Bromley 1-3 Barnet

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Three defeats on the spin and eight goals conceded. I think this is what you call the opposite of my old mantra: “you can't lose if you don’t concede”.

For the first time this season, Bromley have some bad form to overcome. Late goals continue to be our Achilles heel and it has become a pattern that needs an answer.

As ever, I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from Bromley’s home defeat to Barnet.

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

The Line up vs Barnet

The Good

It can be hard to find positives on a night where Bromley were outplayed for a significant portion of the game, but I will clutch at straws all the same.

The Ravens were blown away in the first half and should have been behind at the break. However, they managed to ride out the storm and turn the tide, becoming the better side for at least twenty-five minutes of the second half. In that window, they played some good football and took the lead with a display of patient passing and movement; waiting for the right moment to go in for the kill.

If Bromley see out the final five minutes of the game, the narrative immediately changes to grinding out a 1-0 win even while not performing at their best. Alas, they didn’t.

Several players had a subpar game, but one person who probably deserves a positive mention is Charles Clayden. The Charlton loanee took a long time to get into the game. I felt that the pace of it was too much for him in the first half, and going man for man with Idris Kanu was always going to be a problem.

However, his willingness to get forward paid off in the second half and he was rewarded for that endeavour with the goal that put Bromley ahead.

Reece Hannam should consider himself unlucky to have missed out against Barnet. On first viewing, he seems a better defender than Charles, but Charles looks better going forward. 

The Bad

It’s easy to have a fatalistic knee-jerk attitude to a defeat, but I prefer to dig a little deeper for The Bad. 

The origins of our defeat could be seen in the first half, long before Barnet scored three goals in six minutes at the death. 

Barnet out ran, out worked, and out passed us in the first half. In fact, but for the crossbar and Tom Smith in goal, Bromley should have been a few goals down at half-time. 

In my honest opinion, we were found wanting in several areas of the pitch, but most notably in the middle of the park and in our lack of pace at the back.

In the middle of the pitch, Corey Whitely, James Vennings, and Billy Bingham had their worst game of the season, particularly in the first half. Time and time again they were bypassed with ease and rushed into loose passes that promptly turned over possession. 

It’s almost as if Barnet scouted Bromley beforehand and discovered that the teams that have caused the most problems at Hayes Lane have been those who have combined extreme comfort in possession with a very high work rate.

In addition to the above, without Sowunmi in the back line there were far too many occasions where we were found wanting for pace. Whether it was Marvin Armstrong, Idris Kanu, or Nicke Kabamba running at them, our defence were often like rabbits in the headlights. 

I don’t think there has to be a panicked response to this, more a decision to go back to basics.

Andy Woodman has tried to make Bromley more expansive this season, and attacking stats show we have been, but after eight goals conceded in three games, I suspect the focus will now shift to clean sheets. You can't lose if you don’t concede.

If that means we have to sacrifice wingbacks Forster and Clayden playing so high up the pitch, so be it. 

The Ugly

Well this is obvious, isn’t it? It’s yet another game where Bromley have conceded late on and dropped points. Or, in the case of Hereford, an FA Cup replay. I make it six occasions now that Bromley have fluffed their lines late on. It all started with:

Wealdstone 3-2 Bromley

On each occasion it has been self-inflicted, and it forms a pattern that needs an answer. If the players weren’t aware of it they probably are now.

It begs the question: How does Andy Woodman address this? It’s time to earn his chops in the dressing room and get to the root cause of the issue. I won't pretend to be someone who knows how, but I don’t think it’s as simple as a lack of leadership on the pitch. 

Do some players go into hiding at tense moments? Did the double substitutions with eight minutes to go hinder the performance? Did two players need to come on at that point, much less one?

Away from the late collapse, at the other end of the pitch, Michael Cheek now has two goals in sixteen games. Our front man is starving and it would be remiss of me to not draw attention to it.

Cheek missed two chances against Barnet that I consider food-and-drink for him. In the first half, the ball fell to him at the back post after some pinball and he lashed his effort into the side netting. He should have at least tested the keeper.

In the second half, Clayden broke free down the left side and crossed for the type of chance that Cheek begs for, yet he didn’t manage to get a foot on it. 

This is not my number 9! Does Woodman take Cheeky out of the firing line now? How much time do we wait for our bagsman to bag? 

I caught up with Andy Woodman at the end of the match to get his take on proceedings. Have a listen to what he had to say

Match ratings

Tom Smith (7)

Harry Forster (5)

Callum Reynolds (6)

Byron Webster (6)

Chris Bush (6)

Charles Clayden (7)

Billy Bingham (5)

James Vennings (5)

Corey Whitely (5)

Michael Cheek (6)

Adam Marriott (6)

Subs:

Ethan Coleman (on 83 for James Vennings) 5

George Alexander (on 83 for Adam Marriott) 5

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