Port Vale 5-0 Bromley
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
When Bromley won promotion to League Two, sensible fans probably expected some thrashings in the inaugural season. It took until April for Bromley to finally get that work.
The Ravens showed up to Vale Park looking to play their familiar role as League Two party poopers, but like a playground bully, Port Vale stomped on Bromley and sent them back to South East London humbled.
As ever, join me as I reflect on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from Bromley’s 5-0 defeat away at Port Vale.
Have a read and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
The team vs Port Vale
The Good
When you lose 5-0, what can you really write about in this column?
The one sprinkling of hope I saw was Danny Imray’s performance in the first half. For the first time since his return from injury, he looked like his old self. On a day where Port Vale were backed by 11,000 buoyant fans, Imray provided a constant outlet ball for pace and direct running, and only when he got on the ball did you sense trepidation from the Vale fans.
Bromley might reflect on two moments before Port Vale scored their second when the scores could have been levelled. Imray set up Ben Thompson for a strike that should have tested Ben Amos more than it did, and moments later, Imray’s slalom run into the box ended with his goalbound shot being well blocked.
These were the only meaningful attacking notes I wrote down for Bromley. It was as good as it got.
The Good in this match was displayed by the men in white. Port Vale showed why they are the league leaders with four games to go, and this win put a five-point gap between them and the play-off places. I can't see them giving that gap up.
Vale were clinical with the chances they got. Whether Bromley laid some of those chances on a plate is irrelevant, the Valiants made sure none went begging.
I could pick out many players in white who stood out. I liked Rys Walters in centre midfield, I thought he was very comfortable in possession and progressed the ball well. And Jack Shorrock was a persistent threat at left wing-back, giving Kamarl Grant a difficult day at the office.
But the standout individual was predictably the person I wrote about in the match preview. Vale frontman Lorent Tolaj gave Bromley a masterclass, and it acted as a reminder as to how and why he tore up the National League last season with Aldershot Town.
Both he and Josh Stokes were two of the very best players in last season’s National League, and both moved for big bucks in the summer. Stokes went to Bristol City and Vale met Aldershot’s release clause to get Tolaj.
Tolaj scored two on the day, assisted one, and had a goal disallowed as he terrorised the Bromley backline. He is better than this level of football and will play at a higher level, with or without Port Vale.
His movement was so hard to track that the Bromley backline never had any idea where he would pop up next. At times, he was running in beyond the full-backs in the channels, at other times he was dropping into the #10 and running directly on the half-turn. When he played centrally he was dragging the centre backs out of position to open space for others. And this is before we consider the quality of both finishes.
Tolaj’s performance takes him to 21 goal contributions for the season. Those are top numbers for someone who some would argue isn’t an out-and-out striker.
There is no shame in applauding the opposition when you see a team that is better than you.
Port Vale gave Bromley that real work and you have to respect it.
The Bad
After the last thrashing Bromley took, a 4-1 thumping at Crewe Alexandra, I wrote something very similar: The nature of the goals they conceded meant the Ravens made this match harder than it needed to be
The two opening goals were so soft. Losing concentration like that is precisely the thing you can’t do when facing a vibrant side who can sense a league title.
For the first, Tolaj got room on the left but inexplicably no one tracked the run of the left wing-back Jack Shorrock, who had all the freedom in the world to smash home.
I actually think the second goal was a worse goal to concede. Under no pressure, Adam Mayor gave the ball away and then was caught out of possession for Tolaj to receive a pass and shoot past Grant Smith.
Needless to say, if you are away from home against the league leaders, the last thing you can afford to do is gift them a two-goal head start. Bromley simply do not have the resources at this level to be expected to score a minimum of three goals every week to win games, especially against the best.
For a 15-minute period at the start of the second half, Bromley seemed to have sorted themselves out, before promptly conceding three even softer goals after the hour mark.
The third saw the ball bounce around in the penalty area after no one won the second or third contact, leaving George Byers the simple task of smashing home. For the fourth, Tolaj ran beyond the full-back (this time Mayor) and then had all the time in the world to size up his shot. For the fifth and the final goal, no one tracked Ryan Croasdale’s run.
It was a chastening day at the office for Bromley and one of the worst team defensive performances I’ve seen in a long time.
The Ugly
It’s so easy to ask in hindsight, but could Bromley have tweaked things earlier than they did?
It was obvious after 25 minutes that 4-2-3-1 wasn’t going to work, and at half-time I tweeted that Bromley should consider changing to 5-3-2. I didn’t mean it as a way to get back into the game, I was thinking about damage limitation.
Port Vale continually exploited the gaps behind Kamarl Grant and Adam Mayor, which stretched Sowunmi and Webster out of position, so for me it made sense to match their system and at least give them something to think about. Would it have been better for Bromley to have Webster as the spare centre-back, with Stockley and Tolaj occupied by the other defenders?
Andy noted in his post-match interview with Matt that he felt players went into business for themselves and strayed from the plan. I just wonder at what point in the game he started to think that, and I wonder if in hindsight he wished he’d changed things earlier.
All of that said, Bromley made their first set of subs in the 62nd minute, and within six minutes of those subs Vale had added another two goals, so it clearly wasn’t as simple as a personnel problem. When the Valiants turned to their deeper resources on the bench they ran rampant, and if it had ended with a wider margin than 5-0, I for one would have considered it fair enough.
However, it’s one thing for the opposition to have bigger resources and better players, but you still have to make them work for the points. Very rarely in Andy’s tenure can we state so clearly that Bromley were miles away from where they needed to be.
If they pride themselves on being one of the fittest teams in the league then we didn’t see that on show on Saturday. Time and again players didn’t track their runners, as highlighted by goals one, two, and five. I didn’t see enough grafting on the day, and that is the bare minimum we’ve come to expect from an Andy Woodman side.
A long and arduous season is slowly coming to an end, which might cause some players to start thinking about their postseason plans, but this was a ponderous display and, worst of all, devoid of responsibility on the pitch.
Bromley have no divine right to win football matches, and perhaps the occasional defeat like this is to be expected given the step up in level, but it felt like more than a few players went missing when Bromley needed to regroup, recalibrate, and ensure there was no embarrassment on the day.
The fact that SEVEN Bromley players received a yellow card reflects the cumulative head-loss in this fixture. It was a day to forget in every sense of the word.
What was your take on this one? Get at me in the comments below.
Match ratings
Grant Smith (4)
Kamarl Grant (3)
Omar Sowunmi (4)
Byron Webster (4)
Adam Mayor (3)
Jude Arthurs (4)
Ashley Charles (4)
Danny Imray (5)
Ben Thompson (5)
Cameron Congreve (3)
Michael Cheek (4)
Subs:
Corey Whitely for Danny Imray 76’ (4)
Brooklyn Ilunga for Ashley Charles 62’ (4)
Harry McKirdy for Cameron Congreve 62’ (4)
Nicke Kabamba for Michael Cheek 76’ (5)
All articles are edited by Peter Etherington you can link to him here
Credit to Dan Webster for the photo from the away end.
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.
Only positive for me was Woody’s post match interview and his justifiable anger and the clear message that the manner of the result was unacceptable. I think the players will react and want to show the manager they’re fighting for their places. Port Vale looked like champions elect on that form- and Bromley looked pretty average. Danny Imray was also a glimmer of hope. He will want to end his tenure at Bromley on a high.