‘A day out they’ll never forget’ – Bromley boss so happy for club’s fans to see their team win Wembley final
Andy Woodman has spoken of his pride at giving Bromley supporters a winning day out at Wembley after the South London club claimed the FA Trophy on Sunday.
The Ravens defeated Wrexham 1-0 at Wembley Stadium on courtesy of Michael Cheek’s second-half winner.
Woodman said: “It means everything, not just to me. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a really good career as a coach and as a player.
“I’ve had those days. The fans are buzzing, we’ve had two years of having tough times – everybody – and the fans have had a day that they are never going to forget.
“The trophy is nice, but seeing those people have a day out like that, it really gets me.
“I didn’t want it for me, I wanted it for everybody else. Everybody else has had a tough time. I’ve got every ounce out of those boys. If there’s one thing I can say about those boys is they’ve got heart.
“There is not one game all season that I can think of have they not given me anything. As a football fan first and foremost – which I am – what you want is a team that grafted. This team gives you that.
“I’m extremely proud of the DNA I’ve put in this football club. There were moments that went our way, you can’t get away from that but one team has to have those types of moments.”
Woodman reckoned that looking back at their previous match against Wrexham was key to them beating the Welsh outfit.
The two sides met at Hayes Lane back in March and it ended in a goalless encounter and Woodman believes watching the game back really helped.
Woodman told the South London Press: “We looked at when we played them at Hayes Lane, we looked at that really closely. On that day I just felt as though we didn’t take our chances. We knew it was going to be cagey, so we looked at how we played that and how we set up.
“We did go off of that. I don’t want to take anything away from Phil Parkinson because he’s a real good friend of mine, I’ve worked with him, he’s been my manager.
“He was a coaching member I worked with at Newcastle United – I love Phil Parkinson – but I know what Phil’s teams are all about and he’s got a proper squad there and if they go up they will go up again, there’s no doubt about that. But I know what to expect, it’s important to get the team drilled so they can carry out the job. We have done a load of work and then you just hope when they cross the line hopefully no one freezes.
“We made some big blocks first half, even though he didn’t make many saves first half there were some big blocks and cutbacks they had that they could’ve scored.
“We did our homework and everything fell into place for us. That sums up the character of the team , some of the games we’ve had this year and we’ve won 1-0 and we’ve been battered.
“We are little Bromley, we don’t get 10,000 or 15,000 come to Hayes Lane every week but we’ve got a community that really back our team and a group of people that really are honest and selfless with how much time they give to the football club.
“That’s the DNA of this club and that’s what I love about this club and my team showed that in abundance today.”
PICTURES: ROB AVIS
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