr in the centre of defence.

However, the Northern Irishman’s form of late had been absolutely abysmal. In truth, I had attributed it to the confirmation in early January that he would be leaving the south of London for the sunny climbs of...Dublin – to play for Shamrock Rovers.

Yeah, I never understood that either.

[viperk1]

As we walked out onto the pitch, something hit me – almost as if a ton of bricks had been dropped on my foot. The atmosphere of the Lamb Ground was unbelievably edgy – after the heartbreak of relegation in the previous season, the Tamworth fans clearly wanted to see their club return to the league where they felt they belonged. The fans knew that anything could happen in the playoffs – even now, they’re still a lottery.

Of course, that means nothing to you, I’m sure.

I can’t remember what my team talk was back then. What I do know, however, was that it must have been a load of hot air and bull**** – how many teams do you know play like they’ve never seen a ball before after a good team talk?

Alright, maybe I’m being a little harsh about those guys – after all, I still keep in touch with most of them now. Heck, Dan Martin now manages the Lilywhites in the top flight – I’m sure they’re going up against Dardanelspor in the Last 32 of the UEFA Cup in a few days time...

Alas, I digress once more.

Despite my earlier words, we weren’t all that bad during the opening minutes – though we appeared to be the makers of our own downfall. With only eleven seconds on the clock, Sean Hessey bit away at the heels of Taiwo Atieno. The Lambs’ sole striker made the most of the contact, and the referee took the bait hook, line and sinker – by awarding a free kick against us.

Fantastic.

[viperk1]

My mind was put at ease when I saw who was taking the free kick for the home side. Their left winger, John McGrath, had only scored three goals all season – so I wasn’t entirely surprised to see him blaze the ball high and wide.

My secret hope had been that we would be able to force our game upon Tamworth’s – though given that we were fighting on enemy turf, with their fans seemingly baying for bloody murder around me, that hope was bound to horribly wide of the mark.

I wasn’t wrong either.

Both Sean Hessey and Nathaniel Kerr had neglected their duty to mark the biggest threat in the box – a cardinal sin, since my memories recall that Atieno was built like a brick ****-house and was six foot two to boot. Following a Tamworth throw-in, the miniscule figure of Mark Corneille found himself marking the Lambs’ striker as he charged into our penalty area.

As such, we were punished for our sin. As the ball was crossed in by McGrath, Taiwo Atieno jumped clear of his marker, deftly flicking the spherical object with his head towards our net. Dan Barker tried his best to put a hand on it, but the ball agonisingly escaped his grasp as it collided with the post – before settling down inside our net.

The home crowds erupted with joy at the goal – whilst I merely sighed, with doubts creeping into my mind.

In the excitement over the home side’s opener, I felt that, perhaps, my side did not have what it takes to step up to the next level.

Tamworth 1 – 0 Bromley

Taiwo Atieno (7)

[copperhorse21]

Unbelievable reprieve...only to be cut open like a fish by Atieno...grrrr.

[viperk1]

copper - it gets worse.

From memory, one thing that my Ravens had failed to do all season long was come back from a deficit to secure a result. In reality, the match was absolutely dire – barring the Atieno goal, neither team had tested the opposition goalkeeper. Given how the match was going, I certainly thought that this wasn’t to be our year.

Alright, I’m being a little harsh again. We did in fact test Mark Westhead in the Tamworth goal once during the half – if you class crossing the ball into his hands as testing him. Derek Duncan did precisely that half way through the first half during one of our forays into the home side’s half.

Yes, the play was that bad.

As play continued further, I remember my heart begging for changes to be made – things were so bad, I felt that only a fluke of the highest quality would see either side score again. However, my mind had control of my actions – and it felt that things weren’t entirely bad for us with only a one-goal deficit to cope with at Hayes Lane.

