Bromley 0-1 Colchester United
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
It’s easy to succumb to a lazy narrative, but this game definitely felt like a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show.
Bromley looked the complete opposite of the side that travelled up to Newcastle six days earlier. Back on humdrum home turf, they failed to get to grips with a brutalist League Two encounter.
Andy Woodman was seething about the performance at full time and he had every right to do so.
Join me as I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the 0-1 home defeat to Colchester United.
Have a read and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
The team vs Colchester United
The Good
Bromley huffed and puffed, but there was little quality on show. Fans had to wait until the last 15 minutes for the Ravens to look even remotely like they might threaten the Colchester net.
Despite starting the match with the most attacking formation they have played in a long time, Bromley never got going.
Did too many cooks spoil the broth?
When they came on as second-half substitutes, Brooklyn Ilunga (on his debut) and Louis Dennis offered the side more balance, but the lack of coherence elsewhere in the team reduced their potential impact.
The Good on the Hayes Lane pitch came mostly from those in blue.
In the first half, Owura Edwards had the defence on toast and was a persistent threat when running behind his defender. Kamarl Grant had a torrid time getting to grips with him. Edwards’ goal was the icing on the cake of a very good performance.
For me, however, Lyle Taylor was the stand-out player. He played the savvy, experienced frontman role to a T and was brilliant at moving his team up the pitch and linking the play.
It is perhaps no surprise that the aforementioned players combined for the opening goal. They were at the heart of all the best things that Colchester produced.
In many ways, Colchester have mirrored Bromley’s season thus far: difficult to beat but too many draws to be competitive at the right end of the table.
The U’s got their game plan correct in this one. Once they had the early goal, they sat off in compact banks and picked Bromley off with quick counters.
Seen that anywhere before?
The Bad
The performance lacked zip, energy, and Bromley DNA.
Don’t get it twisted. The performance might have been flat, but it wasn’t like the players sandbagged the game. Bromley’s motor was running, but it wasn’t firing on all cylinders and the team got punished as a result.
Andy was at pains to point out at full-time that he didn’t buy the notion of a Newcastle hangover, but the side gave a good impression of that being the case. At times, it felt like they were stuck in treacle, particularly when it came to decision making.
So many passes went astray and so many poor decisions were made on and off the ball. The team just looked exceptionally leggy.
This trait is so rare in the modern Bromley side that it feels like a shock to the system.
You can't even say that Andy didn’t react to the situation. He changed the shape and made four subs to try and turn things around, and the performance did improve in the final quarter, but it was a day to forget.
Up front, Nicke Kabamba made his debut alongside Michael Cheek. The hot take would be to claim that, based on one performance, this duo won’t work, but that would be foolish.
Neither Cheek nor Kabamba had much to work with during the course of the game. Yes, Bromley are a direct side, but even the service on that font served little to no purpose.
It felt like balls were being played vaguely in their direction without a clear thought process as to what would happen next.
I am certain that the management team will have reflected on that disjointed forward transition and have a better plan for Notts County away. The question is whether that plan involves one or two strikers. I’ll cover that in a moment.
The Ugly
On a forgettable day, two unforced errors stood out.
Firstly, the only goal of the game was totally avoidable. Bromley had possession prior to Edwards scoring, but dithering, combined with a poor defensive decision, let Lyle Taylor nip in ahead of Deji Elerewe to feed Edwards, who was inexplicably unmarked as he sidefooted past Grant Smith.
Why did no one track Edwards? Poor all-round.
The second glaring mistake was the attacking setup for the game. As long as I’ve watched Andy Woodman’s sides, I have rarely seen one so attack-minded.
The midfield three was Ben Thompson, Corey Whitely, and Cameron Congreve, with the latter two essentially playing a not-too-dissimilar role to the one they usually play when Michael Cheek is the sole frontman.
Crucially, with no added protection behind the attacking midfielders, Bromley were too open in the middle of the park. Colchester took full advantage of this oversight.
Time and again in the first half, it appeared as if it was all too easy to dispossess Bromley then surge through (or bypass) the centre of midfield.
Perversely, for all of the attacking players on the field, Bromley were unable to show the necessary guile to break through Colchester’s backline.
It’s hard to believe that a team with Whitely, Imray, Odutayo, Congreve, Kabamba, and Cheek couldn’t create anything.
It speaks to the importance of balance in the Bromley side, and it also places emphasis on getting the basics right.
The fact that Jude Arthurs replaced Cameron Congreve at half-time was an admission that the setup didn’t work. I suspect it will be a long time before we see it return, if it ever does.
However, that means Woodman faces a difficult decision. With the arrival of Kabamba, how does he intend to use him? If it is two up front, he surely cannot play Whitely and Congreve as well.
My guess is that away from home, particularly against the stronger sides, Woodman will use one striker. At home, he will use two, with Whitely winning the battle over Congreve to play behind the strikers.
No matter how they line up, Bromley need to get back to winning ways.
Over the next seven days, they will test their mettle against Notts County (A), Chesterfield (A), and Grimsby (H). No one ever said League Two was going to be easy, but how pivotal will this week be in Bromley’s season?
Have your say in the comments section.
Match ratings
Grant Smith (7)
Danny Imray (5)
Kamarl Grant (5)
Omar Sowunmi (7)
Deji Elerewe (5)
Idris Odutayo (6)
Ben Thompson (5)
Corey Whitely (6)
Cameron Congreve (5)
Michael Cheek (6)
Nicke Kabamba (6)
Subs:
Brooklyn Ilunga for Corey Whitely 66’ (7)
Jude Arthurs for Cameron Congreve 46’ (6)
Josh Passley for Nicke Kabamba 67’ (6)
Louis Dennis for Kamarl Grant 66’ (7)
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
If you havent as yet make sure you read the other articles in the archive.
If you’d like to show an appreciation for the work that goes into this newsletter you can buy me a coffee through the link below.
You can also find Machel St Patrick Hewitt on Twitter - here
Most importantly of all subscribe to the newsletter to ensure you get these updates direct to your inbox.
Having been at the game last week, I agree with all of that. I also wonder whether the need to accommodate a (relatively) big money signing upset the balance of the team.
I must admit, I do wonder about the wisdom of the Kabamba signing generally. That's not a criticism of him, more a question of whether spending a "substantial" fee on a 31 year old striker makes sense for a club with limited resources and has been most successful at this level playing one up top makes sense. There's as almost certainly no resale value, and the fee perhaps creates a pressure for him to start regularly which could be unhelpful.
That said, the club has had the success it has in recent years precisely by getting the big decisions right. Woody also knows far far more about football than I do, so hopefully this comment will look very silly in due course.
The one question mark I would have of AWs time as manager would be his striker signings. Although that Maybe a little harsh on Fela. Remembering he inherited Cheek from the previous regime. I’m hoping Kabamba proves that wrong. Tough for him to come into a side that is so used to everything going to the one man up top, who is also a club legend.