Goldberg fears shock cup exit could see Bromley cutbacks

The Lillywhites fell foul to a third qualifying round upset at Hayes Lane on Saturday, going down to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Isthmian North outfit Heybridge Swifts despite dominating the game.

And Goldberg has warned the lack of a cup run this season may have a heavy impact on his playing staff.

He admitted: “I’m devastated and it’s going to be a very difficult time for us because of the commercial implications.

“I’m concerned my squad will not be able to be secured for the whole season now, that’s what I’m worried about.

“But we will talk with the chairman and the sponsors and hope they’ll give us the backing to keep going because we’ve got a great squad and a great togetherness and we’ve not done too bad really so far this season other than this result.”

Bromley fell two goals behind before Jacob Erskine pulled one back on the stroke of half-time to give the hosts hope going into the second period.

Goldberg’s side enjoyed the vast majority of possession after the break but squandered a host of opportunities as their cup dreams faded away for another year.

And the Hayes Lane boss said that his team lacked a certain degree of much needed luck on the day.

He explained: “Unfortunately the ball didn’t seem to run for us very well.

“In the early part of the season the ball was bouncing our way for us, but it was just bouncing the wrong way continuously today.

“Even through-balls were hitting the back of our players rather than just in front of them, or the touch that would normally be in the path of a good opportunity to shoot would just nick off them the wrong way.

“Sometimes games just go that way.”

Bromley are flying high in second place in the Conference South and despite Saturday’s cup disappointment, Goldberg insists his players have what it takes to dust themselves off and continue their good league form.

The Hayes Lane chief said: “How can I criticise my team when it was only two or three games ago that we averaged three goals a game?

“We are going to have games where the rub of the green doesn’t quite go for you, and Saturday was one of those, but we’ll pick ourselves up in the league.

“In terms of the team spirit and the belief in the squad we’ve got, we don’t become a bad team with one loss.

“It wasn’t like we didn’t compete, we competed well.

“Although they’re two leagues below us, we definitely dominated possession and dominated goal scoring opportunities.

“But we just conceded two silly goals and we’ve paid the price unfortunately.”

Bromley resume their Conference South campaign on Saturday at Sutton United (3pm).

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