Three second-half goals from County’s dynamic strike duo of Paddy Madden and Scott Quigley earned County a big three points at in-form Bromley on Tuesday evening, keeping Dave Challinor’s side top of the National League courtesy of a 1-3 win.
After a largely dominant showing by The Hatters, Madden opened the scoring with a well-taken header in the second half, before strike partner Quigley rifled a stunner into the roof of the net.
Madden then hooked a superb half-volley into the top corner late on to seal a statement win for the league leaders, before Bromley captain Byron Webster rifled home a last-minute wondergoal to provide a Bromley consolation.
Manager Challinor opted for the same matchday squad in its entirety which faced off against promotion rivals Chesterfield a week prior, with the same starting eleven, bench and formation as against The Spireites.
Influential midfielder Antoni Sarcevic was deemed not fit enough to travel, whilst goalkeeper Ethan Ross served his one-match ban following a straight red card in the 1-0 FA Trophy win over Cheshunt on Saturday.
New boy Luca Ashby-Hammond, signed on a short-term loan from Fulham to provide goalkeeping cover for the injured Ross, travelled with the squad but was not involved in the matchday squad having signed on the day of the game.
Prior to kick-off at Hayes Lane, County had not lost in five outings against The Ravens since The Hatters’ return to the National League back in 2019, with two wins and three draws, but had also not bested the promotion chasers in the last two clashes since the appointment of highly-rated manager Andy Woodman last year.
County started brightly in pursuit of a fifth straight away win in league action, with Ryan Croasdale – fresh from his superbly-taken leveller against The Spireites last week – drilling narrowly over the crossbar via the Chris Bush deflection inside the opening quarter of an hour.
Quigley crossed for his strike partner Madden to head straight at Mark Cousins in the Bromley goal moments later, as The Hatters looked to make their encouraging start count.
Ash Palmer headed a Ryan Rydel corner straight at Cousins as the early pressure continued, before Macauley Southam-Hales’ header across the face of goal was cleared at the last.
As the half-hour approached, the hosts started to venture towards getting something of a foothold in proceedings, but County continued to break the play up well on halfway and push for the opener.
Madden almost carved out a chance of his own doing when he took a deft touch to cut inside from Rydel’s pull-back, but the busy Chris Bush was alert to swipe it off the toes of the Irishman in front of goal.
The home side almost took a lead out of absolutely nothing when Michael Cheek bundled Chris Bush’s cross back into the mix, but George Alexander could only completely miss his kick in front of Hinchliffe’s goal.
Bromley came out much improved after the interval, with Jude Arthurs’ strike from distance deflected narrowly over the crossbar by Ryan Johnson.
Straight up to the other end, and Madden fired over via another deflection from a Myles Hippolyte pullback as the game began to ebb and flow.
Controversy reigned as the hour mark approached, when Scott Wagstaff was shown only a yellow for a late challenge on Hippolyte – Wagstaff then fouled Hogan moments later, with referee Adrian Quelch opting not to show the Bromley man a second yellow, before Wagstaff was swiftly replaced for the hosts.
But just minutes later, Quigley held the ball up superbly up top, finding Macauley Southam-Hales out wide for a pinpoint cross from the Welshman to be headed emphatically home by Madden.
With the hosts reeling, County pressed home the advantage, and the impressive Quigley soon doubled the lead when the Hatters forward picked up a loose ball on halfway, advanced at goal and unleashed a stinging effort high past Cousins.
Half-chances continued to flow at both ends, before The Hatters made it three amidst a stunning second-half showing, when Madden hooked home his second of the night inside the area from a long throw-in.
Into the penultimate minute of the ninety, Bromley skipper Byron Webster stepped up from the back and hammered a long-range strike past a helpless Hinchliffe to reduce the arrears and give the home side a late slither of hope.
The league leaders successfully navigated five additional minutes despite the late consolation, however, and saw out a huge win in South East London.
County line-up (3-4-1-2): Hinchliffe; Hogan ©, Palmer, Johnson; Southam-Hales, Croasdale, Collar, Rydel (Kitching, 79), Hippolyte; Madden, Quigley (Jennings, 88).
Unused subs: Minihan, Newby, Crankshaw.
