Bromley vs Carlisle United preview

It took Mike Williamson 10 games to get his first win as Carlisle United manager but rather ominously for Bromley they have now won their last two as they head to Hayes Lane for the first time ever.

Carlisle are back in League Two after a one season stay in League One. With promotion winning manager and club hero Paul Simpson getting the sack after a subpar start this season.

It’s hard to tell from a Bromley fan perspective how big Carlisle United are – but they feel like a club where yo-yoing between the bottom two leagues is their natural position.

All that said since their big money takeover in November 2023 by the Piatak family of Jacksonville, Florida expectations have risen somewhat.

The debt at the football club has been wiped out and Carlisle should in due course be upwardly mobile.

In that respect it is easy to see why they opted for Mike Williamson as manager.

Williamson had a very good time of it in charge of Gateshead – laying the foundation for them becoming the top 10 National League club they are now.

Under Williamson Gateshead played some of the best football in the National League and that continued when he was appointed MK Dons manager, guiding Milton Keynes to a playoff finish in his first season.

Rather surprisingly, but perhaps reflecting his desire to move back to the North Williamson decided to leave MK and move to Carlisle earlier this season.

The assumption surely is that once he gets Carlisle playing his preferred style they too will move up the table quickly.

The question is whether he has the players to play the style he desires.

A lot of the new additions, following relegation, arrived under Paul Simpson and there can be no doubt that they signed players that should be competing at the top end of League Two.

Most notably Jordan Jones (Wigan), Terrel Thomas (Charlton) and Aaron Hayden (Wrexham) should have made Carlisle much better but it just hasn’t worked (yet).

The recent good form notwithstanding the worry for Carlisle fans is that they have the worse goal difference in the league. They have conceded the most goals in the league and in spite of a clean sheet at Salford in their most recent outing – keeping one has proved to be somewhat of a rarity.

I went on the Carlisle United fan podcast earlier this week and they were quite clear that they would be happy with a draw.

I suspect Andy Woodman might not see it that way.

Bromley have only lost one of their last seven league games but given they have only won one of those games, Andy Woodman will rightly be targeting this game as a winnable encounter.

However that was probably said before the Tranmere encounter as well and look what happened there.

Certainly the Ravens have become increasingly robust as a League Two outfit but three points have to start being the order of the day.

Woodman certainly signposted how he might line up vs Carlisle given 11 starters did not feature in midweek vs Charlton and I would be shocked if the XI vs Carlisle isn’t a complete change.

So much so it makes picking the XI that much easier.

Possible Bromley XI

Smith

Sowunmi Webster Grant

Imray Thompson Arthurs Odutayo

Whitely

Cheek Dennis

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Please note all match photographs in this article are by Martin Greig - please follow him on Twitter here

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