Bromley manager, Andy Woodman has iterated that his players are “ready and fresh” for a tough League Two test against Crewe Alexandra.
Woodman’s Ravens are currently six points clear at the summit of League Two but face a tough test tomorrow (27 January) against Crewe Alexandra at the Copperjax Community Stadium, with the Railway Men sat 11th and six points adrift of the last play-off spot occupied by Notts County in seventh.
Woodman though has iterated in his pre-match preview on Bromley’s YouTube channel that his team are ready for the test with a fully fit squad.
“Yeah, absolutely. We got to just keep making sure that they’re ready and fresh as can be for every game. It’ll be the same for every team. Every team playing games, Saturday, Tuesday, and we just got to make sure that we’ve got as fit and as healthy as fresh squad as we can choose from. And uh and that’s what we’ll be looking at for Tuesday’s game.”
Woodman also clarified that right wing-back, Marcus Ifill missed their comeback win over Swindon last Saturday (24 January) due to a swollen ankle, but confirmed that he is back in contention.
“Marcus is ok. He had a little swelling of his ankle. He’s settled down. So, yeah, he’ll be in contention for Tuesday. Um and yeah, we pretty much got fully fit squad. So, we’re good to go.”
The 54-year-old manager also reflected on that comeback result as he credited the team for showing their personality to recover from a goal down at half time.
“Yeah, absolutely delighted. Um the manner we sort of come back and how we showed um some real character against adversity. We go 1-0 down against a very good team. Weather the storm, no doubt about that. You know, probably in debt to Grant for making some big saves to keep us in it.
“And then come out the second half and got the the result. Um, which, you know, sounds easier than it was. You know, they’re a really good team and a top team. So, you know, in the whole, you know, it’s a fantastic turnaround and a fantastic result.”
Bromley however were without defender, Deji Elerewe for that match as he finalised a transfer to League One’s Lincoln City, but Woodman refused to dwell on the centre-back’s departure despite admitting that he didn’t ideally want to see him leave but respected his decision.
“Absolutely. Yeah I mean, Deji wasn’t a player that wouldn’t have left the football club. Um he wasn’t a player that any of us wanted to lose. Um but there was a clause in his contract that his agent was aware of and his agents got it activated by another football club.
“Um some things are out of my hands and uh that’s you know just the way football works sometimes. Um we tried everything to keep Deji but um you know he’s moved to a club in a higher division um and we have to respect what he wanted um and what he did for us.
“So yeah move on. That’s Football.”
Rumours about Elerewe’s exit emerged 30 hours before the top-of-the-table game against Swindon but Woodman had anticipated that scenario, as he explained that he knew the Ravens would be vulnerable to losing players in this window due to their league position.
“Yeah, I think the January window always throws up challenges, you know, throughout every football club and right until it’s shut. No one’s really sort of relaxing and sure what they’ve got to deal with. Um we’re no different to any other club. We’re probably worse than any other club because we’re at the top of the table and we’re there to have players picked off us.
“You just got to deal with what comes at you. There’s loads of football players out there. There’s load of players and other players. So, we have to just keep uh marching forward. It sounds a bit ruthless I know, but it’s the way of this business, unfortunately.
“Um if I probably go through my time at this football club with the amount of players I’ve turned over since I’ve been here to keep improving the squad, you know, that’s the nature of the business and we have to just keep playing forward and sticking to our goal that we put in front of us.”
Woodman’s focus now is on the home clash against Crewe but he reflected on the reverse fixture in October which they won 1-0 through Michael Cheek’s winner, despite Jack Lankester having seen an early chance for the Railway Men cleared by Sam Long off the line in a league where everything is still tight in quality.
“Yeah, it’s a tough game. I don’t think we should lose sight of um just because we’re at the top of the table, we suddenly think every game’s an easy game.
“I mean Crewe Alexandra was a tight affair up there and if I remember rightly they had a real golden chance to go in front early doors and I think he just made an unbelievable clearance off the line.
“The margins are always tight you know between any team in this league and we just got to make sure that we just keep pushing the margins our way and making sure that we keep sticking to our mantra but it’ll be a very tough tough game.
“They’re a good team, big football club, but as you know, turned out many players over the years have gone on to play international football and they play a certain style of brand of football that they’ve never come away from. So it’ll be a tough game.”
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