Leyton Orient 3 Bromley 1
Vanarama National League
Saturday 17th November
The O’s are back at the top of the Vanarama National League table after turning a 1-0 half-time deficit into a 3-1 lead after a captivating second half performance that was capped by three quite outstanding goals from Jobi McAnuff, Josh Koroma and Macaulay Bonne.
Bonne nearly latched onto a back pass as early as the 4th minute which needed David Gregory, the Bromley ‘keeper, to rush out of his box to clear the ball away. And a minute later it was Dean Brill’s turn to do some work, as he claimed a ball that made its way into the Orient box which Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe was chasing. But whilst both teams were trying to get the ball down and play, there was little goalmouth action as both defences locked the door, in what was to become a physical encounter that resulted in five yellow cards being dished out. A Sam Ward free kick for Bromley darted across the O’s goal, speeding away at too high a speed for Roger Johnson to get on the end of; and the O’s had a free kick themselves go begging when James Dayton could only drill his shot into Bromley substantial wall.
In the 20th minute Craig Clay poked a shot wide after good approach play from Jobi McAnuff; Josh Koroma curled an effort just wide of the right post four minutes later and then soon afterwards had another go, this time cutting inside two Bromley defenders before firing a shot straight at the Ravens ‘keeper. It looked like the O’s were starting to get their engine fired up.
However Bromley won a free kick at the half hour mark as Dale Gorman fouled Joe Quigley, which earned the O’s player a yellow card: the free kick hitting the O’s wall and going behind for a corner. It started a spell of Bromley pressure as the visitors began to outmuscle the O’s. Richard Brindley had a diagonal shot blocked and cleared by Josh Coulson and as the half progressed it was the visitors that were on the ascendency. Another free kick was awarded to Bromley in the 41st minute that was just outside the box and John Goddard went on to fire his shot beyond Brill to give the Ravens a deserved lead.
The O’s nearly found an equaliser in stoppage time as a ball from McAnuff reached Gorman who bent his shot past Gregory, narrowly missing the target. However at the break it was Justin Edinburgh who had to find something inspiring in the half-time team talk as the O’s had lost a lot of momentum as the first half had progressed.
It was imperative that the O’s did not concede any further goals and an early chance for Bromley in the second period saw Goddard charging onto a through ball that Dan Happe and Brill both combined to keep out. The O’s needed to find a way through as the visitors starting putting bodies behind the ball, along with some physicality to keep the O’s quiet.
In the 54th minute McAnuff and Koroma exchanged passes, with the ball making its way to Bonne who had a shot deflected away for a corner.
Two minutes later the O’s drew level when McAnuff stepped up and delivered a heat-seeking missile of a free kick that crashed into the top left hand corner of the net. And three minutes later the O’s were in the lead as Koroma weaved between two Bromley defenders and then smashed a shot past Gregory. The O’s had turned the game on its head inside three minutes.
But Bromley showed resilience and a couple of wayward passes almost played in Ogedi-Uzokwe and Goddard; with 20 minutes to go the O’s again looked to be losing momentum and another goal was going to be required to put the game beyond Bromley’s reach. Koroma nearly supplied it when he latched onto Bonne’s pass but could only poke his shot into the side-netting.
However it was to be Bonne that supplied that all-important goal in the 77th minute. Clay started the move, pacing into the Bromley box and laying off McAnuff whose shot was blocked by Gregory, but Bonne buried the rebound into the roof of the net, claiming his 15th goal of the season in the process.
But three minutes later Brill had to pull off a reaction save to keep out a George Porter shot, an important save as had it gone in then the O’s would have had a nervy ten minutes to negotiate. Marc-Anthony Okoye tried his luck from distance but the ball ended up sailing high over the O’s cross bar, while at the other end a deep cross from Judd was claimed by Gregory, while a final effort from Koroma in stoppage time was too high to add to the O’s tally.
The win moves the O’s to the top of the table with next week’s away trip to Wrexham being a real promotion six pointer as it is very tight at the top of the Vanarama National League, with a mere point separating the top three as it stands at the moment.
Leyton Orient: Dean Brill, Joe Widdowson, Josh Coulson, Jobi McAnuff (Capt), Craig Clay, Macauley Bonne, James Dayton (James Alabi 89’), Myles Judd, Dale Gorman (James Brophy 76’), Josh Koroma, Marvin Ekpiteta (Dan Happe 43’).
Scorers – Jobi McAnuff (56’), Josh Koroma (59’), Macauley Bonne (76’).
Bromley: David Gregory, Roger Johnson, Jack Holland (Capt), Alan Dunne (Joan Luque 65’), Marc-Anthony Okoye, George Porter, Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, John Goddard, Sam Wood, Richard Brindley, Joe Quigley (Jake Goodman 73’).
Scorer – John Goddard (41’)
