Interim manager, Byron Webster has iterated that Bromley are “low” on confidence after a 3-2 defeat at Wigan Athletic.
Kamarl Grant fired Bromley into a sixth minute lead before George Saville’s first goal for the club on the cusp of half time restored parity, after Christian Saydee and K’Marni Miller put the Latics in front from behind.
Brad Burrowes eventually netted a 58th-minute winner for Wigan from Connor Barrett’s pass to score his first senior goal of his career, which lifted them up to 21st position off the foot of the League One table and left Bromley sat rock bottom with 33 conceded goals in 13 league matches this season.
Webster post-match explained to BFC TV that his Ravens are still stuck in a phase of being punished ruthlessly for defensive errors as he rued Wigan’s three easy goals.
“No they’re not. Yeah it’s not for the want of trying from the players. It’s just that, that phase we’re in at the minute, and yeah we’re just getting, we are just getting punished for every single mistake we do, and it hurts, it really does hurt.”
The former defender added that he was pleased with how his team responded to Saydee and Miller’s goals but admitted that Burrowes’ winner was painful.
“Like I said going ahead, yeah, but it was more the last 15 minutes that was the pleasing bit. Like I said, we came to grips with it in the midfield, we were able to get a press higher up, and the momentum was with us. But yeah, we got the equaliser and the messages will stay in-house, but to then get the third goal is a kick where it hurts, man.”
Bromley however pushed for an late equaliser which proved unsuccessful but Webster rued their inability to convert their chances, which he put down to low confidence amidst their winless run which has extended to six matches.
“The last 15 minutes, we got to it. You know you can see the momentum was swinging and there were parts of it that were good. But when you’re not getting the results, the confidence becomes low and the goals are poor. And it seems to be and as you go up in the leagues, you will get punished. And we seem to get punished by a lot recently.”
Webster further expanded on the low confidence as he spoke of the need for more personal care and graft as a consequence of Burrowes’ sucker-punch winner against the run of play.
“Yeah, it is, but I don’t look back on it but it looked an easy, easy goal to deal with, to clear. But yeah, it’s gone in and I have said in a number of interviews, I’d love to get too high at the minute but we just seem to be low at the minute and it’s myself and the staff’s job to change that.
“But it changes from working harder by taking more care in yourself, whether that’s the staff, or the players, or the physios whatever it is. But we have to look at ourselves and give everything we can every single day. There’s no off days and yeah, that’s the only thing we can do.
“And we tried and tried and tried towards the end there with a couple of chances, some decisions not go our way at the end. So some really frustrated figures out there.”
Webster nevertheless was happy to see his players keep Wigan under pressure until the full time whistle but feels that the negatives clouds the positives in the performance.
“Yeah it does, and you’re not going to get every decision, and the pleasing thing is, we keep going, we keep the pressure on, but I think if you’re losing a game, it’s always going to happen in the last few minutes that you’re trying to get in the ascendancy, and the team that’s leading is holding onto something.
“So listen, there are a lot of positives but the positives are kind of irrelevant at the minute. We need to focus on the things that aren’t good to grow.”
Hundreds of supporters made the trip to Wigan and Webster feels that his players must give it everything on the pitch to keep fans onside amidst a tough period on and off the pitch, amidst rumours linking them to a takeover despite owner and chairman, Robin Stanton-Gleaves describing them as partners recently.
“Look, I think every fan when they see their team are trying, they’ll always back you. I think fans are if you don’t give their all then that’s when the issue is. And I think the fans can see there’s not been a Bromley team for a long time that isn’t trying. But yeah, we just need that little bit of low quality whatever it is to go our way.”
Bromley now face League Two strugglers, Rotherham at the CopperJax Community Stadium in the FA Cup on Saturday 7 November at 3pm GMT, and Webster has iterated that the pressure is still on despite it not being a league fixture.
“Rotherham comes to our place, and everyone says that the pressure’s off, it’s not a league game, there’s pressure. The situation we’re in, there’s pressure. We need to get a win wherever that comes and we need to stop this rot, and we need to get some confidence in the lads and the lads need to believe.
“And when you get a win, it breeds confidence. So yeah, it’s allowed from the league but the pressure is still there for the boys.”
Leave a Reply