Barrow AFC vs Bromley preview

During the reverse fixture at Hayes Lane, Bromley fans were treated to the sight of then-Barrow manager Stephen Clemence comically marching across the pitch after being sent off for his vociferous protestations.

A few months later, he was marching out of Barrow AFC following his dismissal after an extended run of bad form. When he left the Bluebirds, they were in 17^th place in League Two and 8 points above the relegation zone.

He was replaced days later by a face that’s familiar to Bromley fans: former Solihull Moors manager Andy Whing.

The appointment was a just reward for Whing after his excellent work at the Moors. But for a couple of agonising penalty shootout losses last season, he may well have achieved both a Football League promotion and an FA Trophy win.

Whing has picked up 29 points from his first nineteen matches in charge of Barrow, which is a more than fair return and a sign that he is slowly but surely pushing them in the right direction.

They currently lie in 14^th place with two games to go and are unbeaten in five games, with only one goal conceded in that time. In fact, they have only conceded two goals in their last seven games.

A tight defence seems the way forward for this iteration of Barrow, although Andy Whing has recently stated that he is concerned about the lack of cutting-edge and goals in the side.

Only six teams have a worse goals-per-game ratio than Barrow, and only five have fewer touches in the opposition box.

Their top scorer in League Two is Emile Acquah with six goals, which tells its own story, but Andy Whing will undoubtedly have a summer recruitment plan that aims to address this issue.

In the space of a season and a half, Whing faced Bromley five times with Solihull Moors, so there isn’t another gaffer in League Two who is better acquainted with Andy Woodman’s tactics.

Andy will of course believe he can outfox Andy Whing once more, as he did earlier this season in the FA Cup 2nd round. However, no trip to Barrow is an easy one.

Last week, against Swindon Town, Bromley switched to a 3-5-2, so it will be interesting to see if they stick to that formation or return to the 4-2-3-1 that they’ve relied upon in the latter part of this season.

Again, I believe squad rotation may well play a role. Ben Thompson, Deji Elerewe, Cameron Congreve, and Kamarl Grant did not start on Easter Monday, and all of them could return to the starting line-up here. However, that may depend on how Andy thinks Barrow will set up.

That said, I would love to see Bromley continue with two up front. I saw things in the Kabamba/Cheek partnership at Swindon that added a different dimension to the side.

Mathematically, Bromley can still make the play-offs, so technically Andy should be setting up to get all three points by any means necessary.

If you were in Andy’s shoes what would you do?

From Bromley with Love XI

Smith

Sowunmi Webster Elerewe

Imray Arthurs Charles Odutayo

Thompson

Cheek Kabamba

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Please note all match photographs in this article are by Martin Greig - please follow him on Instagram here

All articles are edited by Peter Etherington you can link to him here

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