My heart was right. As the two parts of my anatomy waged their war within my head, Tamworth won a throw in-line with the six yard area. Rob Lloyd, who had been imperious for the Lambs at the back all half, took the throw in and passed it to right winger Andrew Forsyth.

The Northern Irishman took the ball away from our goal to evade the harassment of Duncan – before twisting his body to blast it towards Atieno. Clearly we had learnt from our earlier mistake, with the 5 foot figure of Craig Bentham marking the Tamworth striker – in comparison to the spritely figure of Mark Corneille.

However, memories tell me that both I and Dan Barker had not been prepared for both players missing the ball entirely – and as it struck the twine of the net, I was stunned.

It was either a fluke – or Andrew Forsythe had performed a moment of utter brilliance.

Tamworth 2 – 0 Bromley

Andrew Forsythe (33)

[viperk1]

On the plus side, very little else happened during the remainder of the half – and we returned to the away dressing room as a wounded animal. My recollections fail me on what I said to the players once again – though I’m sure I was not “pleased” with the awful performance.

However, I finally followed the advice that my heart had been screaming out for during the opening forty-five minutes, and switched our formation to the rarely used 4-4-2 – by dragging off Gavin McCallum and Craig Bentham. Ellis Remy and Adam Brown came on in their places – and as we returned to the field of play, I dearly hoped that we could break the scoring curse that had marred our season.

I didn’t want to wait long for that situation.

It seemed as if the entire squad had been energized by the changes – with Gareth McCleary firing a venomous shot upon the Tamworth goal. Sadly, it cannoned back off the crossbar and into the path of the Lambs midfielder Kyle Storer at the edge of the area – but not for long.

In one single fluid moment, Adam Brown dived in to steal the ball away from Storer – whilst also delivering the ball out wide to Mark Corneille. The young full-back delivered the ball back into the Tamworth area towards James Coutts – who had been kept onside by John McGrath.

The teenage midfielder took only two touches – one to settle the ball down, the second to roll the ball past the prone figure of Sam Westhead and into the Tamworth net.

One more goal, and the curse would be broken – and given the situation, that day was the perfect time to break it.

Tamworth 2 – 1 Bromley

James Coutts (53)

[viperk1]

In all honesty, I was expecting my side to hold station and bring back the surmountable challenge of making up a single goal deficit back at Hayes Lane – our home form had been far greater than the form displayed away from home.

Of course, our luck had decided to take a trip to the Balearics – and I was fuming that Rob Lloyd had not seen punishment for the brutal attack he delivered to one of my players.

Only five minutes after Coutts’ goal, we had won a free kick inside our own half as a result of Atieno being offside – a surprise in itself, given that he was clearly being played as a target man. Kerr launched the ball towards Derek Duncan out wide on the left side of the field – who had to compete with Lloyd to win the ball.

Infuriatingly for me, the Tamworth full-back got his head to the ball first – and landed his elbow square into the jaw of my best left winger. Somehow, the referee waved play on – despite the clear distress being shown by my player near the touchline.

Of course, that caused me to rant and rave at the fourth official – quite how nobody noticed that Lloyd attacked Duncan was anybody’s guess.

What was more distressing for me was that he had to be replaced – as he was claiming that the force of the elbow had possibly caused damage to his jaw.

With all of my attacking options now on the pitch rather than the bench, I had little choice but to change things around by bringing on Scott McCrory in place of the injured Duncan.

Back then, I knew that the resulting 5-3-2 formation wasn’t ideal – but for the rest of this match, it had to do.

[viperk1]

The match continued in its usual fervour after my final throw of the dice – though the change did little to improve the accuracy of either side. As in the first half, all of the shots besides James Coutts’ fifty-third minute strike had been woefully wide.

It sickened me to the core – though that was non-league football for you. Quite a few of the players on show had to hold down two jobs just to ensure they could make an honest living – £50 a week didn’t go far for a teenager back then.

It does far less now, what with the stupid inflation rates...but I digress.

