Bromley vs Gillingham preview
Playing Kent teams in ‘local derbies’ is nothing new to Bromley.
During our rise up the non-league pyramid, we’ve had many encounters with the likes of Maidstone, Dartford, Dover, and Ebbsfleet.
However, those games have often seen Bromley ridiculed for claiming to be a Kent team. Certainly, BBC Kent has only ever touched Bromley when there is no one else to cover, or our game has been big enough to warrant coverage.
The Kent debate can rage on well into the night, but I have always considered Bromley to be part of the Kent hinterland, making games against the more traditional Kent sides derbies.
On that basis, our first encounter with Gillingham this season is arguably our biggest game of the season league-wise.
I’d like to consider ourselves noisy neighbours where Gillingham are concerned. Gillingham are effectively the Manchester United of Kent, but I look at the two clubs ahead of tonight and wonder who is the more upwardly mobile.
There can be no doubt that Gillingham have the deeper resources. Their takeover by American multi-millionaire Brad Galinson in December 2022 put an end to Paul Scally’s reign of terror. Since then, there has been plenty of noise about the Gills returning to League One sooner rather than later.
Galinson showed that ambition when he sacked Stephen Clemence at the end of last season, with a 12th-place finish deemed unacceptable for a club with promotion expectations.
Into the hotseat came former Cambridge United promotion-winning manager Mark Bonner.
They started the season like a house on fire, only losing one of their first eight games, but their recent form has been patchy. The Gills' most recent game, a 1-0 win over Port Vale, represented their first league win in seven.
It begs the question which version of Gillingham will show up at Hayes Lane tonight?
There can be no doubt that the Gills brought in some serious quality over the summer, but injuries have stopped their fans from seeing the best of those new signings.
The eye-catching signing was the return of club legend Bradley Dack from Sunderland, but they also secured Elliott Nevitt (Crewe’s top scorer), Aaron Rowe (Huddersfield) and Armani Little (AFC Wimbledon).
If and when Gillingham get everyone fit and firing, I would not be surprised to see them challenging for a play-off spot come season’s end.
Consequently, maybe tonight is the best time for Bromley to host Gillingham.
Yes, Gillingham beat league leaders Port Vale last time out, but it remains to be seen if that signals a return to good form.
Bromley have been riding a wave since beating Solihull Moors in the FA Cup second round and drawing a plum tie at Newcastle United in the third, but they need to put that to one side for now.
It would be easy to think that the impending FA Cup game is the be-all and end-all, but Bromley have the small matter of pulling away from the relegation zone to contend with.
They are three points ahead of 23rd-place Carlisle with two games in hand but are yet to find the formula to win regular games in the league.
Only six teams have lost fewer games than Bromley, but only one has won less. Simply put, Bromley need to start turning draws into wins.
Sunday seemed more emotionally taxing than physically taxing, so it will be very interesting to see how Bromley line up tonight.
The temptation will surely be to go in unchanged once again, but it feels like a game where Andy Woodman has to manage bodies and minutes.
I am expecting perhaps one change, or if that doesn’t come to pass then I suspect Andy will turn to his bench sooner than usual.
Would you stick or twist?
The From Bromley with Love XI
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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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