Bromley Head Coach, Andy Woodman has admitted he “would never” repeat his split squad strategy after a 7-0 friendly loss to QPR.
Alfie Lloyd’s hat-trick plus goals from Ilias Chair, Paul Smyth, Isak Alemayehu and Philip Sanyaolu’s header saw QPR cruise past a weak Bromley line-up at the CopperJax Stadium.
Woodman consequently admitted to Bromley’s YouTube channel post-match that he wouldn’t repeat his decision to do a split squad across Friday night and Saturday afternoon matches in pre-season again, owing to the impact on player availability and poor quality.
“Well look, first and foremost, it’s a championship team with quality. Um, and when we took the fixture, we probably thought it was a good idea having a Friday and a Saturday split. And we were light tonight with bodies, youngsters coming again, probably asking a bit too much of them against the level of player.
“So you know, a bit of criticism for me there. Probably if I’m to be honest, you know, in hindsight, I probably won’t do that again. Take a Friday and a Saturday night game. So that said, that wasn’t great, but we were poor as well. You know you can’t get away from that.
“There was some poor performances out there tonight for whatever reason. Um, I’m not going to be too harsh on people. We haven’t done any defensive work as you can probably see cos we just haven’t had the bodies in the building.
“And um, you know, that’s been tough. So, you can guess what we’ll be doing all this week prepping. And I think it’s one of those that just gives us a little reminder of if you’re not right in every department and every sort of situation, you’re going to get undone, and it’ll be no different in League One, trust me.
“You know, we think, you know, the levels are going to be any different, they’re not. So we’re going to get hurt. So, it’s a little reminder for everyone there.”
The 54-year-old gaffer added that the only real positives came in the fact that players got minutes in their legs without injury and it was only a pre-season friendly rather than a competitive match.
“That’s the positives, you know, minutes in the tank. We haven’t lost any points. We haven’t lost anyone to injury, you know, that’s important. And they are just the positives, you know, and I don’t want to be critical of anybody.
“It just was one of those nights where everything was wrong on our side. Everything was right on their side and we had a squad that was just stretched a bit too much. I think we had four subs to put out there tonight and we had I think three or four boys of 18.
“It’s just a bit too much to ask from. So, and they’ve been brilliant by the way pre-season. So I’m not holding it just on them. There were some senior players that weren’t quite right tonight. And if you get the balance wrong, it just makes it a tough night all round.
“And I felt that from them before they even scored the first goal. I just felt this is going to be a tricky one. And it turned out to be even more tricky. Credit to QPR, quality team.”
Woodman also offered a brief update on Deon Woodman’s hamstring injury but admitted that he finds pre-season difficult to read in terms of results compared to fitness and game time.
“Look, I mean I was pleased to hear no chance of Woodman out. That was a relief. I got to be honest. But look, I think pre-season is a really bizarre time.
“I mean I’ve been in probably 35 pre-seasons now, and I’ve been in ones where we’ve won every game and then had a disaster start to the season, and I’ve been in ones where we’ve lost every game and then found ourselves at the top of the table.
“It’s a really hard gauge. Um and the only gauge we can have to take and get is that everyone’s fit for the start of the season, and everyone’s got the right minutes in them. And that’s really what I’ve got to sort of focus on and really have a look at the goals and make sure we get those basics right.
“But you know, I don’t want to get too beaten up over it. Even though you can imagine I’m I don’t like losing any game and I certainly don’t like losing seven. That’s for sure.”
Bromley now head to Barnet tomorrow (1 August) for their final pre-season friendly which Woodman is hopeful about in terms of realistic reading into their standing going into the season-opening first-round tie at home to Reading in the Carabao Cup on 8 August.
“I mean look, the team tomorrow Barnet that’s could probably be a bit more of a realistic game for us. And I mean that with respect to Barnet. So that’ll be a tough game, but it be more of a game I feel that’ll be more realistic to where we’re going to be.
“And again, I’m not making excuses, but I would never do what I’ve done tonight. Play a Friday night and a Saturday game. I just won’t do that again. And that’s not because of the result. It’s just because of the bodies and the stress we put on those players and particularly the young players.”