Outclassed Bromley given a taste of imposter syndrome by dominant Leicester City
Updated: 12 hours ago
League One
Bromley (0) 0
Leicester City (3) 4 Alves 4, Lundstram 16, Thomas 45+2, Riis 67
It's 10 years since the Foxes pulled off English football's greatest miracle and they have since fallen from a great height - but not enough to disguise a still-obvious gulf in resources.
This was a match which quickly lost all semblance of being a real contest as Leicester bagged two goals in the opening 16 minutes before inflicting a death by a thousand cuts.
They racked up 756 passes over the 90 minutes. Bromley 236. With around 75 per cent possession they completely controlled proceedings as the Ravens chased shadows.
But for a string of fine saves from Grant Smith, the winning margin would have been much greater. By the end, 4-0 felt like something of a moral victory for the hosts.
Of course this felt like a special night for the Ravens. It was their first ever meeting with the Foxes and seeing Hayes Lane packed to the rafters was a reminder of just how far this club has come.
It is amazing to be playing a team like former champions Leicester City, who are surely destined to bounce back up to the Championship despite an atrocious start to the season.
But for Bromley, it is going to take an almighty effort to avoid a quick return to League Two. They are bottom of the table and leaking too many goals but should console themselves they won't have to face this kind of quality every week.
City may have had to assemble a new team with very few well known names but Russell Martin - under fire after overseeing a dire start to life in League One - surely has the players to do the job.
Bromley boss Andy Woodman is not one to accept any cause is totally hopeless and he made a quadruple change at the interval, which initially promised to stem the one-way traffic. Perhaps they can take comfort from only losing the second half 1-0. But this was still a humbling night.
It took the Foxes just four minutes to assert themselves- Will Alves firing in after being set up by Sammy Braybrooke.
Skipper John Lundstram doubled the lead, picking up the pieces on the edge of the box to fire into the bottom corner and Luke Thomas got on the end of a Braybrooke cross from the right just before the break.
It did look as if the provider was offside when he raced down the right flank but the linesman close by was unmoved, much to the fury of the home supporters, who saw their last vestige of hope evaporate in that moment.
New signing Emil Riis put away a fourth after another assist from the excellent Braybrooke and we were treated to an impressive late cameo from former Fulham striker Bobby Decordova-Reid whose pass to Liam Cullen almost resulted in a fifth goal. Only Smith's fingertips prevented it happening.
Mitch Pinnock kept plugging away down the left but chances were scarce for Bromley. There were ironic cheers when JJ McKiernan hit a powder puff shot at the keeper and Pinnock himself had a deflected shot palmed away.
But with City monopolising proceedings, the Bromley faithful aired a self-mocking chant of "We've got the ball" during the rare moments their team was actually in possession. It was that kind of night.
Ravens: (4-1-4-1) Smith - Ifill, Sowunmi (Cheek h/t) Jackson (Miller 81), Taylor (Jones h/t) - Saville - Whitely (Grant h/t), Hondermarck, Pinnock - Adeboyejo (Conteh h/t)
Foxes: (3-4-2-1) McCarthy - O'Hara, Souttar, Okoli - Alves (Howell 77), Lundstram, Page (Chaplin 72), Thomas - Braybrooke (Smallbone 72), Doyle (Decordova-Reid 77) - Riis (Cullen 72)
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