Millwall confirm Bromley friendly (From This Is Local London)

Millwall confirm Bromley friendly

12:43pm Tuesday 7th August 2012 in Latest Sport By Paul Green

BROMLEY have quickly rearranged a friendly with Millwall on Saturday after Gillingham decided to cancel their scheduled trip to Hayes Lane.

The Gills were booked in to take on the Lillywhites but pulled the plug on the meeting, leaving the Conference South side with a major headache trying to find a suitable replacement at such late notice.

However, the search proved to be a very short one after the Lions quickly agreed to step in and it is expected Kenny Jackett will send a strong squad to Hayes Lane.

“Millwall were kind enough to offer a squad to come and replace Gillingham, which will include first team players,” said Bromley manager Mark Goldberg.

Bromley were beaten 3-0 at Margate on Saturday and although disappointed with the result, Goldberg and his management team learnt some valuable lessons from the display.

He explained: “It was a good exercise for us and an opportunity to play some youngsters and one or two who are still on trial with us.

“Considering all the injuries we have, and with certain players on holiday, we managed to gain more positives from the fixture than negatives.

“We were able to bring into the game certain things we’ve been working on in training.

“You don’t learn from winning games in pre-season, you learn more from things which don’t work than from things which do.

“So in that sense we’ve managed to learn some valuable lessons but we also were able to see who is getting an understanding of the way we want to play.”

Goldberg added: “There were some encouraging signs in certain respects.

“The key is to get certain things right with the right players from when we start the season.

“All in all I would much rather learn the lessons we learned at Margate than learn them when the season starts.”

Returning striker Nic McDonnell made a late cameo in the Margate game and Goldberg dropped a major hint a deal had already been agreed with the 31-year-old.

“Nic McDonnell came on for 20 minutes, which was a big plus,” the boss said.

“We do believe Nic is ready to play 45 minutes in the next game.

“He seems to be enjoying being back and we are going to look at Nic as hopefully being a major contributor to our season.

“I see no reason why Nic won’t be signed up, if he hasn’t already.”

Bromley’s pre-season has been disrupted by injuries, something which could yet prompt Goldberg into making further signings before the new campaign begins at home to Staines on Saturday week.

The boss said: “I’ve got another player coming in tonight who I’m going to have a look at.

“There are still one or two maybe additions but I wouldn’t be looking if it wasn’t for all of the injuries we’ve had.

“The reality is if we get this sort of situation during the season then we can’t have a performance like we did on Saturday at Margate.

“Having said that we’ve got three players on holiday as well as the five injured players, something which is unlikely to happen during the season.

“I’ve got 22 players I will have signed up by the time the season starts.

“It includes four players who are going to be playing in the Ryman as dual signings.”

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