Bromley vs Tranmere Rovers preview
Bromley vs Tranmere Rovers preview
The international break is a long time in football.
Now Bromley are in League Two, this seems like something that will affect us more often.
For me, the break represented a great way to recharge the football batteries. Let’s face it, the first two months of the football season were a relentless slog.
The 10 league games Bromley played during that period had the hallmarks of a club getting a feel for their new level. There will still be hard lessons to learn, but Andy Woodman will hope that his side now have a genuine idea of what the level is all about.
In that sense, Bromley’s season really starts now.
It is time to turn the draws into wins, but today’s visit of Tranmere Rovers will offer a stern test.
Tranmere have had a slow start to their season and currently stand one place and one point above Bromley. While they have only lost three of their 10 league games, they are hampered by a severe lack of goals. In fact, with only 5 to their name, they are the lowest goal scorers in the league. On the flipside, they have only conceded 11, so they know how to keep it tight.
In September 2023, Nigel Adkins took over a Tranmere side languishing in 23rd place and eventually led them to a 16th-place finish.
The hope was that he would be able to kick on this season, but the jury remains somewhat out after 10 games.
Adkins made several signings to bolster his squad, the most notable of which were Liverpool-born midfielder Sam Finley from Bristol Rovers, midfielder Saidou Khan on loan from Swindon Town, and striker Josh Davison from AFC Wimbledon. While Tranmere have a robust look about them, it just isn’t clicking going forward.
Davison was hardly prolific at Wimbledon, and he only has a single goal in his 12 appearances for Tranmere this season.
Something has to give.
One vaguely familiar face to Bromley fans will be Zak Bradshaw, who was briefly at Hayes Lane on loan from Ipswich in 22/23. While he didn’t get a lot of game time at Bromley, Zak appears to be a regular in the Tranmere defence.
Given Bromley’s status as EFL newcomers, it is hard to gauge how different fanbases see their own club. And as Tranmere are such a mixed bag, they are particularly hard to call.
Within the last decade, the Rovers have fallen as far as the National League, where they slummed it out for several seasons. But their great escape in 2018 was followed by back-to-back promotions, taking them to the bright lights of League One.
However, in keeping with their mixed fortunes, they only managed a solitary season in League One before being demoted via PPG. Since then, they have only had one play-off season in League Two. A steady decline has become the norm.
It makes you wonder if Rovers fans view Bromley as a must-win game or accept that this is their level now.
As his Bromley side were starting to show the ‘Andy Woodman DNA’, he may have rued the arrival of the international break.
The three hard-fought draws in the last three games, at home to MK Dons and Chesterfield and away at Fleetwood, bore all the hallmarks of the robust Bromley side that gained promotion from the National League.
Most pleasing of all would have been the clean sheet at Fleetwood, considering the home side had scored six goals away at league-leaders Walsall in their previous game.
Break or no break, the key for Woodman will be finding the elusive balance between strong defence and attacking threat. This is how Bromley will turn draws into wins.
Michael Cheek remains the talisman, but Woodman would happily sacrifice his goals for a scrappy 1-0 win with a goal from anyone in the team.
The question is whether the international break stalled Bromley’s momentum or gave them time to rest and regroup.
Will they come out of the traps on fire?
Ashley Charles, Josh Thomas and Cameron Congreve all featured in international games. Will they be taken out of the firing line to aid their recovery, or will they walk straight into the starting line-up?
Which XI would you pick?
The From Bromley with Love XI
Smith
Sowunmi Reynolds Grant
Imray Thompson Leigh Odutayo
Whitely
Cheek Olomola.
Please note all match photographs in this article are by Martin Greig - please follow him on Twitter here
All articles are edited by Peter Etherington you can link to him here
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