Bromley 2-3 Aldershot Town
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
At home to fellow playoff chasers Aldershot Town, Bromley incurred their first defeat since Chesterfield away on October 3rd.
The defeat itself wasn’t the issue, but the manner of the capitulation is cause for concern.
Andy Woodman has built a specific DNA into his side, but this display was the complete opposite. His angry demeanour at full-time spoke volumes.
In the words of the gaffer: “I’ve not seen a performance like that since I’ve been here.”
As ever, I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from Bromley’s 2-3 home defeat to Aldershot Town.
Have a read and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
The team vs Aldershot Town
The Good
Andy Woodman remarked earlier in the season that Michael Cheek is a goalscorer that bags in bursts. You might assume he’s suffering a drought, but you’d be wise to bide your time.
If he stays fit, Cheek will bag at least 20 goals this season. And, if he stays fit, Bromley will land somewhere in the play-offs.
His first-half goal was classic Cheek. Nothing about the touch or finish suggested he was a striker with no goals in six games. When you factor in how much of his tireless front-play creates space for the team, you understand why Andy Woodman rarely, if ever, rests him. Is there a more important player in the National League?
For a number of Bromley fans, Corey Whitely is the best player in the team. Offensively and defensively, Whitely covers a phenomenal amount of ground.
He was at his best against Aldershot, putting in an all-action display that made him a persistent menace. On another day, he may have had a goal to match his performance.
My only question mark is, given he gets in so many threatening positions, should Corey score more goals?
He has four in twenty-two league appearances, which is actually already one shy of his 2022/23 league total. But in my view, his stellar performances this season suggest that Corey should be aiming for double figures. Am I wrong?
And did I mention Louis Dennis’ sublime lobbed goal for the game’s opener? Would anyone else in the club have been able to score that goal, in that way, without looking flustered in the slightest? That’s why we call some members of the squad X-factor players.
Arguably, the aforementioned three are Bromley’s X-factor stars.
Speaking of X-factor, Tuesday night was my first proper look at Josh Stokes. There’s growing hype surrounding the Shots’ summer signing from Sudbury of the Isthmian North. Believe that hype.
From what I saw, he's easily the best young talent in the league and one of the best I’ve seen at this level in many a year. Even at 2-0 down, Josh was the most technically gifted player on the pitch, and he was instrumental in Aldershot’s comeback too.
I’m advising everyone to keep an eye on Josh Stokes. We won’t see him at this level next season.
The Bad
The goal Bromley conceded to give Aldershot a lifeline was a very soft and needless one.
Granted it was a looping high ball that was swirling before it came down, but I’m sure that when they watch the video back, Byron Webster and his fellow defenders will wonder how they let Jack Barham sneak in to poke home.
It was the crucial moment. Suddenly, Aldershot had something to play for, and boy did they play for it.
You have to give credit to the Shots. From that point on, they took the game to Bromley and trusted their style of play, just as they had in the first half.
Nervousness crept into Bromley’s play and second balls were no longer won. It was an uncharacteristic capitulation, the likes of which we haven't seen this season. Andy Woodman was seething.
Still, that’s football. It's easy to celebrate when you have one league defeat in seventeen games, but pride comes before a fall. When you suffer a defeat, self-inflicted or otherwise, you have to lick your wounds, learn your lessons and quickly move on.
My only critique, and I’ve noted others making it, is that perhaps this has been coming. Did Bromley finally get their comeuppance for feeling they could sit on a lead, cede possession, and still close a game out?
The Shots have turned many heads this season with their high-octane passing football. They’re brave on the ball, but they also know how to mix it up when the time comes.
On the face of it, Bromley dropped off against the wrong team and finally got punished. But, and it’s a big BUT, the goals were still self-inflicted. With that in mind, perhaps we should be careful not to make the defeat fit one particular narrative.
It’s worth remembering that at 2-0 and 2-1, Bromley missed at least three gilt-edge opportunities to put the game to bed. There are very fine lines in the National League. On one side of the line, three points, on the other, a defeat that feeds a narrative.
The Ugly
Byron Webster compounded his mistake for the first goal with a ridiculous red card in the 78th minute. However aggrieved he felt about a perceived infringement by substitute Kwame Thomas, a mindless elbow and subsequent red card wasn’t the answer.
