Neil Smith admitted his Bromley side failed to reach their standards in the 2-0 defeat to Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.

On the opening day of the season, James Norwood’s first-half brace was enough to earn the three points at Hayes Lane.

Smith bemoaned the Ravens’ sluggish start to the fixture, saying: “I don’t think we played to our full potential, it took us time to get into the game and by that time we were 1-0 down.

“I think we passed it well and players wanted the ball but after that I think we just went off the boil, lack of concentration and we were two nil down.

“There are clearly things we need to work on.”

Bromley fell behind on nine minutes when Norwood, who scored 19 goals last season, fired past Alan Julian.

Recent signing Blair Turgott wasted a golden opportunity to equalise before Norwood prodded home from close-range on the stroke of half-time.

Despite the defeat, Smith was able to single out several players who he was impressed by.

“On a positive front I thought Joe Anderson was brilliant again, David Martin just keeps getting stronger and stronger and Reece Prestedge was another,” Smith added “But I think collectively if we look at ourselves as a team there were one or two who probably weren’t on it which is a shame because they have been on it during pre-season.

“Apart from their two goals I thought we handled them well and probably had the greater share of possession after the break.”