NOBODY really wanted penalties again but Wrexham would have loved it to have gone to a shoot-out as Bromley played the perfect party-pooping role.

The Wrexham fans - like they always are - were out in full force and good voice considering some were thinking they were going to miss the big game after delays on the M1.

Wrexham’s high-profile Hollywood owners were there with David Beckham and Will Ferrell alongside them in the not-so-cheap seats.

Oh for a Beckham free-kick or a little bit of Ferrell’s Elf-ish magic. And not even Super Paul Mullin - Wrexham’s best player on a day when it was difficult to pick anyone who really stood out - could conjure up a goal.

Wrexham’s two previous FA Trophy final visits to the iconic stadium have both gone the full distance - a win against Grimsby Town in 2013 and defeat to North Ferriby United two years later.

But Bromley deserved the win. Over the 90 minutes they were the better team - and Reds boss Phil Parkinson and his players couldn’t do a thing about it.

Parkinson was hinting at a couple of tweaks to his starting line-up and he wasn’t wrong.

Tom O’Connor - the big money signing who has been hampered with a hamstring injury since arriving at The Racecourse - was back in, but in the backline.

Also making a start in an unfamiliar right wing back role was Liam McAlinden, who played one of the key parts in Mullin’s wonder goal against Stockport County in the semi-finals.

The first half was nothing to write home about although Bromley weren’t as defensive-minded as many Reds fans thought they would be before the game.

In fact, Andy Woodman’s team gave as good they got with captain Byron Webster and frontman Corey Whitely looking dangerous.

But O’Connor showed his good reading of the game with two dominant clearing headers while Cleworth was outstanding at the back. And that’s not the first we’ve said that this season.

Top scorer Paul Mullin and strike partner Ollie Palmer clicked a couple of times and Mullin would have scored what may have been a controversial opener as Omar Sowumni went down clutching his shoulder as he fell inside the box after a Bromley corner.

Ellery Balcombe saved comfortably as he did with an earlier chance for Wrexham’s midfield goal machine, Jordan Davies.

Wrexham needed someone to fire and inspire them in that first half and maybe it was going to come via a Ben Tozer long thrown.

But 33 minutes had elapsed by the time Tozer had the chance to propel one of his rocket-launchers into the box just like he did in the 3-0 defeat of National League title winners Stockport County on the penultimate game of the season.

But in a new routine, he drilled one in to Mullin’s feet and the well-organised Bromley defence dealt with it.

Ninety seconds later Tozer did hurl one but eluded everyone in the box as both sides headed into the break all square...with the dreaded possibility of penalties looming large.

Both sets of fans redeemed themselves for booing both national anthems by giving Sowumni a standing ovation as he was stretchered off the pitch in the final minutes of the first half.

Team-talks would have been key and both bosses had a difference of opinion on the touchline as Liam McAlinden grappled with Harry Forster.

Renditions of the Welsh National anthem could breathe fire into the Red Dragons who were grateful Christian Dibble was alert to make two superb saves in a minute from Ali Al-Hamadi and Michael Cheek.

But there was nothing could do about the opening goal as a long ball over the top exposed a dreadfully flat-footed Reds back line and the impressive Whitely squared for Cheek to fire into the top corner.

Cheek’s scored a few against Wrexham in his time but none have as much as this one.