In reality, the game ebbed and flowed as you would’ve expected in a match against Arsenal and Barcelona back in the day – with one side dominating for a short period of time, then the other side following suit a few minutes later.

Certainly, we lacked the edge that could’ve seen us level the tie – we had plenty of pressure upon the Lambs, but no end product. Our opponents almost made us pay for that profligacy – but Matty Williams, who had come on at half time for the home side, was only able to strike the woodwork with a strong header.

Moments later, I glanced over towards the scoreboard to check the time – before paying attention to how white the paint was that marked out my technical area. It was certainly an unnatural thing to do with three minutes of injury time to play – and my assistant at the time reminded me as such.

He told me that anything could happen – but I still had my doubts.

[viperk1]

Continually for the remainder of the time left in the match, I glanced up at the clock, waiting for the final whistle to consign this defeat to the history books. In all truth, I barely dropped my eye sight to watch my players.

The only thing that prompted me to do just that was an audible gasp that spread around the Lamb Ground like wildfire – and as I did, I spotted Sean Hessey nodding the ball over the head of Williams and into the path of James Coutts.

I realised that nobody seemed to be closing him down – and as my teenage midfielder knocked the ball down towards his feet, I remember seeing him take a quick glance towards the Tamworth goalkeeper.

From what I remember, the youngster was well over thirty yards away from the goal. I truly thought that he was insane to even contemplate a volley from that far out – especially with only twenty seconds left of injury time.

However, as I glanced towards the Tamworth goal, I heard no shrieks of disappointment from the away fans – only a deafening silence. The next thing I saw, you ask?

It was the ball hitting the back of the Tamworth net.

The ensuing celebrations from our fans were strong enough to register on the Richter scale – you’d have thought that we had just won the FA Cup!

Was it a stroke of fortune or a piece of brilliant skill? Having not seen the shot, I wasn’t sure – but what I did know was that it was game on at Hayes Lane.

With the last kick of the game, James Coutts had levelled the tie.

Final Score

Tamworth 2 – 2 Bromley

Atieno (7), Forsythe (33); Coutts (53, 90+3)

[SCIAG]

Great comeback! Good luck in the second leg...

[viperk1]

SCIAG - thank you!

Fast forward a couple of days to our preparations for the return leg at our place. Things certainly weren’t ideal – we would be missing Derek Duncan for the second leg and possibly the play-off final thanks to a fractured jaw.

However, the hope was that the rest of our players would be able to stay injury free – so that our new signing at the time didn’t have to be thrown in at the deep end. I think he was a South African defender...Mark Arber was his name.

No such luck.

[copperhorse21]

3 minutes into injury time to snag the replay! Wonderful! No wonder you wanted to get this written up here.

Oh wait...it's not a replay for a cup, it's the playoffs for promotion. That will teach me to forget the storyline...Sorry

[viperk1]

copper - replay? The semi finals are two-legged ties

The scream said it all.

Back then, in the top flight, an injury such as a broken leg would set a player back for almost a year – not even the top physiotherapists could get the downtime any lower.

However, in the non-league, it was career ending. Sean Hessey’s days at Bromley – and his career – were over.

[canvey!!]

Ouch .

[viperk1]

canvey - I know. I was gutted

As much as I hated it at the time, life had to go on – in the form of the second leg.

Thanks to the injuries to Duncan and Hessey, I had to make a few changes to the XI that drew in the first leg. Ellis Remy was to start up front, with Garath McCleary making a surprise appearance at left wing and Mark Arber making his debut alongside Nathaniel Kerr in defence.

After being delivered a hammer-blow to their promotion chances in the form of that thirty yard strike, the Lambs arrived at Hayes Lane as if they had gone ten rounds with James DeGale and David Haye – clearly it was to do with them failing to secure the right result at the Lamb Ground, in my eyes.

I wanted to make them pay for that failure.

[gavrenwick]

As much as I hated it at the time, life had to go on – in the form of the second leg.

