Bromley manager, Andy Woodman felt his team got “lax” in their 1-1 draw against Cheltenham.
Mitch Pinnock fired Bromley into a fourth-minute lead with his first goal for the club, but Woodman’s Ravens had to settle for a point after Isaac Hutchinson snatched a draw with his 25th-minute equaliser for Cheltenham, although Bromley are now unbeaten in 14 matches and still not suffered a league loss at home this season.
The result left Bromley still top but with a three-point gap to Swindon who climbed to second by virtue of having been the only top-five club to win last night (17 February), having staged a 2-1 second-half comeback victory at Barnet.
Woodman though in his post-match interview felt that his Ravens had simply gone “lax” after their bright start as he explained that his team didn’t maintain their early temp
“We started well didn’t we? I mean, started really well. Scored a good goal. Looked lively and then we kind of took our foot off the gas a little bit or just got a little bit lax with one or two bits and then, you know, you can’t do that.
“You got to keep your tempo at your tempo. Um, credit to them. They come and they’ve had a good result at Barnet earlier this week and today, you know, it’s a good result um for them, but we’ve got to be better at what we’re doing.
“We weren’t at our best tonight, you know, in many areas. Um putting the ball in the right areas, dropped a little bit deep at times. The distance between the back line and the midfield was too big at times. So we caused our own problems a little bit.”
Woodman added that he didn’t “have the answer” given his own experience as a former goalkeeper but felt that it was a case “…where your mindset is like, you know, you get a goal early doors and you kind of think it’s going to be one of those nights and ultimately you sort of drop off the pace a little bit and then you can’t pick it up and the other team get a lift.”
The 54-year-old proceeded to describe the draw as “frustrating” but refused to blame his players but instead bemused the lack of quality.
“Um it’s not the lads are not giving everything. It’s just the lack of quality tonight and a lack of decision making and putting the ball in the right areas was a real problem tonight. Our quality.”
Bromley had several late chances to win the match but Woodman credited Cheltenham goalkeeper, Joe Day, plus his own goalkeeper – Grant Smith for their performances.
“Yeah I mean like you say we weren’t at our best but the keepers made a couple of really good saves. So another day we might get two or three there, you know. So you have to give credit to them. You know the keepers made some good saves.
“We’ve created chances and they haven’t gone in tonight and that’s disappointing. But overall, I don’t think we were quite there tonight. We were just just weren’t quite ourselves, were we?”
Woodman however was pleased to see Pinnock finally get on the scoresheet but has urged other players to start chipping in with more goals.
“Yeah, great goal by Mitch. Obviously we needed to get more, but it was a great goal. Um you know, I’m delighted for Mitch and we need like everyone else chipping in. Um, so that was good. That was a positive. Um, yeah, it’s just a frustrating night.”
The match also saw Omar Sowunmi return after he missed their last three matches with a shoulder injury, but Woodman revealed that his decision to introduce him as a substitute despite him not being fully fit was due to a need to mix the game up to try and find their winner.
“Omar gives us that bit of power doesn’t he? That little bit of threat in the box and um, you know, he’s not 100% there but we brought him on and just tried to, you know, roll the dice and put some bodies in the box and try a little bit of creating a little bit of havoc really at the end.
“It was really that that was where we were at the last bit of the game. Um but it wasn’t to be, you know, and um again, we haven’t been beat. We’ll look at it as two points dropped. I’m sure we all will, but we still got that gap and we still, you know, got to keep plugging away and everyone going to be taking points from everyone at this stage.
“And we look at the other results tonight in the league. There’s some other results that you’d have thought be a shoe-in and they haven’t gone their way. So it’s all getting a bit tight and a little bit tense.”
Corey Whitely however was absent with a minor calf injury but Woodman explained that the decision to leave him out of the squad came down to Whitely’s medical history in terms of previous calf injuries.
“Yeah he’s ok. We just sort of know the history of Corey, so we just sort of made sure that we did the right thing with Corey. He’ll tell you he’s fit every game. We just know the history of how Corey is when his calf goes like that. So we made sure we looked after him.”
Bromley now head to Harrogate on Saturday 24 February with the Sulphurites having claimed seven points in their last three matches to sit two points below safety, which has left Woodman wary of the challenge that awaits his Ravens after their promotion rivals also slipped up last night against lower-sitting clubs.
“Yeah, look like I say none of these teams, you know, from bottom to top the margins are the margins. So going to Harrogate, you know, they’ve been on the back of a couple of good results. So that’s not going to be easy. And like I say, none of the games will be easy, but it’s going to be the same for all the teams.
“We just got to make sure that we just, you know, keep our confidence, don’t lose sight of what we are, and just keep doing what we are. And um we can have good and bad days. We just got to make sure we all stick together and we’re still well on course.”
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