Andy Woodman believes that his Bromley squad aren’t “fazed” about a tough League Two trip to promotion rivals, MK Dons.
After their 2-1 comeback victory over Shrewsbury on Tuesday evening (7 April) through goals from Marcus Ifill and Kyle Cameron, Bromley can secure promotion to League One if they win at MK Dons on 11 April and Swindon fail to beat Colchester plus Notts County lose at Cambridge United.
Woodman however revealed in his pre-match preview on Bromley’s YouTube channel that he doesn’t believe that his squad are nervous ahead of the trip as he reflected on their pre-match preparations.
“Yeah, pretty much like it’s always been. The guys are not fazed. They don’t get too high. They don’t get too low. There’s a lot of smiles. There’s a lot, you know, everyone still does their work.
“We’ve done some recovery stuff, you know, that I won’t tell people what we have done, but we’ve really made sure we’re on top of that, which hopefully in the last few games has helped us. Um, so yeah, we’re ready to go for an early kick-off.
“Let’s get ready to go to MK Dons, which be a really tough game as we know. And um you know, little Bromley are going to the big old MK Dons.”
Woodman also reflected on the victory over Shrewsbury as he praised his team for an “amazing” comeback after a shaky opening 15 minutes, from which they proceeded to control the game.
“Um I think we actually played not bad to be fair after the first sort of 15 minutes where we couldn’t get to grips with the game and then they scored that goal and it caused us a few problems and we caused our own problems and then I felt once we got to the grips of the game you know last 15-20 minutes and then come out second half I felt we were really in control but we still needed to get the goals to break through.
“Um and credit to the team you know, they keep pushing don’t they? They uh keep asking questions of the opposition, keep putting the ball in a danger area and like I always say, something will fall to you at some point. You just got to make sure you take it.
“So it’s a good good night’s work and a good result. And I felt once we was in front, I thought we controlled the game really well.”
The win against Shrewsbury coupled with a late 2-2 draw at Barnet meant that Bromley claimed four points across the Easter double-header, which left Woodman pleased as he spoke of the importance of small periods of games which can make the difference.
“Yeah, I think I’ve drummed it into this team since I’ve been here and since I’ve been a manager, people lose sight of the amount of points over a short space of time. Bank Holiday weekends, Christmas, all of those moments, you know, three games in a week, plus nine points.
“People lose sight of that and how much that can catapult you. Um, a little while ago, I threw the sort of gauntlet out to the guys that there was a Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday week and I demanded in a professional way nine points from them and they delivered.
“Uh, and it’s those moments that you got to make sure that the guys realise what’s at stake for the whole week, not just one game at a time like people keep telling me. You got to make sure there’s a bigger picture always as well.
“So um you know to get four points over the Bank Holiday weekend and the way we did it you know with the last-second goal for George which makes it feel like a win um is a good weekend.”
Across the two Easter matches, Ben Krauhaus and Idris Odutayo achieved 100 senior appearances for the club, but Woodman confirmed that Krauhaus will return to Brentford at the end of his loan deal once the season is concluded as he praised the midfielder for his work effort.
“Ben’s come through our academy. Um he’s been a real good product of our academy. Um and he’s learning his trade at Brentford and finding his way at Brentford. We brought him back on loan and he’s 100 appearances and been brilliant for us. Um and he’ll go back at the end of the season and then he’s back to trying to you know get closer to Brentford’s first team.”
Woodman meanwhile paid tribute to Odutayo for his patience and joked that the 23-year old is a good challenging player to keep disciplined, yet complimentary quipped that he has kept the mood lively and Woodman consequently has plenty of time for both Odutayo and Krauhaus.
“Idris was released by Fulham. Um I’ve been watching Idris for a little while. I felt that uh the Under-21s football was too easy for Idris when I watched him and um he was patient when we took him in.
“Got his chance Oldham away I think it was and we’ve never looked back with Idris and if anyone knows Idris he’s a character so you have to keep on top of him um but he’s a superhuman being and got a lot of time for both those boys but Idris is one of those lads you want to dress from.”
“It drives you mad. You want to pull your hair out, but it keeps the atmosphere, you know, bang on upbeat all the time.”
Woodman also spoke of the development from boy players to adult players as he continued: “Absolutely. And I think that’s what we do really well here.
“You know, we with loan players, with our players, with our young players, we put a lot of energy, a lot of effort into them and a lot of belief into it. And then they have to then do their bit. And um those two boys in particular have done that.
“And we’ve got a batch of boys coming through that are doing it as well.”
Woodman, Omar Sowunmi and Mitch Pinnock are up for League Two’s Manager of the Season and Player of the Season respectively at the 2025-26 EFL Awards, with the 54-year old happy to receive the recognition as he proceeded to pay tribute to Sowunmi then Pinnock.
“I think it’s nice to be recognised. I think um first and foremost I speak about the players, you know, rightly so, they’ve been fantastic. Omar has been brilliant, um you know how much I’ve loved Omar since the day I brought him here till when he left. I was devastated and worked very hard to get him to come back here and I’m delighted for Omar.
“You know he’s another one that come here when he first come you know from where he was to where he is now, he’s a great improvement so chuffed for Omar and Mitch look, we knew Mitch’s quality, we knew Mitch how much we tried to get him to sign for us and how hard we worked in the summer and the chairman must take credit for that and Mitch has repaid us, you know, ten-fold with the amount of crosses and distribution he’s done in games.
“So rightly so, they should both be nominated. Um, and then look, to speak about myself, I’m delighted to be nominated, but I’d be foolish and I’d be lying if I didn’t mention that I don’t get nominated without my staff putting the work they put in.
“So that’s as much as me being nominated as them. Um people behind the scenes and more importantly my team, you know. I wouldn’t be nominated if my team isn’t doing well. So I owe a lot of gratitude to all of those people as well.
“Um but like I always say, man, we haven’t won anything yet. So it’s just nice to be nominated.”
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