Neil Smith revealed former Charlton and West Ham defender Roger Johnson was devastated after his stoppage time own goal denied Bromley FA Trophy glory.

Johnson was unfortunately placed in the 95th minute to put the ball into his own net with Brackley’s Gareth Dean poised to convert after Matt Lowe’s long-range shot had rebounded off the woodwork.

That bit of bad luck cancelled out Omar Bugiel’s first-half opener to set up extra-time, with Bromley eventually suffering a 5-4 penalties defeat.

Johnson boasts a wealth of top-flight experience and was also a member of the Cardiff City team which reached the FA Cup final a decade ago.

And Bromley’s manager said yesterday’s heartache was right up there for Johnson.

Smith explained: “He feels as gutted as when he was playing in the Premier League, when he missed out on the FA Cup and stuff like that. He has come in and been an absolute colossus of a man.

“He has guided Jack (Holland) through and I thought he was awesome again today.

“His experience, his leadership was what we needed at times.

“He is in the dressing room absolutely devastated that we let a goal in because he prides himself on clean sheets and we thought we’d done it.”

Bromley were cheered on by more than 17,000 fans at the national stadium and Smith is hoping the Wembley experience will encourage them to return for a league game or two next season at Hayes Lane.

He said: “I certainly hope so because when I walked into the club eight years ago we were averaging 400 people, 200 on a Tuesday night.

“Now we average just under 1,500 and we would love it to go up again.

“I think we are establishing ourselves as a club. We try and play a nice brand of football for people to come and watch as well.

“When you see there are 17,000 Bromley supporters here today you just hope you can get some of them to come down and watch you every week.”