Bromley manager, Andy Woodman believes their win over Grimsby Town is “important” at the start of a busy festive fortnight.
Will Hondermarck’s brace saw Bromley comfortably dispatch Grimsby in their last home game of 2025 to go third in the table, despite Corey Whitely’s third goal having bizarrely been disallowed by referee – James Durkin who thought the ball hadn’t crossed the line.
Woodman though was critical post-match on YouTube of how his Ravens were outplayed in the first half despite having taken the lead, as he admitted that he demands progress from his players from the first whistle to the final whistle.
“First half I thought we were flat. I thought we were very on our heels. I felt we were lacklustre. Um, but we went in 1-0 up. Um, probably people thinking I had lost my Christmas cheery a little bit, but I want to demand of these boys.
“I want them to demand of themselves because we got something special going on here. Uh and if we let this slip, we’ll only have ourselves to kick. And that’s why I want to make sure I keep pushing this group of players all the way. Um, and we did that second half and we looked a much better outfit second half.”
Woodman proceeded to praise Hondermarck for his first senior brace as he spoke of the importance of every player contributing goals and keeping a clean sheet.
“Yeah everyone’s got a chip in. Uh two good goals by Will, you know, arrives in that area and you know scores and then he maybe could have had a third at if he had run out of legs a little bit. Um but look, the result important at this stage of the season.
“The clean sheet is very important. Um, and we just got to, you know, go onto the next game now and make sure we’re ready for the next game.”
The win over Grimsby marked Bromley’s last home game of 2025 in which they comfortably managed the game after Hondermarck’s second goal, which left Woodman reflective of their maturity in that aspect of their gameplay.
“Yeah. Um that’s where we’ve matured a little bit as a team, I think. Uh I think as a group of players, we’ve matured a little bit there from last year.
“Um so yeah, everything, you know, today wasn’t a 10 out of 10, but it certainly got us a seven out of 10 across the line.”
Omar Sowunmi was injured for the match which saw Kyle Cameron recalled to the starting 11, with Woodman pleased at how the 28-year-old settled straight back in after a spell on the bench.
“Yeah, and that’s the beauty of the squad, you know, the boys that are not in the team, they know it can turn around very quickly and they’ll be in and they, you know, it’s my job to make sure that they’re ready and up to speed and they can step straight into the team and we don’t look weakened in any position and um I think we’ve got that now.”
Looking ahead to Christmas week, Woodman confirmed that he won’t be tweaking the training schedule to make room for festivities ahead of their Boxing Day trip to Bristol Rovers.
“Yeah I’m the grinch. There is no days off. No Christmas Day off, no Christmas night off, no Boxing Day there. There is literally no days off. And look, people don’t always see that, you know, in the football world that they get their two weeks holiday. This is our busiest time. Um, and we have to sacrifice.
“You know I have to sacrifice, my team has to sacrifice, you have to sacrifice. But it’ll be worth it if we get our rewards at the end of the season. And it’s those little fine margins that we have to be willing to, you know, put ourselves on the line for and sacrifice to get us across the line. And um we’ve got a long way to go, but you know, we’re building blocks.”
Bristol Rovers though are under a new manager in Steve Evans since The Pirates controversially knocked Bromley out of the FA Cup in November, but Woodman is nevertheless expecting a difficult test given that it will be their first home game under Evans’ reins.
“Yeah that’ll be a tough game. New manager. Um he’ll have them fired up. Watched them last night. They look exactly like I’d expect them start looking and he’s only been there a few days. So that will be a tough game.
“There is no easy game whether it’s you know them or someone at the bottom or someone at the top. They’re all every game you got to just make sure you sort of treat with respect and make sure you go out there and we keep our identity.
“That’s the important thing. We don’t come away from what we are.”
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