Anyone else see the irony in this statement?

[viperk1]

gav - call it inadvertant irony.

I was unnerved by our first half performance – we had completely dominated the match, but had no goals to show for that supremacy over our opponents. Back then, it almost made me think that Tamworth would immediately dash up to our end and smash up our promotion hopes – even though they had shown no signs of doing so during the first forty-four minutes of the match.

Such a pessimistic psyche I had in those days...

Thankfully, my doubts did not manifest themselves upon my charges. Contemplating what I was going to say to my team at half time, I watched as James Coutts won us a free kick about thirty five yards out – not too dissimilar to where he scored from in the dying embers of the first leg.

On the other hand, it was a dead ball situation. Rather than wasting time by allowing Tamworth to set up a wall, the teenage midfielder spread the ball out wide to Ryan Serrant – we had caught their defence cold!

With no clear crossing position, the former Huddersfield full-back passed the ball into the box – where Garath McCleary was, taking the ball in his stride before smashing it into the back of the net.

For the first time in the playoff semi-final, we were ahead.

Bromley 1 – 0 Tamworth (3 – 2)

Garath McCleary (45)

[viperk1]

It was certainly not a surprise to see my side ahead – though I wasn’t entirely impressed that it had taken almost the whole half to make the break through. Of course, I had that normal feeling that most managers, past and present, have when one-nil up – the response of the opposition following the concession of the opening goal.

I needn’t have worried too much.

Admittedly, Tamworth did spear two shots over the bar within the first five minutes – but within the next five minutes, we found ourselves in a commanding position in the tie.

Following our failed attempt to score from a corner, the ball found itself back in our half - where Serrant picked it up to restart our attack. Evading the challenge of Rob Lloyd, he sent the ball down the line towards my club captain, Dan Martin.

One slide-rule pass to Nathaniel Kerr and one long ball up the field later, and Garath McCleary was free to cross the ball into the box from the left wing.

However, he instead decided to run towards the box – before delivering a pin-point pass towards Ellis Remy. The striker ignored the attention of the two Tamworth defenders behind him to lash the ball past Ian Westhead.

There was no way we could let go of a two-goal lead, surely?

Bromley 2 – 0 Tamworth (4 – 2)

Ellis Remy (51)

[viperk1]

Much to my relief, Tamworth had their sole chance of truly getting back into the match scuppered by the linesman’s flag. That relief was much improved since the Lambs had the ball in our net – I could only be glad that Taiwo Atieno was offside.

Needless to say, we took full advantage of that.

Following Atieno’s offside call, Tamworth could barely get a touch of the ball – and because of that, they conceded a free kick just outside their area.

In an attempt to find a simpler way to score, Dan Martin knocked the ball into the box to Gavin McCallum. The Canadian winger tried to shoot from a few yards out – but had his legs taken out from underneath him by Kyle Storer.

Without hesitation, the referee...his name escapes me, but who cares? Either way, the ref pointed straight to the spot – but somehow decided that extra punishment in the form of a card was unnecessary.

I wasn’t entirely pleased – but if my club captain, Dan Martin, scored, we’d be three-nil ahead and the tie would effectively be over.

He made no mistake.

Bromley 3 – 0 Tamworth (5 – 2)

Dan Martin (pen 55)

[SCIAG]

Good work, viperk, both on the pitch and with the writing.

[viperk1]

SCIAG - thank you. Hope the rest of the story doesn't disappoint.

I certainly expected more goals from this match – there was no way that all of the goals would happen in the space of ten minutes.

Then again, that has been known to happen in recent times – a team scoring within ten or so minutes (one team even scored within twenty-one seconds) then **** all else happening in terms of goals during the rest of the match.

However, it’s safe to say that the match didn’t peter out to a slow crawl – far from it. Now that they were three goals down, the Tamworth players appeared to be coming to terms with what the hell was going on – they sure didn’t like it.

