Chesterfield 3-0 Bromley

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

I’m in that stretch of the season where the run of games makes travelling tricky to navigate. Nord VPN came to my rescue, but by the end of Tuesday night, I wished I hadn’t bothered.

Early red cards on and off the pitch meant it was always likely to be a long night at the office. When the third goal went in, I logged off and went back to marking Year 10 essays.

It’s the ebb and the flow.

Join me as I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the 3-0 away defeat to Chesterfield.

Have a read and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

The team vs Chesterfield

The Good

To be fair, until Omar Sowunmi’s sending-off, Bromley were good value for the parity in the scoreline.

What little Chesterfield had produced was all in front of the Ravens’ back line and the Spireites were struggling to find a way through the low block.

Bromley’s game plan was working, but the sending-off changed the game.

To their credit, even with a one man disadvantage, 1-0 down against a good team away from home, Bromley kept grafting and didn’t let their heads drop. It’s the Bromley way.

However, that’s where The Good ends.

Chesterfield were of course deserved winners. They boast a squad of talent that Bromley can't attract (yet) and they used it to patiently dismantle the disadvantaged Ravens.

When your team includes Armando Dobra, Kyle McFadzean, and Tom Naylor, to name but a few of their star turns, it’s fair to say that the Spireites have underachieved so far this season. But it wouldn’t surprise me if they make a late run for a play-off spot. Injuries and departures notwithstanding, they’re built to be one of the better sides in League Two.

On the night, I thought Ryheem Sheckleford was very good at right back, and Dobra was ever the inventive threat on the ball, but when Paul Cook introduced Ryan Colclough and Paddy Madden, I knew the gig was up.

You can only play with ten men for so long before the quality of the opposition comes through.

Tired legs and shadow chasing had no answer to the extra manpower.

The Bad

Omar Sowunmi’s sending-off was not pretty. The defender lunged for the ball with his foot at shin height and missed the ball by a long way. Now, you can argue about the decisions available to the referee at that moment, but in this day and age, it’s a red card. There is no grey area.

That incident killed the game and essentially sentenced Bromley to defeat.

It’s hard to be shitty about the rest of the performance given the numerical disadvantage. If we must nitpick, the error that led to the third goal was unforced. While it was probably the product of tired minds and legs, it was still a bad goal to concede.

Around the hour mark, Idris Odutayo went down near the dugouts and had to be replaced. He seemed to land badly on his ankle, which is exactly the type of injury that can lead to a spell on the sidelines.

Bromley announced on Friday that Bes Topalloj will stay at Sutton United for the rest of the season. Does that mean Brooklyn Ilunga will now play at LWB if Idris doesn’t make it for the Grimsby game?

Interesting times at Hayes Lane.

In another twist, Chesterfield had Bim Pepple upfront. You may remember him from his time at Bromley in the 23/24 season, where he played a handful of games on loan from Luton.

It didn’t quite work out for Bim at Bromley, but he has just had a successful loan spell at Southend United, scoring 11 in 23 in the National League. Even so, I was surprised to see him pitch up at play-off-chasing Chesterfield.

The Spireites needed a striker in this window as Will Grigg is injured, James Berry has been sold, and Paddy Madden is coming back from injury. But I didn’t see anything on the night to suggest that Bim is the answer.

I would have thought Luton would have wanted him to stay at Southend to build on the promise he was showing, but now he has the daunting task of scoring key goals and providing the finishing touches to Chesterfield’s approach play.

It will be interesting to see how he gets on over the next three months.

The Ugly

I won’t pretend to be privy to the minutiae of the antics on the touchline, but I do know that it didn’t look good from my vantage point.

Andy appeared to have a bit of a set-to with someone on the Chesterfield bench. Maybe it was Paul Cook or Danny Webb, but it could just as easily have been Gary Roberts or Paddy Byrne.

Either way, the red card was produced and Andy had to take the walk of shame to a part of the ground where he couldn’t interact with his staff or players.

Andy is unlikely to publicly state what got him so riled and agitated, but I have rarely seen him like that in his four years at the club.

This will mean a ban, the length of which remains to be seen. Andy has already faced one ban this season, which forced him to watch the Doncaster game from a distant vantage point.

The question here is whether Andy let the team down with his sending-off. I totally get the frustration and anger, but did it benefit the side to see their manager taking a walk?

Let me know what you think. Get at me in the comments section.

Match ratings

Grant Smith (7)

Danny Imray (6)

Omar Sowunmi (5)

Callum Reynolds (6)

Kamarl Grant (6)

Idris Odutayo (6)

Ashley Charles (6)

Jude Arthurs (6)

Cameron Congreve (6)

Louis Dennis (6)

Michael Cheek (6)

Subs:

Brooklyn Ilunga for Idris Odutayo 62’ (6)

Corey Whitely for Ashley Charles 57’ (6)

Lewis Leigh for Jude Arthurs 57’ (6)

Ben Thompson for Cameron Congreve 57’ (6)

Nicke Kabamba for Michael Cheek 73’ (6)

---

Thanks for taking the time to read the match synopsis above.

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

If you havent as yet make sure you read the other articles in the archive.

If you’d like to show an appreciation for the work that goes into this newsletter you can buy me a coffee through the link below.

You can also find Machel St Patrick Hewitt on Twitter - here

Most importantly of all subscribe to the newsletter to ensure you get these updates direct to your inbox.