Bromley 4-0 Accrington Stanley
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Someone was due a battering and Accrington Stanley were the victim.
Bromley may have only collected 2 points from a possible 15 in the games prior to Saturday’s encounter, but they didn’t struggle to create opportunities in that run.
It felt like if they could just fix the defence, the economy would regulate itself. And so it came to pass.
Join me as I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from Bromley’s 4-0 home win over Accrington Stanley.
Have a read and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
The team vs Accrington Stanley
The Good
Andy Woodman extols the virtues of keeping clean sheets so often that some fans tire of hearing about it, but we once again saw the importance of his mantra.
The back four of Grant, Sowunmi, Elerewe, and Mayor never looked in trouble in this game, which laid the foundations for Bromley to play their stuff and take their chances.
Centre-back-cum-full-back Kamarl Grant provided the assist for Bromley’s third goal, floating a pin-point cross for Ben Thompson to head home at the back post.
I’ve been searching the internet to identify the length of Grant’s contract extension when he signed it with Millwall last year, but I assume he has at least another year to run. Is it far-fetched to say that Bromley should test Millwall’s resolve with an offer this summer? They did the same for Besart Topallaj a few seasons back. Why not Kamarl?
Millwall have developed a knack for letting talented youngsters go of late, see Isaac Olaofe and Alex Mitchell for examples. Dare I suggest that if Millwall haven't let you break into their side by the age of 22 then it’s worth considering your options.
In his interview with me, Andy alluded to the fact that he is looking at a new centre-back partnership as the season comes to an end. It appears that Omar Sowunmi and Deji Elerewe are the pair he has in mind, and as we haven’t seen a back five in a while, we can probably assume that Andy believes this could be the best duo at the club. But they haven’t had the chance to work in tandem all season, so this is new. What have you made of it so far?
We only have Newport and Accrington to go on, but those sides fashioned little to nothing. But, while it’s a promising beginning, tougher tests lay ahead for the partnership, starting with second-placed Port Vale away on Saturday.
Ben Thompson and Cameron Congreve answered my clarion call for more goal contributions from anyone not called Michael Cheek. Thompson now has six league goals and Cameron five.
I was asked by Euan, a substack reader, if I felt Swansea would consider loaning Cameron back to Bromley next season, like Millwall did with Kamarl Grant this season. Personally, I don’t see it happening, and I’m not convinced it would be the best thing for his career if it did happen.
As things stand, Cameron has made 34 starts and 8 substitute appearances, providing 6 goals and 6 assists in the process. This season has been a great learning curve for the Welsh youngster, who, let’s not forget, joined us as a promising 20-year-old who needed to develop his craft at the senior level.
Having learnt how to graft under Andy Woodman, he will return to Swansea a better and physically stronger player. Assuming Swansea aren’t quite ready to throw him into their Championship side just yet, I suspect we will see him loaned to a League One club next season.
And lastly, but by no means least, arise, Sir Michael Cheek. On Saturday, Cheeky moved to 126 career goals for Bromley and is now seven goals away from breaking Butch Dunn’s record. If he does so, he will become Bromley’s all-time top-scorer in the post-amateur era.
Read that back.
We are fortunate as Bromley fans to have lived through the Michael Cheek era. I’ve witnessed some noteworthy Bromley strikers fire us to promotion in the last twenty years, like Mark Tompkins, Wade Falana, Nic McDonnell, and Bradley Goldberg, but the Cheek era has surpassed everything. Nic McDonnell probably came closest to providing this feeling, but the simple reality is that if Cheek is playing, Bromley will be in the game.
Before Cheek scored both penalties, I had already written the draft for the tweets and written in the match report that he had scored. ‘Nuff said. He is a guaranteed goal-scorer; a man who has the untrainable knack of knowing how to be in the right place at the right time.
The Bad
Accrington were dreadful, and their manager, John Doolan, admitted as much at full-time.
The match stats tell you they had zero shots on target. ZERO! And they were lucky to have that many.
Yes, they have a 6-point cushion over the bottom two, but more performances like this will see one of Morecambe or Carlisle haul them in. Accrington will point to the fact that two of their last five games are against Tranmere Rovers and Carlisle United, but lose those two and it will be giddy goolies time.
Their performance reminded me of some of the limited performances you see in the lower reaches of the National League, and that stuff is meat and drink for Bromley.
You can't just turn up and be tentative in the tackle, constantly lose second balls, and move the ball with little intent or purpose.
Once Bromley got the second from the penalty spot it was always going to be a case of how many they would go on to win by.
Was this the worst opposition performance at Hayes Lane this season?
The Ugly
With this victory, Bromley officially secured their spot in League Two for another season. In doing so, they upheld the record that no team promoted from the National League has ever been relegated at the first time of asking.
This achievement is cause for celebration, especially in the context that Bromley were a lot of pundits’ tip to be in a relegation dogfight.
However, now league status is secured, expectations are likely to rise among Bromley’s fanbase.
I’ve spoken about this quite a lot over the last few seasons but there is an air of impatience that hangs over match days. It feels like some fans almost demand victories and entertainment.
For newer fans, this will be the first season that Bromley don’t provide a postseason adventure. While that might feel disheartening, I ask them to remember the trip to Newcastle in the FA Cup 3rd round and the fact that the club has achieved its highest finish ever.
Such is the level to which many have been spoiled, they may well demand play-offs next season.
With great responsibility comes great expectation.
Recruitment notwithstanding, if Bromley don’t advance on this season’s finish in 2025/2026, would you be disappointed?
Get at me in the comments below.
Match ratings
Grant Smith (9)
Kamarl Grant (9)
Omar Sowunmi (9)
Deji Elerewe (9)
Adam Mayor (9)
Jude Arthurs (8)
Ashley Charles (8)
Danny Imray (8)
Ben Thompson (9)
Cameron Congreve (9)
Michael Cheek (10)
Subs:
Corey Whitely for Cameron Congreve 72’ (7)
Brooklyn Ilunga for Ben Thompson 79’ (6)
Harry McKirdy for Danny Imray 79’ (6)
Nicke Kabamba for Michael Cheek 84’ (7)
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A good summary Machel. I think it is a great achievement to be mid table in league two, our budget I expect is one of the lowest. Judged by the size of our attendances this would not be surprising. I believe Andy Woodman is key to what we are achieving, in the way we are set up and play. However we will need to evolve into a slightly better passing team to progress or even stay still in mid table. Eventually teams work you out and we will need to add extra strings to our bow.
We have to be realistic and realise that at present, our setup and ground are not at league one level and I wouldn't want us to do a Forest Green and drop two divisions. I think we are doing great, my fear is if AW was tempted elsewhere.
Don’t understand how you have a London player of the year award in February !!!
A lot can happen in those last couple of months and had