Only a succession of fine saves and last ditch tackles stopped the Lambs from acquiring what seemed to be a consolation goal at the moment – but still they came at us. Somehow, I knew it would be a matter of time before our opposition got lucky and scored.

How I cursed my own intuition.

There was very little that Dan Barker could’ve done to catch John McGrath’s shot – it was far too high up in the air. As such, the ball found itself crashing against the crossbar and back into play.

My goalkeeper tried his best to see where the ball was – but by the time he spotted it, the round little object was already being thundered into the net by the head of Levi Chambers.

Fiddlesticks.

Bromley 3 – 1 Tamworth (5 – 3)

Levi Chambers (66)

[viperk1]

Following that goal, the Tamworth fans began kicking up one hell of a fuss as their side tried their damnedest to score a second goal. With every passing moment, they got even closer to putting the ball into the onion bag – needless to say, my blood pressure was suffering.

Andy Forsythe, scorer of the second best goal in the first leg, narrowly headed the ball over the bar after the restart – whilst Levi Chambers forced two saves out of Dan Barker as our defence fell asleep time and time again.

In all honesty, it seemed that we needed to be more efficient in our defending – so I dragged off Coutts and McCallum in favour of Andy Proctor and Adam Brown. They seemed to be like-for-like changes to the crowd – but the fact was that they could run around like headless chickens for longer.

Whether it was as a result of my substitutions or not, Tamworth’s scoring chances were drying up – and as Taiwo Atieno had the ball snatched away from his feet by Mark Arber, I secretly hoped that my Ravens would lead the Lambs to the slaughter-house.

The South African defender spanked the ball up field, seemingly uncaring as to whether a player wearing a white jersey picked up the ball or not. Much to my satisfaction, Ellis Remy was the benefactor on the half way line – and in a manner akin to our animal counterparts, our counter attack was swift.

The young striker laid the ball straight back to Adam Brown – before running full-pelt towards the Tamworth goal. Brown then surprised us all with his next move – spotting the run by Ellis Remy and then lobbing the ball straight into the path of the marauding forward. The ball had travelled at least twenty-five yards, if not more.

With the amount of time afforded to him, Remy could hardly skew it wide – though he certainly gave it a good try. The ball clattered into the left post, before settling down inside the Tamworth net.

If it hadn’t been game over when Dan scored, it sure as hell was now.

Bromley 4 – 1 Tamworth (6 – 3)

Ellis Remy (83)

[viperk1]

With only seven minutes left to play, all of the Bromley fans scattered around Hayes Lane – about a thousand of them – were dancing and raving with glee. Only a year ago, they were celebrating promotion – and under my leadership, the Ravens were one step away from defying the media and the rest of the football world once again.

The match had long since been over after Dan Martin’s penalty – but when the final whistle blew through the referee’s lips, the whole of London would’ve been able to hear the joyous cries emanating from our little stadium.

Oh how far my Ravens had come in the last twelve months.

Final Score

Bromley 4 – 1 Tamworth

McCleary (45), Remy (51, 83), Martin (pen 55); Chambers (66)

Bromley win 6 – 3 on aggregate.

[copperhorse21]

Congratulations on the fine victory! Being that close is a wonderful feeling, I've experienced a couple of times managing my various careers! It never grows old. You've produced an enjoyable read and thanks for making the time to write it.

[viperk1]

copper - you make it sound as if the story is over! far from it.

Funnily enough, it was going to be an all-Lilywhite final. Cambridge City, also known as the Lilywhites, had hammered Fisher in their semi-final – the final score eludes me, but the Fish were apparently dominated from start to finish.

Of course, having never had to play in a play-off final in my career, I had no idea as to where it would take place. I knew it wasn’t going to be a two-legged affair like the semi final was – the fact that the play-offs in the Football League were well documented told me that much.

