Bromley's captain Roger Johnson. Pic: Getty Images.

Ex-Bluebird Roger Celebrates Fightback At Wrexham

Former Cardiff City defender Roger Johnson was celebrating in North Wales after playing a key role in Bromley’s fightback against Vanarama National League leaders Wrexham.

Captain Johnson and his Bromley team battled back from 2-2 down to earn a draw at the Racecourse and Neil Smith, manager of the Kent club, said: “The players showed fantastic drive and determination, believing they could earn some reward out of the game even though we were two goals down.

“Wrexham are top of the table, had a big crowd behind them and had only conceded one goal before this match.

“We didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down and I felt we deserved a point.”

Wrexham travel to play Solihull Moors on Bank Holiday Monday and they still lead the table by two points after six points despite letting their lead slip.

Mike Fondop took his goals tally for the season to five after half an hour and second half substitute Rekeil Pyke added Wrexham’s second.

Bromley pulled one back from the spot through Frankie Sutherland before a Luke Summerfield own goal during injury time completed the scoring.

levelled the score in injury time.

“You have to give Bromley credit,” said Wrexham manager Sam Ricketts. “Their big threat was from set pieces. Their game plan was to hit the channels and get their long throws and corners into the box.

“I would like us to manage the game a bit better and score the third goal to kill the game off. We will have to take this on the chin and learn from it.

“It shows how far we’ve come that we’re disappointed when we’re still top of the table by two points.

Wrexham manager Sam Ricketts. Pic: Wrexham AFC.

“We want to win. We should have won the game, but we didn’t. 

“I’m disappointed for the players because they put so much effort into that game that we should have seen it out.

“I’m expecting my front players to cause problems and they’re doing that, but they should be causing more problems and scoring more goals.

“I’m pleased we’re scoring, but we need to manage the game better late on and make sure the game finishes 2-0 and at worse 2-1.

Ricketts made two changes from the team which started against Maidenhead and Eastleigh with Nicky Deverdics replacing injured Paul Rutherford for his first start of the season.

Stuart Beavon was the other player to come into the starting line-up, replacing Rekeil Pyke, while Mark Carrington made his 200th Wrexham appearance.

In front of a 5,700-plus attendance Wrexham extended their unbeaten record and are top of the table as they prepare to make the trip to Solihull on Monday. 

Wrexham: (4-1-2-3): Lainton, Carrington, Smith, Pearson, Jennings (Tharme 21), Wright, Summerfield, Deverdics (Young 63), Maguire-Drew, Fondop, Beavon (Pyke 55). Subs not used: Dibble, Holroyd.

Bromley: (3-4-1-2): Gregory, Okoye, Goodman, R Johnson, Adebayo-Rowling (Odedi-Uzokwe 46), Sutherland, Raymond, Wood, Goddard (Taylor 70), Bugiel (Meekums 84), Porter. Subs not used: Johnson, Higgs.

Referee: Andrew Miller (Tyneside)

Attendance: 5,714

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