Bromley 1-1 Carlisle United

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Nov 17, 2024

Yet another draw. However, this one felt like two points dropped, even if a draw was the right result on the day.

League Two ain't easy, but where does your cup stand? Do you see Bromley with one league defeat in eight, or one win in thirteen?

Join me as I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the 1-1 draw at home to Carlisle United.

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

The team vs Carlisle United

The Good

Another draw. Another point. One league defeat in eight.

That stat can easily be flipped to say one league win in thirteen, but this isn’t the bad column it is the good.

Bromley are a hard team to beat in League Two; five defeats in our first fifteen games (four of which have come against sides in the top eight) says as much.

This was another game where, for all the possession and shots that Carlisle had, it took a last-minute equaliser for them to get anything out of the game. The famed fine margins were borne out once again.

Of Bromley’s seven draws this season, how many have been hard-earned points in the grand scheme?

On the day, there weren’t too many standout performances, but I thought Idris Odutayo did well to keep Tyler Burey quiet. And although he had a quiet game, it was noticeable that the one time Danny Imray really got on the ball, it led to the penalty that Michael Cheek smashed home.

Of course, Cheek did what Cheek does, which is be the main guy when Bromley need him most.

We take it for granted, but eight league goals by mid-November for the talisman, given he has never played a season in League Two, is phenomenal. At this rate, he is well on his way to twenty goals by the end of the season. It bears repeating that if Cheek can hit that tally, Bromley will be fine.

Elsewhere, credit has to be given to the number of heroic blocks put in by the Bromley defence.

One of the reasons why Grant Smith only had one serious save to make was due to the number of body-on-the-line blocks, whether by Omar Sowunmi, Jude Arthurs, or Byron Webster, who copped a full-blooded shot at close range on more than one occasion.

We can disagree about what heroic blocks indicate about the pattern of play but it still represents good defending if it helps keep the ball out of the net.

As I alluded to in the match preview, you are starting to see the beginning of Mike Williamson implementing his style at Carlisle.

Post-match, Andy Woodman was candid about his expectation that Carlisle would boss possession. They did that and then some. Between 15 minutes and half-time, I thought they worked some really good patterns of play, though they will rue that they were so average in the final third.

The standout Carlisle player for me was Callum Guy. Everything good ran through him when they went forward. Yes, Dom Sadi was good dropping into the holes in front of the defence, and Dan Abu-Adjei was a bright spark up top, but Guy offered the key thrust.

By all accounts, he has only just returned to action after a year out with an ACL injury. The Cumbrians will be hoping that he continues to play a key role as they begin their quest to pull away from the bottom two.

It will be worth keeping an eye on Carlisle over the next few months as I sense we got to play them at the right time. Don’t be surprised if they are nowhere near the bottom two by the time we play them in the return fixture.

I said something similar about MK Dons when we played them just after Scott Lindsey took over. Look where they are now!

The Bad

There was quite a bit of debate about the change of formation Bromley employed in the first half; changing from a 3-4-1-2 to a 4-4-2

Andy Woodman said post-match that he did it because they had three central defenders marking one striker in Dan Adu-Adjei, and, to compound matters, the defenders were defending too deep.

The experiment ended at half-time as Bromley went back to a 5-3-2/3-4-1-2.

The only thing I want answered is whether the change of shape gave Carlisle too much joy in the gaps between defence and midfield (or if the change was a reaction to the gaps appearing).

Bromley played better in the second half, but is it as simple as saying that was because they went back to the conventional Bromley shape? Or was it a case of the players sticking to the plan more diligently (in terms of playing the spaces and pressing at the right times)?

The stats post-match made for interesting reading.

Carlisle had 70% of the possession and had 23 shots on goal compared to Bromley’s 9.

Yet, for those who really crunch XG and care about those numbers, Bromley’s xG was only 1.23 to Carlisle’s 1.63.

Were Carlisle the better team? Most certainly. Did they dominate? Well, what does domination look like?

Rather than the statistical analysis, for me, the pertinent issue was the lack of options on the bench.

At half-time, I wondered what changes Andy could make if things didn’t go the way he wanted.

With Ashley Charles and, more importantly, Corey Whitely out injured, options in the middle of the park were significantly limited. And if Andy wanted to chase another goal, who was most likely to offer a goal threat out of Olomola, Amantchi, and Thomas?

Marcus Dinanga is injured as well, which we would do well to remember.

Do Bromley have the quality in depth to affect games from the bench? I think the jury is out on that issue. I would be surprised if Andy isn’t ducking and diving in the winter transfer window to find that extra bit of quality in a few positions.

That said, I do still believe that Bromley are making the most of the tools at their disposal. The draws are frustrating, but you can't deny that a foundation is being laid.

The Ugly

That is now FIVE red cards for Bromley this season in all competitions. That’s a wild stat. Worse still, the squad appear to be competing for the award for the daftest sending-off.

Only Lewis Leigh can explain why he went in elbows-up with 7 minutes remaining. He had only been on the pitch for 13 minutes!

In a league where the fine margins seem even finer, why hand your struggling opponents a lifeline when they are in desperate need of points?

There can’t have been many Bromley fans who didn’t fear the worst when the assistant referee signalled 7 minutes of time added on.

It meant Bromley had to see out 14 minutes with ten men against a team already bossing possession and constantly probing to break the lines.

The goal itself was the result of a scrappy long throw and a scramble, but Bromley, and more specifically Lewis Leigh, only have themselves to blame.

Would the Ravens have seen the game out with a full complement on the field? That’s pure guesswork. But it isn’t a guess to say that things became much easier for Carlisle when Bromley went down to ten men.

Fans will naturally point to the five red cards and say there is ill-discipline in the team, but if you go back through the five, each one is so different that I don’t think you can craft that narrative.

Most of them have been down to some naïve brain fades.

Either way, Lewis Leigh will be suspended for three matches and Ashley Charles is out injured. Oh dear.

What did you make of this one?

Get at me in the comments section.

Match ratings

Grant Smith (7)

Omar Sowunmi (7)

Byron Webster (7)

Kamarl Grant (7)

Danny Imray (7)

Jude Arthurs (7)

Ben Thompson (7)

Idris Odutayo (7)

Cameron Congreve (6)

Louis Dennis (6)

Michael Cheek (7)

Subs:

Lewis Leigh for Cameron Congreve 70’ (5)

Olufela Olomola for Louis Dennis 77’ (6)

From Bromley with love

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