Naturally, I didn’t expect two small teams from the Conference South, with average attendances of fewer than one thousand people, to be playing in front of a bare Wembley Stadium – besides, back then the grass was worse than an ice rink.

Instead, to my amusement, I heard that we were playing the play-off final in Dagenham – though the precise name of the stadium escapes me. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell me what it was called, with your sparkly little AnthroPC’s and your Wikipedia and your one gigabyte internet speeds...but I digress yet again.

Ah, that was it! Seems I’m not as forgetful as I first thought. It was “The Glyn Hopkin Stadium”.

[copperhorse21]

Sorry for making it seem that way, I assumed "short" in the title meant you were shooting to stay under the 10K word limit to keep it eligible for nominations on the awards ballot. By all means, keep writing and I'll keep reading...

[viperk1]

copper - it will be eligible for the Short Story award.

Ninety minutes of football.

That was all that separated us from an achievement that many deemed to be impossible at the start of the season. For me and my troupe of discarded Football League youngsters and steely veterans, that day was a day that we never thought we’d see during my inaugural season of football management.

Thankfully, we had been listed as the underdogs for that play-off final – so the pressure had all been placed on the other Lilywhites to match the growing expectations. Defeat for us on that day would’ve hardly been a disaster – and it certainly couldn’t have been the be all and end all for our promotion aspirations.

As such, my squad were relaxed as our rickety and worn out coach pulled into the car park of the Glyn Hopkin Stadium. Even though I had never heard of the stadium before hearing that it would be the play-off final location, it was a certain improvement on the stadia that I had seen on my travels that season – it was certainly better than Hayes Lane.

My memories of what I said to my charges in that Dagenham dressing room, as they always seem to these days, are lost to the sands of time – but at least I remember who started that day:

Barker, Dunphy, Serrant, Arber, Kerr, Bentham, Coutts, Martin, Brown, McCallum, McCleary

In my mind back then, that was the side that would see us get one step closer to the biggest leagues in English football – and I dearly hoped that they would deliver the goods for me.

[viperk1]

They couldn’t have possibly gotten off to a better start – even if they tried again thousands of times.

From the kick-off, Cambridge went on the attack – which led to Nathaniel Kerr thumping the ball down the left wing for Gavin McCallum. The Canadian picked up the ball with ease, before attempting to cross the ball into the middle of the Cambridge area.

Frustratingly, the ball deflected off their right-back, Nicholas McCarville, and out for a corner – which McCallum himself decided to take.

It was the best corner kick I had seen him do all season. He curled the ball towards the far post, to which Dan Martin was making a run. The Lilywhites fans...sorry, the Cambridge fans – they had expected the burly figure of Ryan Cancellara to oust the Welshman in the air and clear the ball away from their goal.

They were wrong.

My club captain got above Cancellara and powered the header into the net.

Bromley 1 – 0 Cambridge City

Dan Martin (2)

[viperk1]

I return with the conluding posts!

I almost felt as if we had scored too early.

I knew that we now had momentum following the goal, but there was a niggling feeling that our opponents would have ample opportunities to strike back and bring my charges to their knees – I could only hope that it didn’t have to come to defending for our lives with a one-nil score-line to defend.

Anything could happen in stoppage time.

Interestingly enough, it seemed as if my side wanted to finish matters off within the first half – they felt that a second goal would knock out whatever stuffing Cambridge City had left after the gut-wrenching concession of a goal within the first two minutes.

Within the next ten minutes following the goal, we managed to win more corners than I could possibly count – and quite frankly, no I’m not exaggerating. Dan Martin took advantage of the opportunity to squeeze a shot in from the most ridiculous angle I had ever seen – so I guess there was no surprise that it screwed over the bar.

It’s the thought that counts, isn’t it?

[viperk1]

On the plus side (if you can call it a plus side), our opposing Lilywhites kept us honest – and a piece of shocking defending by Kerr was nearly pounced upon by Lewis McKinnon. The teenage defender sliced his clearance into the path of the Scotsman – and only the diving save from Dan Barker prevented us from being pegged back to one-a-piece.