It was completely unnecessary and gifted Aldershot the advantage.
If a captain is supposed to lead by example then this was a complete dereliction of duty on Webster’s part. It set the tone for Bromley’s slap-shod second-half capitulation.
Sometimes, you have to lose a game in cataclysmic fashion to realign your squad. It sounds perverse, but, handled well, a wake-up call can help you maintain focus on the overall mission. Will that be the case for Andy Woodman’s Ravens?
Byron’s sending-off means Bromley head to Hartlepool needing a big defensive reshuffle, which might not be a bad thing. That said, Bromley’s strength-in-depth will be tested to its fullest.
If neither Alex Kirk nor Chin Okoli are fit, then I expect Bes Topalloj will play LCB with Corey Whitely or Ryan Jones playing LWB. Likewise, if the injury that forced Josh Passley off is serious enough to keep him out, then Jude Arthurs will likely deputise at RWB.
The rallying call from Andy Woodman will be to get back to basics on Saturday. The question is whether a patched-up XI can heed that call.
Finally, can anyone do the maths on where the 15 minutes of injury time came from? How long do we approximate it took for the assistant referee to be substituted? 5 minutes, maybe?
There were five subs and a few yellow cards, totalling 4 or 5 minutes of added time at most. How does all of that combine to make 15 minutes? It’s no excuse for the defeat, but I was perplexed when the board came up with such a large number. Was anyone else?
Anywho, let me know what you think about the above in the comments section below.
Match ratings
Grant Smith (6)
Josh Passley (7)
Deji Elerewe (7)
Byron Webster (5)
Callum Reynolds (7)
Besart Topalloj (7)
James Vennings (7)
Corey Whitely (8)
Ben Krauhaus (7)
Louis Dennis (7)
Michael Cheek (7)
Subs:
Sam Woods for James Vennings for 60’ (6)
Todd Miller for Josh Passley 57’ (6)
Jude Arthurs for Louis Dennis 84’ (6)
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Well Machel I don't know where you start after a game like that we are all pretty shell shocked. I notice George Alexander is back. I think there maybe a few changes. George is the sort of player who will run through a brick wall maybe that is what Andy is looking for. We certainly need a response Saturday. This will show the character of the team.
I have seen a lot of good starts since 1977 with Bromley and a lot of implosions. We should have the Manager and the squad to avoid that this time but it makes you nervous after a performance like that. Saying that we showed we are human even Grant Smith makes mistakes.
I would imagine Jones will come back in to a back 5 with Woods possibly in front of them. Solidity at the back will be AW's concern at the moment.
Spot on, Mach.
I alluded to this on Twitter (in fewer characters), but I really feel this has been coming:
We gave Wealdstone, Oxford, Dorking, Blackpool*, Boreham Wood, Fylde and now Shots free run of posession, and I think it's finally caught up with us.
I thought Woodman spoke well in your post match chat, and he alluded to Bromley needing to "put games to bed" and be more "ruthless." I agree, but I think there's 2 ways to skin a cat. Firstly, we missed some big chances in the game, that can happen. Secondly, you take the sting out of the game by putting your foot on the ball, keeping it away from your opponent, saving your legs, and forcing the other team to chase the ball.
While I'm doing my best to not feed a narrative, are we capable of doing the second? Woodman himself has said to you that he thinks possession is "boring" and he would never want his side to play that way, but against Shots it felt like that's what we needed to do.
Another note, and I felt this again vs both Fylde and Shots, is that the shape of the team is wrong (I know, I know, broken record).
I'm happy to be proven wrong here, but I can't think of a side who have played a back 3 and had a lone 6 in front of them. *Typically* you'd see a back 3 with 2 sitters in front, giving your full-backs license to get up the pitch. We don't press from the front against sides often either, making Cheek and Fela/Dennis passengers out of possession, leaving Krauhaus and Whitely having to compete in midfield and press the full backs out side, which leaves (Vennings in this case) exposed in front of the back 3.
It's not an easy fix, and obviously you sacrifice something, but I'd love to see Corey and Louis behind Cheek, Vennings/Leigh + Woods as a double pivot, and then give the wing backs *even more* license to cause havoc.