Bromley manager, Andy Woodman considers his team to be underdogs ahead of their League Two showdown against Notts County.
Woodman’s Ravens comes into this blockbuster game on Saturday 14 February sat top with a five-point gap to third-placed Notts County after they staged a comeback 2-1 victory at Fleetwood Town last weekend.
Bromley are unbeaten in their last 12 matches but Notts County have grinded out victories in their last six matches, which Woodman in his pre-match interview believes makes them the favourites as he praised the Magpies for their stature as he feels that his Ravens are the “underdogs” at home in this match.
“They’re on a fantastic run. They’re a fantastic club. Massive. Way bigger than us, way better than us in every department and I mean our respect to them and us.
“They’re a massive club. They probably could be a Championship club in a couple of years. Um good manager, good people. I really like the football club.
“So, you know, this is a massive game for us and a game that we’re the underdogs by a country mile. Even though we’re top, we’re the underdogs by country mile.
“The players they’ve got, the riches they’ve got, no where near, you know, we’re not on the same page, but what we’ve got, we’ve got a team that have a go, a team that go out there and show a little bit of respect but actually make sure they take care of what we do and we just stick to what we do and that’s what we do.”
Woodman though feels that their comeback win at Fleetwood means that Bromley have a grounding to build on as he admitted that the “tricky” conditions made for a “tough” test, which his players surpassed with the substitutes making the desired impact after they fell behind.
“Yeah, it was a tough day. It was tough. Fleetwood were very good I thought that day and the conditions made it tricky for both teams.
“Um and then we went a goal down and showed the character and the determination that we showed all season to try and turn it around and the guys, the subs finishers come on the pitch and got across the line and it was one of those results you kind of send everyone away ecstatic and me included and it really was good result.
“You know the way we finished we got the result and how important it was so that was a good base work for us at the end.”
Bromley also have a habit of late goals in the league campaign with six goals scored in or after the 88th minute, which Woodman simply believes is down to the squad’s desire to fight for the win until the final whistle.
“I just put it down to the whole determination of the group and the will to win a football match and there’s so many ways to win a football match. You know, you go to Gillingham and win a football match like that and it’s lovely. And then there’s other games that pose different problems and team set up differently.”
Woodman though feels that teams will now adapt their playing styles and tactics to try and beat his Ravens moving froward.
“We got to realise teams are now going to start playing us slightly differently than how they might have done a year ago, Um, so we have different problems now and that’s nice and they show us a bit of respect.
“There’s so many different ways of winning a football match but there’s no better way than just seeing the team just giving everything to get across the line and they did that at Fleetwood as you saw and we got the rewards.”
Bromley’s rise to the League Two summit has naturally attracted intrigue and curiosity from the media and footballing fans of other clubs across the country, but Woodman explained that the squad has stuck to their mantra centred on humility until success is officially earned.
“Well it’s a really simple answer that I mean, I’ve said it a lot. We haven’t achieved anything. It’s lovely, you know, all this attention. Um, trust me, we haven’t achieved anything. So, um, we don’t really get carried away with it. I certainly don’t. I always finish off every interview and every moment, we’ve achieved nothing.
“Um and as lovely as that noise is, let get the noise when we actually finally achieve something. And when we achieved promotion from the National League, we enjoyed it. You know, we did enjoy it and we deserve to enjoy it, around the town, around the people.”
“So that’s when we’ll enjoy it and we’ll start maybe get our peacock feathers out. Certainly at the moment we’re nowhere near that. You know, keep it humble. We know how football can work, how tough it is and we know the challenges ahead.
“Um so you know once we achieve something, and if we achieve something, then well start enjoying it.”
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