In all fairness, the game wasn’t exactly the stunning spectacle that the Arsenal’s and Barcelona’s of the time would’ve provided to the masses – but that was hardly a surprise, given the fact that our sides were both in non-league competition. The only problem, I guess, was the fact that the game had descended into a midfield dog-fight – with neither side coming out on top.

Not that our fans would’ve cared. We could have played like utter **** following our 2nd minute opener, but so long as Cambridge City didn’t burst our onion bag, my Ravens would be fighting their battles on the doorstep of professional football – one step away from making the leap to an unprecedented season in League Two.

Anyway, I digress – again. I’ve got to stop doing that. As I said, the game wasn’t great – chances were few and far between, but as the half-time whistle blew, we were still one goal to the good.

I know I’ve been harping on about it for most of this tale of mine – but we were on the verge of the impossible dream.

[viperk1]

I don’t think there was so much I could really say to the lads – which is good, since I remember **** all of it. I guess I’d simply say “Don’t **** it up” if I did that team talk today. I blame it on age, don’t you? You’ll soon have this amnesiac behaviour to cope with in about another fifty years, you know – remembering what I said five minutes ago gets harder and harder with each passing day.

I’m boring the **** out of you, aren’t I?

Anyway...I’ll move on from my senile ramblings about amnesia and some such. As you probably know, my side was quite young back then – so the thought of having a teenage midfield try to hold onto a one goal cushion was like feeding a frog to a pond full of piranhas. By the way, don’t try that – those pictures need to be burned.

Either way, James Coutts was given a break after his sterling efforts in the first half – with the more experienced form of Paul Bolland taking his place. Quite frankly, I was **** scared.

I needn’t have worried.

In what appeared to be the best moment of magic I had seen from my players all season, my right-back, Dunphy spanked the ball at least fifty yards towards to the left hand side of the Cambridge penalty area – and there was Gavin McCallum, pouncing on the ball like a tiger struck its prey.

Twenty second-half seconds and one right-footed shot later, and were two-nil ahead.

How’s your nerve?

Bromley 2 – 0 Cambridge City

Gavin McCallum (46)

[viperk1]

Naturally, I had felt far more relaxed after that goal – though at least my own players didn’t do the same. Instead, Tadgh Murphy was trying his utmost to avoid being rampaged by my side – and denied my side’s three-pronged assault of McCleary, McCallum and Brown time and time again.

Of course, my wish was for the Ravens to just grind the game down to a stand-still – just let the clock run down to full time. Yeah, like hell that was ever going to happen – though on the plus side, our opponents could barely get out of their own half.

Then, as the clock ran down towards the dying embers of the match, a moment of controversy reared its ugly head upon the match. As he had done many times during the match, my Welsh captain blasted his way into the box after receiving the ball from a Serrant throw.

However, just as he began to pull the trigger to put us three ahead, Cancellara slid in – and, from what I could see of my skipper’s reaction, got none of the ball whatsoever. Stunningly, the referee scuppered any claims of a penalty appeal - claiming that Cancellara got the ball.

My midfield general, still somewhat rough around the edges in terms of discipline due to his tender years, gave the referee an ear-blasting after my own heart – I wasn’t exactly guilty free when I felt something went against me when it shouldn’t have. Again, I'm missing the point of my own words.

I had only hoped, at the time, that it was a decision I wouldn’t be ruing at the end of the ninety minutes.

[viperk1]

As you can probably guess by now, young lad, the referee’s decision swung the match in the opposite direction – the anger stewing in my captain was contagious. We took our eyes off the ball for one moment – and our opponents, as you’d expect, punished us for all we were worth.

I’m not sure quite was Kerr was doing when he threw that ball in – but he was on the end of one hell of an ear-bashing either way from Bolland and Martin because of it. He threw the ball straight past the body of the substitute midfielder – and straight into the path of one of Cambridge’s own substitutes, Patrick Deans.

