Ravens Head North To County For Another BT Sport Easter Showdown

Whatever his plans, he almost certainly wouldn’t have expected to be Bromley manager wondering how he was going to inspire a two-goal turnaround against Wealdstone.

At 3.18pm on Good Friday that’s exactly the predicament he found himself in.

“It’s been a bit of a week. Coming in and trying to get to know everyone then trying to get some sort of prep work in for the games – it’s been difficult,” Woodman said.

“What Neil did for the club during his tenure has been fantastic and everyone will agree. But football moves quickly, Neil would be first to understand and admit that, as players and staff, we understand the harsh realities of football.

“If someone else comes in it’s not personal, it’s just the way it is. We just have to adapt and hit the ground running. That in itself isn’t always easy but people who work in football are probably a bit more used to it than the man in the street.

“The goals we conceded against Wealdstone were just disappointing more than anything.

“They’re fundamental errors. Someone asked me if I thought I’d played the right system. I don’t want to get caught up in systems and all of that – they were just fundamental errors.

“What was pleasing was seeing in the dressing room that it’s quite refreshing to know I’ve got a team that never says die. You can’t put that into some teams.

“We showed that side by fighting back and if I’m honest, we should’ve won.”

The 49-year-old only has a brief spell at Whitehawk in 2017 to his name as a manager but has worked under the likes of Alan Pardew in the past. Woodman can also count England manager Gareth Southgate as a friend.

Not bad places to go if you need advice.

“Of course, it helps. When you’ve got, particularly people like Alan and Gareth who I have spoken to in depth it helps,” he said.

“I’ve worked at the highest level for 35 years and that is to going to be important. It’s not just the coaching, it’s all the stuff behind the scenes and the infrastructure that the fans on the terrace don’t see, that needs to be brought up to a certain level.

“You don’t get a better infrastructure than Arsenal where I’ve worked for five years. We’ve already started that process in the first week I’ve been here. That will give us an extra step forward on the pitch. That will be one of my immediate things that I want to try and implement because it’s so important.

“We’ve spoken about our goals. I need to make it quite clear that anyone who comes into a football club would never come in not wanting to win.

“The play-offs are achievable and until they are mathematically not achievable that will be our goal. That was never not going to be the aim.

“There is a long-term goal, but we need to put the stepping stones in with to start with to help us to get there.”

Eight of Bromley’s final twelve games come against teams currently above them in the Vanarama National League.

Daunting maybe. But Woodman wouldn’t have taken the job if he didn’t think something bigger was bubbling under the surface.

“I don’t think there’s ever a right time or a wrong time to get into management. It’s always about whether an opportunity comes up.

“The opportunity of Bromley was presented to me and I thought if I didn’t really have a go at it now, I couldn’t have seen where the next chance would come from. You speak to any football coach that’s worked closely with top managers; we always hope you get a chance to see if you can do it like the people you’ve worked with have.

“I think every coach and football person would have an end goal to be a manager. It was quite obvious to me that if the right opportunity came around, I would take it and then when it was Bromley it was perfect for me and it was a no-brainer.

“Speaking to the chairman and hearing his vision of the DNA he wants to build at the club it seems like a real good opportunity to work alongside someone who will demand high standards.

“I’ve only got the players who I’ve got. It would be nice to pitch ourselves against the teams above us, but it would be much nicer to do that with a team of players I’ve bought into the club.

“I’ll have a more realistic benchmark of quality when I’ve got some players into the club and I can say that it’s my team out on the pitch.”

Stockport County are next up on Easter Monday as BT Sport put on another live offering.

County have started to carve out some eye-catching results under Simon Rusk and come into the game with only a single defeat since late February.

Friday’s win over Aldershot puts them firmly in with a shout of a play-off place.

“I don’t think we were at our best. There were stages in the game where we would want to be better. But that’s normal,” Rusk said after the game.

“You have these games where it can be a little bit like that. But what we did have again was resilience. We had to hang on at the end, but that happens in football.

“These games are not gimmies. You’ve got to be tight, be strong defensively and do the ugly bits during the game. They are things that have to be a constant.

“Bromley is another tough game. We’ve been in over the weekend and it’s one to look forward to, no doubt about it. Getting on the team coach with three points is also better than doing so without them.”

Photo Credit: Jon Hilliger and Mike Petch