Bromley manager, Andy Woodman has praised Nicke Kabamba for a “professional” winner in a 2-1 victory at home to Barrow.
Marcus Ifill put Bromley in front at Copperjax Stadium with a curled finish but Ben Whitfield equalised for Barrow through a clinical low strike.
Kabamba eventually netted Bromley’s 88th-minute winner from Michael Cheek’s low cross across the box which put Woodman’s Ravens up to fifth in the League Two table.
Woodman post-match praised the 32 year-old for his clinical display as a substitute and explained that Kabamba didn’t start due to a desire to deal with the midfield battle that he rightly expected Barrow to give his side.
“Nicke’s been great. That anyone that knows Nicke is that he is a real team player. He’s a real proper professional good guy and you know he gives us energy up there as well and it gives us a little bit more strength up there with Cheeky.
“One or two people might wonder why we didn’t start with him and you know there was a little bit of a midfield battle going on there which we had to make sure we won which wasn’t easy and once we got to grip with the midfield then we could sort of open up the game a little bit more and put another body up top which we did really well.”
Ifill meanwhile scored his first senior goal in his 24th first-team appearance with Woodman left pleased at how the right wing-back had learned from his regular conversations, with Ifill having often lacked the final touches that Woodman wanted from him.
“I’ve been driving Marcus mad honestly. He’s really got to simplify his game when he’s going on the outside. Go down the outside with pace. Scare people with your pace and when you’re coming inside having an end product and it’s either a clip cross into the box or get a shot away, you know, nothing wrong with shooting.
“That’s what we’re here for. And I was delighted, he’s put himself inside and put it in the corner and that’s what he’s got to do more of.”
Turning his attention to what he described as a “tough game”, Woodman felt that Barrow had made life tough for his team but admitted that his team does the same when away from home and that tactical changes made the difference.
“I felt that they got everyone behind the ball. They made it difficult for us. Um which you’d expect. You know, I’m not complaining about that because we have to do that when we go away from home. Um and it was tough. We kept pushing and pushing.
Um we got the good goal. one-nil up was a good goal by Marcus Ifill. Uh I felt we were in control, you know. I felt we were really in control.
“Um and then we come out in second half, we kind of a bit flaky on a couple of tackles and the edge of our box falls to their guy who strikes it in the bottom corner.
Um which is a bitter pill and a bit of a blow for us at that point because that’s the only shot they’ve had. Um, but credit to the lads, you know, they kept pushing and they kept them pinned back in their half.
“We made a couple of changes, changed the shape um and just, pushed everything to go for it, And thankfully Nicke got played in by Michael Cheek and put it away and got us the three points and we’re going to have teams come here and do that and that’s a respect value to us now. We’ve got to expect that.”
Bromley now host Salford on Saturday 22 November before they visit Walsall on Saturday 29 November in a pair of 3pm GMT kick-offs, with those two teams sat ninth and second respectively at present which makes Woodman aware of the need for his team to maintain their work ethic.
“We chase everything down. We try getting every little piece that falls to us. Um which was great. Cheeky done really well with that , but the actual pass was weighted perfectly for Nicke to put it in the back of the net. And we could of had a couple more. I mean fair play to the keeper. Made a couple of big saves there. One right at the end. Very big save.”
Woodman added that both matches will feel like a pair of “cup finals” with a need to continue their winning league run to keep pace with their promotion rivals.
“Um, but at this stage it’s all about making sure we keep getting these wins and keeping in that pack. You know that’s what we got to do. We got some big games coming up now and these are two big cup finals for us and we got to make sure that we get points out of these.
The result ended Barrow’s seven-match unbeaten league run but Woodman is more focused on the fact that his team have now won their last three league games, as he credited his team for how they reacted to their latest win in the dressing room and vowed that they’re focusing on Salford.
“I’m more pleased about what we’re doing and how we’re going about our stuff and I mean I’m more chuffed about the humbleness in that dressing room. You know there was no music and high cheers and it’s like almost exactly like I want my team to behave and how I want us to be.
“We’re ready to go to the next one now. That’s chalked off. Let go to the next one. And that’s what top teams do. They don’t celebrate a victory like that until they get to the end of the season when they’ve achieved something.”
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