The veteran striker darted away from Bolland, who seemed a little dumbstruck at how bad that throw was. Spotting a gap between Arber and Serrant, Deans flicked the ball forward towards his fellow substitute, Lee Roache, who was now free to charge towards the area.

Whether it was intentional, Roache decided to goad the indecision of my defenders by allowing Serrant to get back in front of him – before flicking the ball straight over the former Huddersfield left-back.

He allowed the ball to bounce once, then lightly lobbed the ball over the out-of-position Dan Barker – now that I think about it, I couldn’t blame him for being a little rusty given how little he had do all game.

Of course, that wasn’t the case at the time – after being on the peripheral edge of the match all afternoon, Cambridge City had a way back in. It infuriated me.

Bromley 2 – 1 Cambridge City

Lee Roache (85)

[viperk1]

I apologise for the speedy nature of these updates.

The nerves that had fluttered away with the Dagenham breeze when we took a two-goal lead were now back in full flow. Our lead had been cut to a solitary goal – and Cambridge City were obviously desperate to get back on level terms. Their promotion hopes rode on securing a second goal – ours were on holding onto our slender lead.

With merely seconds left of normal time, our foes got what would prove to be their last chance to level the match – and the mere fact that they were in our half of the pitch sent chills down my spine.

Craig Radcliffe, who had borne the brunt of most of our fouls of the day, diced his way towards the left side of our penalty area. With nobody closing him down, he centred the ball for Lee Roache.

The substitute goalscorer made no mistake with his flick, lifting it over the stranded Dan Barker and into our net for their equaliser. The fans were stunned into silence.

I remember my whole body giving way – we had worked so hard to get a two goal lead. To see it fall in the last five minutes of the match was heart-breaking.

[viperk1]

The gasps of disappointment rang clear – like a church choir’s melancholic melody at a funeral. However, much to my surprise, those sounds were coming from the Cambridge fans as I looked around the stadium. I found that somewhat strange, especially since they had just scored.

Or so I had thought.

As it turned out, somehow, the score line was still two-one to us. The fact of the matter was that Roache had been offside when the ball was played – and the sight of the linesman’s flag gave me and the Bromley fans a joyous sense of relief.

That disallowed goal proved to be Cambridge City’s final chance – and as the final whistle blew for the end of the play-off final, our fans abandoned all thoughts of staying in the stands. The one and a half thousand travelling Bromley fans flooded the pitch, hoisting my charges up into the air.

I’m not sure how they managed it, but they did exactly the same to me! I didn’t even have a chance to take in the fact that we had achieved what I couldn't have believed to be possible at the start of the season.

We were going up.

Final Score:

Bromley 2 – 1 Cambridge City

Martin (2), McCallum (46); Roache (85)

Bromley are promoted.

[canvey!!]

Congratulations . How you made three games last 30 posts is beyond me, though .

[viperk1]

canvey - Heh, what can you do.

Now we have the end of the line.

Well, I’m pleased – you’re awake! Whenever I try telling the people around here, they keep telling me to get lost – they don’t want to hear the droning of a bumbling old fool like me.

In the scope of things, the play-off win was a toddler’s step towards the big prize for all clubs – Premiership football. However, I knew damn well that my Ravens were rising – and that they would continue to do so under my stewardship.

Anyway, it’s time you toddled off, young one. I can hear the nurse babbling on about the visiting hours being over. Before you go, though, I need to ask you something.

Who are you?

Fin

7,933 words.

[Offspring8]

Great work, Viper it took me a while to getting round to reading the final part but I got here eventually congratulations and well done mate, a fine story any hopes of future short stories on how this Bromley team done in the years after this promotion?

[chesterfan2]

Beautifully paced. Lovely story and a punchy ending. Excellent stuff viperk1, old chap.