Reiss Russell-Denny scored our first goal of pre-season and goalkeeper Luca Gunter later registered a remarkable assist, but Bromley's Marcus Dinanga stole the show with four second-half goals as the League Two side recovered from a 2-0 deficit to beat our Under-21s 5-2 at Hayes Lane on Tuesday evening.
On a night that marked the Club's first action of the summer period, coach Wayne Burnett was left with plenty to mull over as we started well, only to see the senior EFL side push on to claim victory in the end.
Midfielder Russell-Denny, who elected to cut short his summer break after competing for England at the Under-19 Euros recently to begin pre-season with his team-mates, shone in the first half and fired us ahead from the penalty spot, with Tyrese Hall quickly adding a second after latching onto a long ball down the pitch from Gunter.
Bromley soon found their feet, though, and after Soul Kader reduced their arrears before the break, Dinanga took centre stage after the restart with a four-goal haul to give his side the win.
Russell-Denny saw his clever low free-kick well saved by Bromley goalkeeper Grant Smith 12 minutes in but was on the scoresheet two minutes later, confidently firing home a penalty kick after Ellis Lehane had been felled by Omar Sowunmi.
Sowunmi nearly made amends when he sent a header narrowly over from a corner at the other end but seconds later, Gunter found Hall with a route one ball forward from the back and the midfielder kept his composure to roll past Smith one-on-one.
Bromley replied six minutes before the break when Kader fired home from inside the box and it was all square eight minutes after the restart when half-time substitute Dinanga glanced home Mitchell Pinnock's cross from the left. We found it tough at times after the break and after Kyle Cameron's header rattled the crossbar, an aerial ball pinged around in our box before Dinanga swept home to put his side ahead in the 58th minute. The forward got in behind and rifled high into the net to complete his treble mid-way through the second half and after substitute goalkeeper Carey Bloedorn saved well from Marcus Ifill, Dinanga was on hand to tuck home his fourth of the night and complete the scoring nine minutes from time.