League 2

Tuesday 9th December 2025

Kick Off 19.45 On Time!

Bromley 3 Crawley Town 1, attendance 3,554

9’ 0-1

43’ 1-1

49’ 2-1

69’ 3-1

@ Copperjax Community Stadium

Hayes Lane

Bromley

BR2 9EG

£27 Admission (£2 increase on day of match)

£5 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.

I’d been to see Bromley here at Hayes Lane (pre sponsor names) twice before. First up was for a 1-1 draw versus Slough Town in an Isthmian League Premier Division match in April 1995 (att. 514) with a re-visit on New Years Day 2010 when they lost 0-1 to Welling United in a National League South match (att. 1,093). Since then they’ve gained promotion into the Football League and tonight was a perfect opportunity to see them as part of ‘The 92’.

The ground has certainly developed over the intervening years and now has a capacity of over 6,000 following the opening of a new full length covered terrace opposite their main seated stand. The visitors are accommodated in the end section of the new terrace and a small covered section behind the adjoining goal end, with 558 making the relatively short journey up from West Sussex. I opted to stand on the new structure, which gave a decent view, but has yet to be fully kitted out behind the scenes, so temporary/portable refreshment huts and toilets are currently in use. I did have some food here, which although very tasty, was an absolutely eye watering price, especially when you’ve already paid £27 to get in. It’s certainly not cheap to attend games in the bottom division of the league these days. There’s no car parking available here, so at least that’s not another expense incurred, but there’s ample free parking in the surrounding roads anyway. I arrived about 18.30 and parked just two minutes walk away, on Hayes Lane itself.

The match was 4th versus 19th (out of 24) in the league table, with Bromley unbeaten in their last twelve home games coming into this, with eight of those being wins and they’re the only team in the division yet to lose a home game this season, so it was a bit of a surprise when Crawley went ahead after nine minutes, when a diagonal ball in from the left was met with a diving header from Ryan Loft that sent the ball low into the far corner of the net. The equaliser for Bromley came two minutes before halftime, when a corner from the right was headed in from a couple of yards by Omar Sowunmi. Four minutes into the second half Bromley edged in front, when a shot from just outside the box by Idris Odutayo took a deflection on its way into the corner. They made it 3-1 with twenty one minutes left, when Crawley lost possession when trying to play out from the back and the ball was squared across the six yard box for top scorer Michael Cheek to roll the ball into the empty net. Crawley never looked like getting back into it from here and Bromley easily held on to take a vital three points in their promotion push.

Unlike the outward journey, which took just over an hour to cover the 18 mile journey, cross country via some very rural lanes, considering it is inside the M25, the drive home was much quieter and I was back home for 22.30. It leaves me with Everton’s brand new Hill Dickinson Stadium and Newport County and Salford City, both as re-visits, to tidy up the 92 now.