It's common for teams to come out with excuses after they've just lost, but Bromley had a very legitimate one from the 3-1 reverse at Yeovil Town last Saturday that ended their unbeaten start to the season in the National League.

Just two minutes had been played at Huish Park when Ravens goalkeeper Mark Cousins came out to deal with Marc-Anthony Okoye's loose header back, only to collide with Glovers striker Rhys Murphy.

Both players were carried off the field after a lengthy delay, but for Neil Smith's side this caused real problems, as they had no 'keeper on the bench, which meant defender Chris Bush had to put on the gloves for the rest of the game.

Bromley still went ahead through Michael Cheek, but in-form Yeovil turned the match around, as Jimmy Smith equalised before Okoye completed his day to forget by putting the ball in his own net and Charlie Lee's strike settled matters.

All this before the referee sent off all the ball boys for returning to ball to the visitors too slowly as they chased the game.

After the first setback in what has been a superb season so far, Smith told the club's website: “We knew we were going to lose at some stage. We weren’t outplayed today.

"I’ve had to put Chris Bush in goal for 88 minutes. My backup, Tarek (Najia), is on international duty with Lebanon under-21s, so I had no replacement. It was a freak accident, but even then, we didn’t allow them much to have a shot at Bush.”

Smith has acted quickly to replace Cousins, who has a serious shoulder injury, by bringing in Ryan Huddart from Boreham Wood and he'll make his debut against Barrow AFC tomorrow.

The Bluebirds, who haven't defeated Bromley in their eight league fixtures so far, will be up against a team that is one point clear of Halifax and Yeovil at the top of the table and has won five of their seven home games on their artificial pitch at Hayes Lane so far this season.