Bromley manager, Andy Woodman felt that his Ravens “got out of jail” in their 3-2 comeback victory at Bristol Rovers.
Nicke Kabamba’s finish and Ben Thompson’s late brace saw Bromley complete a 3-2 comeback at ten-men Bristol Rovers, after Jack Sparkes and Fabrizio Cavegn put the Gas in control in Steve Evans’ first home match as manager before Shaq Forde was sent off for a second foul.
Bromley consequently climbed to second in League Two but Woodman in his post-match interview on Bromley’s YouTube channel felt that his team were lucky to still be in the match at half time, having produced a limp first-half display akin to their defeat at Cambridge United in October.
“Well to be fair, I think if we had come in at half time 5-0 down I don’t think we’d have had any complaints because we were so bad first half. Probably the worst 45 minutes I’ve had as a manager at this football club.
“That’s not taking anything away from Steve Evans’ team. I thought they were excellent and they, you know, they could have i men, they’d be disappointed they haven’t gone in 5-0 up. It was that bad.
“Um second half, half-time couldn’t come quick enough for us. Um, we made changes. There’s a few honest conversations said at half time and the thing that annoys me is that, you know, these boys put themselves in this situation and they don’t need to be in this situation. And that was the bit that frustrated me.
“Um, I said to them ‘whoever scores the next goal in this game will win it.’, uh and thankfully we scored it and we pushed and pushed. Um and you know we got across the line, you know, and it was it was one of those Boxing Day games which you hope you’re not involved in, but we were involved in it today and um thankfully it went our way at the end.
Woodman consequently brought Nicke Kabamba and Jude Arthurs on for Corey Whitely and Will Hondermarck at half time, which paid off as Kabamba halved their deficit before Thompson came on as a late substitute to seal the comeback.
The 54-year-old post-match was proud of his substitutes who managed to make a crucial impact, but felt that Forde’s red card turned the match in their favour.
“Yeah I don’t like calling them subs because I think that’s bit of a disrespect to them. We, you know, that these guys are coming to finish the game for us and win us the game and give us everything and we’ve had that in abundance. You know, the whole squad’s chomping at the bit to get on the pitch and make a difference.
“And every single one of them did. Um, and that’s you know, that’s what we got to make sure we do with the squad. We utilize the squad. And um if someone’s having a tricky day or not the best day then we change them and bring on the guys that ready to come on. And they did that.
“Look there was a moment in the game I can’t get away from their guy getting sent off was a big changer for us. Um you know and that was a big change for us and sort of knocked the wind out of their sails and give us a lift at just the right time and that was big for us.”
Despite the eventual comeback, Woodman admitted that his team were lucky to had got the win which he compared to getting out of jail in the popular board game, Monopoly, as he vowed to ensure that his players never give up on chasing victories even when momentum is against them.
“I won’t let this team give up, you know, anyone that knows me, anyone that knows my character, I’ve been the underdog all my life. Um and I’m not letting this team give up. This team’s, you know, got something going on. Um and I’ve just said that to them in there.
“You know they can’t put themselves in this position. Um and today, they’ve got out of jail and I will say got out of jail because the game has been dead and buried.
“Um you know Steve Evans is gonna have this place rocking every week. They won’t have too many performances like that where they lose. So um, I look at that as getting out of jail, but I will say the character of my team shone through in that second half for sure.”
Thompson in particular drew praise from Woodman who admitted that the 30-year-old is playing through injury and has had conversations with him, but felt that he was the player to trust to get them the result when he sent him on in the 79th minute.
“Tom does what Tom does. You know, he’s a goalscorer for midfield and he’s been waiting in the wings. He hasn’t been quite right. He’s been, you know, we have had some honest chats between me and Tommo.
“He’s been carrying this injury. It’s not been quite where he should be. Um, and you know today I just felt if anyone’s going to get us a goal in that moment from midfield, it’s going to be Tommo and threw him on and he you know produced for us today when we needed it.”
Bromley now head to Crawley on Monday 29 December (7:45pm GMT) in their final match of 2025, but Woodman is aware that his team faces a different challenge compared to their comeback win at home just three weeks ago, as he credited the squad for giving up Christmas to focus on this period.
“Yeah, unusual. It won’t be the same situation we had at our place. I’m pretty sure of that. None of these games are. And I say to the guys all of the time, this Christmas period throws up funny results and we got to make sure that we’re on the right side of these funny results.
“The one thing that I will say is that these boys have sacrificed their Christmas Day, their Christmas with their families, their Christmas night.
“Um, and they’ve all brought into it and they and just those little things, you know, where they sacrifice like that, you could say that the dice has rolled our way. We got our rewards just by doing that little 1% more than everyone else.”
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