Bromley 0-0 Kidderminster Harriers

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

When is a 0-0 draw at home to a team in the bottom four a good result?

Okay, ‘good’ might be a bit of a stretch, but there is no doubt that given results elsewhere it was by no means a disaster for Bromley.

Eight games remain for the Ravens. Can they claim the elusive play-off semi-final spot?

Join me as I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from Bromley’s 0-0 home draw with relegation-threatened Kidderminster Harriers. 

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

The team vs Kidderminster Harriers

The Good

Post-match, Andy Woodman remarked that four clean sheets in a row was nothing to sniff at. I make him right. 

As the season reaches its denouement, almost the entire bottom half of the table is fighting for its life. Oxford City are nailed on to receive the dreaded capital R, but the gap between Dagenham & Redbridge in 12^th and Dorking Wanderers in 23^rd is a mere seven points. The makeup of the remaining relegation spots is almost impossible to call. 

Prior to the game against Bromley, Kidderminster Harriers had played eleven league games under seasoned manager Phil Brown. They had only lost two of those games. 

Their run had seen them beat the likes of Aldershot, Oldham, and Solihull Moors, so it was no surprise to see them restrict Bromley over the 90 minutes.

Results are more complex than a simple W or no W.

Remember, without Saturday’s clean sheet, Bromley don’t even get a point. That’s why, after a rough run of results in early 2024, Andy Woodman was so keen to get back to basics and become defensively sound again. Don’t concede, don't lose. 

Lest we forget, Bromley have the second-best defensive record in the league and have only lost seven league games all season. And it is surely no coincidence that they’ve won a lot of tight games.

There was little else to get excited about on the pitch. Bromley huffed and puffed and didn’t lack endeavour, but it was a game where defences dominated.

Only two shots on target were registered across the 90 minutes between the two sides. Sometimes it is just one of those days.

Don’t concede, don’t lose. At the business end of the season, that shit matters.

The Bad

The flip side of Bromley not winning this game was the missed opportunity to put more daylight between themselves and the chasing play-off pack.

Fortunately, Solihull Moors could only draw at Dorking Wanderers, Aldershot lost at York, and Gateshead lost at Ebbsfleet. 

If Bromley had won this game, not only would they have ended the day above Barnet, they also would have extended the gap between themselves and fourth-placed Solihull Moors to four points with a game in hand.

There are still a lot of twists and turns to come, so this might feel like aimless what-ifs, but two dropped points might make all the difference at the season’s end. Fine margins.

I’m still working on this hypothesis, so I’ll return to it in future editions of G/B/U, but has anyone noticed a significant drop in the quality of Bromley’s set piece deliveries?

If I recall correctly, the last goal they scored from a set piece was Callum Reynolds at Aldershot back in January, and I’m not even sure that goal counts as a set piece. 

Is it fair to say that Bromley are no longer a set piece threat? 

Since Lewis Leigh’s loan ended, no one has cemented their place as the team’s dead-ball specialist. The Ravens would do well to remedy that.

If we want to talk about fine margins, set piece delivery may well be the difference-maker in clutch moments in the play-offs. 

The Ugly

I am no tactical genius, but while I was waiting for Andy to join me for his post-match interview, I mentioned to our excellent match-day photographer Martin Greig that I thought we missed the suspended Besart Topalloj.

This is not meant as a slight on Idris Odutayo. After all, his solid performance earned him the sponsor’s Man of the Match award for the second game in a row.

However, tactically speaking, I think we missed Besart’s driving infield runs. In full flow, Bes is a very hard player to stop without either a) giving up space or b) fouling him. That’s why his mazy dribbles often reach the heart of the opposition defence.

On a day when Bromley lacked creativity, it would be easy to point a finger at Whitely and Krauhaus, who both had quiet games. But I think the most notable attacking shortfall was actually at wing-back. 

Bromley’s usual wide-men, Passley and Topalloj, frequently work their way into promising positions in the final third. This stretches the game and helps Bromley counter attack. Idris Odutayo and Jude Arthurs deputised well in a defensive sense, but they lacked the same drive to ask questions of the Kidderminster defence.

As Andy pointed out in his post-match interview, with Myles Weston injured, Bromley didn’t have the squad depth to switch things up at wing-back when they needed to chase a goal. 

Instead, they took a gamble on Kido Taylor-Hart. 

While his end product was sorely lacking, during his brief appearance, Kido offered Bromley’s most direct threat of the game and gave supporters fleeting moments of hope. But Kido is no wing-back, so placing him in that role comes with an element of risk. One day, it might pay off (or backfire spectacularly).

When Bromley head to Wealdstone for Wednesday night’s hastily rearranged fixture, Passley and Topalloj should both be available. But will they get back into the side?

If people felt there wasn’t enough attacking thrust on Saturday and too much pragmatism, then it’s obvious where you change things. But Idris Odutayo has two bottles of Man of the Match Prosecco in his fridge. Tough call.

That’s my take. What’s yours? Get at me in the comments below.

Before you do that I was able to interview Harriers manager Phil Brown post-match. Probably my most enjoyable interview of the season.

Take a listen

Match ratings

Grant Smith (8)

Jude Arthurs (7)

Alex Kirk (8)

Byron Webster (8)

Callum Reynolds (8)

Idris Odutayo (7)

Ashley Charles (7)

Ben Krauhaus (6)

Corey Whitely (6)

Olufela Olomola (6)

Michael Cheek (7)

Subs:

Kido Taylor-Hart for Olufela Olomola 75’ (6)

Louis Dennis for Jude Arthurs 64’ (6)

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

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

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

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