Weston crashed to lowly Bromley in an unacceptable performance according to manager Craig Laird.

WESTON-S-MARE 0

BROMLEY 3

TOTALLY unacceptable was Weston’s manager Craig Laird verdict on his side’s performance as they crashed to Bromley who were one from bottom of the Blue Square South.

“This was not fair to the fans who have come to expect much better from us and I promise this will not happen again.

“I don’t mind being beaten by a better side, but this was ridiculous. When we had possession, we gave it away. Our passing game let us down and we were second to practically every loose ball.”

For the first time this year, Mr Laird was forced to make a change to his starting line-up as Nat Pepperell was unavailable, so Nabi Diallo took his place and Pepperell’s height in attack was sorely missed, where he controls long diagonal passes and makes ground up the right, this aspect of Weston’s play was missing.

With their first attack in the third minute, Bromley took the lead when Albert Jarrett rounded a defender wide on the left and crossed for Hakeen Araba to beat Lloyd Irish with a near-post header.

This gave confidence to Bromley who had not won any of their previous games and they mounted several promising attacks through skipper Tuto Henriques, Ali Fuseini, Anthony Thomas and Pierre Joseph-Dubois down the right and Danny Waldren, Jarrett and Marlon Patterson down the left that were stopped by Weston’s strong defence.

Fuseini missed a great chance of adding a score when he got the better of Jamie Laird on 29 minutes, but fired wildly wide with only Irish to beat.

Weston’s only chance of the half came on 16 minutes when Diallo just failed to make contact with Kane Ingram’s cross and a little later, Diallo forced one of six Weston’s corners with a low effort. Then Sahr Kabba was just off target when set up by Diallo from another Ingram cross.

If Weston fans were hoping for a better performance in the second half, they were in for a big disappointment as Bromley took control from the start with Thomas forcing a decent save from Irish before Thomas added the second goal on 57 minutes when he was set up by the giant Araba.

Later, Thomas forced another good save from Irish with a snap shot and then Liam Harwood just failed to connect with Jarrett’s cross.

Jamie Price, on a run down the right, created Weston’s best chance of the half when he cut in and on-loan keeper from Stevenage Borough Joe Welch saved with his legs for another corner.

The Bromley scoring was completed on 80 minutes when Laird’s attempted back-header to Irish was intercepted by Joseph-Dubois who easily rounded the keeper to score and register Bromely’s sixth win of the season, also to avenge last season’s 7-0 drubbing at the Woodspring Stadium.

WESTON STATS

Goals: Bromley, Araba (3), Thomas (57), Joseph-Dubois.

Shots on target: Weston 2, Bromley 8.

Shots off target: Weston 2, Bromley 2.

Corners: Weston 6, Bromley 1.

Offsides: Weston 2, Bromley 1.

Free kicks conceded: Weston 10, Bromley 10.

Referee: Adam Hopkins (Plymouth). On the whole, a good performance.

Bookings: Weston, Ingram, Slocombe, Kirk. Bromley, Welch.

Attendance: 343.

Weston squad: Irish, Price, Slocombe, Cleverley, Villis, Laird, Ingram (Young 72), Kirk, Kabba (Duharty 81), Trowbridge, Diallo (McGregor 58). Subs (not used): Martin, Grubb.

ON Saturday, Weston face a tough fixture with a visit to Chelmsford City who lie in fourth spot in the Blue Square South table.

When the sides met in Weston in September, Chelmsford ran out 2-1 winners, with Nat Pepperell getting Weston’s goal.