Bromley 1-1 Carlisle United: Jon Colman's big match verdict

Quick feet. Youthful zip, without which they laboured through many of 2024/25’s dismal early weeks. Cut, then, to the 92nd minute, the ball entering Bromley’s penalty area, a cage guarded all match long by the ageing presence of Byron Webster and the towering size of Omar Sowunmi.

And then, a flash of blue, a turn, a lightning finish. Daniel Adu-Adjei, in that chaotic moment, was faster, nimbler, than the heavier-legged defenders around him. Carlisle scampered off with a point, and if there remains much work to do, many flaws still to address, this was surely a little light shone down the road back to better times.

Pace, freshness, and invention with it. It was all the way across United’s attacking line-up in their best spells at Bromley. It did not involve enough that was clinical but, my goodness, they are a more promising sight for the likes of Adu-Adjei, Dominic Sadi, Kadeem Harris and Tyler Burey, performing as a unit, playing at speed.

Kadeem Harris was involved in much of United's best work (Image: Richard Parkes)

Harris, with his low centre of gravity, adhesive touch and the wit to turn and test opponents, appears to have given this side a new dimension. Get him 90-minute ready and Carlisle clearly have an asset  – one whose wiles can support the raw emergence of the loan duo around him. Adu-Adjei and Sadi, combined age 40, were heavily involved in this effort right to the end, responsibility resting on their young shoulders.

Their loan manager at Bournemouth, Matt Harrold, was here to watch and may have returned to the south coast with good things to say about their character, their stomach, as well as Adu-Adjei’s excellent finish. For Carlisle, this was a game they could have won but which left them glad – and an important reckoning, this – that they didn’t lose.

Let us not over-praise the point. But let’s not undersell it either. After a recent growth in performance and resilience, losing here would have been a demoralising blow. Instead, we and they can discuss another cameo of persistence. They remain in the relegation zone but, broadly speaking, there are more reasons for hope than there were a couple of weeks or so ago.

We’ll take that for now. Bromley might not be League Two’s highest rollers but nor are they a side offering free lunches. Carlisle had to meet perhaps the most aggressive aerial test they’ll face this season without their two biggest centre-backs. They also had a wing-back in midfield. All those who staffed those positions came out with credit.

Sam Lavelle threatens in the Bromley box (Image: Richard Parkes)

Where they fell below top standard was in how they conceded – a badly misjudged tackle by Ben Williams giving away a penalty – and in being less than cold-blooded when fashioning good positions. “I come away happy with the performance, disappointed with the result,” said Mike Williamson. Both readings are fair, with different shades on both sides.

At first, United had to get their armour on to defend crosses and set-pieces. The Bromley way has led them to the EFL and has earned them enough points to be competitive so far. To begin with they pressed and harried, Carlisle taking a little time to find composure, Cameron Congreve and Louis Dennis almost finding an early way through.

Duly Carlisle grew, putting together good passing combinations, Cameron Harper showing a composed touch in midfield next to the relentless Callum Guy. United’s final ball was not precise though this aspect improved in time, Sadi feeding Adu-Adjei to test keeper Grant Smith, whose opposite number, Gabe Breeze, often looked to punch under the barrage, before tipping over a Sowunmi header.

United then ended the half with the kind of football that we’ve long wished to see. Harris was central to it, dropping in to receive the ball and retain it at pace, moving defenders around, creating space, the Blues' passing faster and more purposeful in the final third. A cluster of shots resulted from a sustained spell: Sadi denied by Smith, Mellish denied a penalty, Sadi and Barclay denied by blocks; exhausting stuff, until the whistle.

Dan Adu-Adjei shoots wide - but he was on the money in the 92nd minute (Image: Richard Parkes)

From there, the complex road to a result. Bromley started the second half at pace, Idris Odutayo a particular livewire on the left, before they switched to the right and Danny Imray skipped clear of Mellish and drew Williams’ late slide. Michael Cheek smashed in the penalty and United did not only now have to recover, but do so with the knowledge that their brightest player, Harris, would probably not last the full game.

So the substitutions came and Carlisle’s attacking zest faded for a period. There were shots from outside the box, and a promising overlap from Williams, but other forward efforts which died on an unconvincing touch or a loss of footing. They were, at least, still in the game against a side with a single home win all season, and the moment Lewis Leigh leapt against Sam Lavelle and connected with his elbow – the red card was quickly out from referee James Durkin, Lavelle clearly furious with the challenge – Bromley were tasked with holding out with a man fewer.

Ultimately they failed to do so. Luke Armstrong, a fourth Carlisle sub, put some extra energy up against Bromley’s defenders while Sadi and Adu-Adjei kept probing, kept running, kept looking. And eventually it happened: Barclay’s throw, Lavelle's win, the hosts’ tired inability to clear and Adu-Adjei turning decisively.

There was almost then the unlikely fiesta of a Blues winner, Sadi denied by Sowunmi and, in the 98th minute, Taylor Charters suddenly speeding through on the break, denied at the very last. Had that gone in then a corner of south east London would have been lost to some Cumbrian abandon indeed.

Not to be. But still enough, all in all, to make you think more of the right parts are there than before.