Charlton’s Kent Senior Cup campaign came to an end with defeat at the hands of Bromley at Hayes Lane on Tuesday evening.
Despite taking a second-half lead through Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu, an extraordinary six-minute hat-trick from JJ Hooper saw the hosts turn the game around to claim a place in the semi-finals.
The young Addicks made a bright start and it was a superb piece of passing play which opened up the first opportunity of the evening, with Taylor Maloney combining brilliantly with Reeco Hackett-Fairchild, leaving the striker to get into the box and sting the palms of Ravens stopper David Gregory from a tight angle.
Before the half-hour mark, Charlton came close again when Maloney pounced on an error by Riphi Kalala and drilled a cross over along the six-yard box, but Wassim Aouachria could not stretch to get the vital touch with the goal gaping.
The visitors should have been ahead on 36 minutes when trialist Thomas Scott stole down the left and pulled the ball back to an unmarked Alfie Doughty, who blazed over from 12 yards.
At the other end shortly after, the home side very nearly took the lead themselves with Reece Meekums getting into a good position in the penalty area, but dragged his shot wide with just the keeper to beat.
One minute before the break, a free-kick just outside the box gave Bromley an opportunity to hit the target and they did just that through Frankie Sutherland’s well-struck effort, only for Ashley Maynard-Brewer to make a good, one-handed save to tip it over the bar.
The Addicks came out for the second half in strong fashion and it took just three minutes to go in front after the restart.
Maloney slipped Sarpong-Wiredu into the box and the midfielder finished expertly by slotting into the bottom left-hand corner from an acute angle.
The home side looked to respond and Maynard-Brewer was called into action in the 51st minute when he got down to keep out Frankie Raymond’s close-range effort.
With the play fairly even between the two sides, the game began to tighten up until the Ravens bagged an equaliser with 17 minutes remaining and it came from Charlton’s own doing.
Maynard-Brewer’s sliced clearance headed straight for Kyle Da Silva who laid off Hooper and the forward finished the job, firing low into the back of the net from the edge of the box.
It proved to be a pivotal point of the evening as, within six minutes, the hosts raced into a two-goal lead to complete a stunning turnaround.
Just two minutes after levelling, Hooper was given the chance to put his side in front from the penalty spot after Maynard-Brewer had brought down Omar Bugiel. And despite the Australian going the right way and getting hands to his effort, the ball found its way in for 2-1.
Incredibly, it was to get worse for the reds with Bromley netting again just a minute later as Hooper completed his quick-fire hat-trick with an emphatic finish one-on-one as Charlton crashed out of the competition.
Charlton U23s: Maynard-Brewer, Cummings, Bowry, French (Mascoll 87), Scott, Maloney, Sarpong-Wiredu, Dempsey, Hackett-Fairchild, Aouachria (Carey 69), Doughty (Ocran 87).
Subs (not used): Ibrahim, Vennings.
Goal: Sarpong-Wiredu 48
Bromley: Gregory, Sutherland (Raymond 46), Johnson, Bugiel, Mekki (Craske 46), Dunne, Goodman, Meekums, Enver (Da Silva 67), Kalala, Hooper.
Subs (not used): Thomas, Krasniqi.
Booked: Enver 66 (foul on Bowry)
Goal: Hooper 73, 78 (pen), 79
Referee: I Fessenden
Att: 371
(Image: Tom West)