A slow start meant that in Andy Woodman’s first game in charge, Bromley had to settle for a draw against Wealdstone.

After the game Woodman said “It was a bit of a roller coaster to be honest. We were very poor, first half. We gifted them a couple of goals by doing stuff that was really basic. It was a culmination of a few things. We spoke about the wide man and keeping him on his right foot and he came inside on his left foot and put it in so it was a lot of things that we’d spoken about and we’d worked on in training that really shouldn’t have happened but these things happen.

“They (Wealdstone) were up for it. They had nothing to lose so from that point of view I thought that the real positive that I want to take out of it was the fighting spirit that we showed and in the second half, lets be honest about it, we were excellent.”

He continued “We had some fantastic chances. I’ve seen some videos of the last three games and I think today we had more chances today than we’ve had in those last three games but you’re fighting an uphill battle when you give a team a two goal start.”

Young wing-backs Jude Arthurs and Liam Vincent were given starts by Woodman. He explained “They’re not youngsters. They are youngsters in age but their talents are really good, both of them. I’ve only done three days here but their training levels have been fantastic. It was a no-brainer really. It wasn’t that I was putting them in because they were youngsters and give people a chance, they were worth their place in the team and I thought they were brilliant today. They didn’t let me down today. I knew they wouldn’t.”

There are huge ambitions at Bromley and those are shared by Woodman. “We want to try and get in the play-offs otherwise there’s no point in us being here.” he said “We’re a point closer to that and people might say it’s two points dropped but we’ve got another game on Monday and if we get something there, all of a sudden we’re on a bit of a roll. The performance was the thing that pleased me second half.

“We are going to have to hit the ground running.” he continued. “We were in seventh when I got announced and we’re suddenly down to eleventh and they haven’t even kicked a ball but we’ll try and get in there. You’ve seen the boys. They want to get in there and they’ll do everything possible to get in there.”

Explaining how the team lined up. Woodman said “We went out there with a three-five-two. When you’ve got the two wingers that you’ve got you’ve got to use them, and they proved that. “

“I don’t think that the formation was the reason that we gifted the goals. I think that if you look at the goals, they were just poor defending, poor decisions. We were too deep. We didn’t win the first contacts. You’ve got to win headers. You’ve got to win tackles. You’ve got to stay with runners and we didn’t do that in the first half.”

Courtney Duffus was an absentee but Woodman said “It’s a bit of a precaution really. Hopefully he’ll be okay for Monday. We didn’t want to risk him and make him a longer term injury. That was really that decision.”

That game on Monday is a live televised game at Stockport County but although a tough match, potentially, he relishes the challenge. “It’s not going to be an easy one.” he accepted “I don’t think there is going to be an easy one. Everyone’s telling me Wealdstone is a guaranteed three points. They were terrific first half, we were equally as poor. I think it’s all about how, on the day, you take your chances. We took two goals but we had another three or four really good chances. Another day we might take them so now it’s roll on Stockport and there’s nothing to fear in my opinion.”

Images courtesy of Keith Gilliard