Boreham Wood 1-1 Bromley

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

A word of advice… If you ever find yourself nursing a potential chest infection, standing on an open terrace at Boreham Wood is not the one. But I digress. 

Bromley returned to league action with a visit to Boreham Wood; a venue that always draws the Ravens into a scrap. This game proved no different. 

With a one-goal lead and a man advantage, should Bromley have gained three points? Most certainly. Did they deserve three points? No.

As ever, I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from Bromley’s 1-1 draw away at Boreham Wood.

Have a read and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

The Good

It may be a bit of a stretch, but given how poor the second-half performance was, perhaps Bromley should see this as a point gained. 

Would you have taken a point before the game? I know I would. 

Don’t get it twisted. Although Boreham Wood are 17^th in the league, they are only eight points off the playoffs and have only lost six times in the league this season. League position doesn’t always tell the full story, so it’s important to place seemingly dropped points in context. 

Away from the bigger picture, Grant Smith put in his usual strong performance in goal. His saves and presence in goal were critical to Bromley leaving Meadow Park with one point instead of none. 

Overall, whichever way you look at it, it was a subpar day at the office. Very few players came out of the game with any credit and the majority fell short of their usual standard. For that reason, it was a highly forgettable experience.

The Bad

Chin Okoli’s injury midway through the first half exposed a lack of depth on the Bromley bench. Let me explain.

We have an impressive level of positional flexibility on and off the pitch, but given we have so many centre-backs at the club, can we afford not to have one on the bench?

I get it. Todd Miller can play wing-back, Besart Topalloj can play on the left-hand side of a three, and Sam Woods can play centre-back if required. But were any of those switches better than a like-for-like replacement?

Alex Kirk is nursing an injury, but Callum Reynolds and Cole Kpekawa didn’t make the match-day squad. I understand why Andy Woodman wants offensive options on the bench, but in view of Bromley’s embarrassment of defensive riches, are we missing a trick?

What do you think? Should there always be a centre-back on the bench?

The Ugly

The second-half performance was horrible to watch. 

A goal up and a man up, Bromley should have won the game with minimal fuss. However, the Ravens not only let Boreham Wood get a stranglehold on proceedings, they allowed them to dominate.

There were several mitigating factors, but the key elements were the failure to a) control the midfield and b) control possession and the tempo of the match. The latter was the biggest transgression.

For me, this Bromley side has always been more comfortable out of possession. Their game is setting traps, playing percentages, and launching quick counters.

With ball-carriers like Ben Krauhaus and Corey Whitely at their disposal, this setup makes total sense. But let’s just say one, or both, of those players don’t have a good game. Suddenly, Bromley need to focus on ball possession and shape-shifting patterns of play. Can they do that successfully?

The evidence of yesterday’s second half suggests not. Despite playing against 10 men for 45 minutes or more, I counted only two opportunities that could be classed as clear-cut chances. 

I noticed a similar flaw last season in the defeat against 10-man Woking and the 0-0 draw away at 10-man Eastleigh. An unwelcome track record.

For the first time this season, we saw a central-midfield partnership of Lewis Leigh and Sam Woods, with Lewis playing the #8 role and Woods screening behind him. While this was a solid pairing on paper, it didn’t bring the midfield control it should have. 

I could be overreacting. This could all be a simple matter of unfamiliar midfield combinations not clicking. After all, when Jude Arthurs replaced Leigh with 15 minutes to go, things didn’t improve. 

So what was the answer? 

In my view, the player best suited to the situation was James Vennings, but he wasn’t named in the match-day squad. It is what it is. On the bench, however, was a player who could have made an impact.

At many points in the second half, I called for Louis Dennis to be brought on. Given the need to link attacking transitions and pull Boreham Wood out of shape, his creativity would have been a welcome addition. Was this the biggest missed trick of all? 

This draw was by no means a disaster. But as Andy Woodman suggests in his post-match comments, it definitely presents some homework. 

Where do you think Bromley went wrong? How could one point have been turned into three?

Get at me in the comments below.

Match ratings

Grant Smith (8)

Josh Passley (6)

Chin Okoli (7)

Byron Webster (6)

Deji Elerewe (7)

Besart Topalloj (6)

Lewis Leigh (6)

Corey Whitely (6)

Ben Krauhaus (6)

Olufela Olomola (7)

Michael Cheek (6)

Subs:

Sam Woods for Ben Krauhaus for 45’ (6)

Todd Miller for Chin Okoli 26’ (7)

Jude Arthurs for Lewis Leigh 75’ (6)

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Thanks for taking the time to read the match synopsis above.

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