Thetownend.com

Don’t forget it’s a 12.30pm kick off

2-2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usHpyGPEGos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldn__jQv_w8

Can't watch it as I'm out.

There must be a way to record it is watch it later - Does anyone know how?

(I've checked on Sky and it says you can't record off of Sky Sports Plus)

No, if we happened to be the main game on channel 412, then you could record it but obviously we won't be.

If by any chance, someone was going to be at home so that they could select our game via the red button then press the record button, that would work...I would assume.

If no one's going to be at home though, I'm pretty sure there's no way of recording it...

Red button matches are streams so you cant record them

Oh right... yeah makes sense...

How many tickets did they give us? Tried to get some in the home end but it's sold out! Only 45 minutes up the road!

Adound 450 or slightly less what I remember. Supporters coaches leaving 07.30 which seems early for a 111 mile journey on a Sunday morning.

Bloody hell! They're going to have some time to kill, even with a 12.30 kick off!

Unfortunately unable to use my 2 tickets

If you are over 60, I have a couple of concession tickets in the Bromley covered end which are 4 seats and one row apart.

Would gladly try to email my email attachment to you if you DM me your details.

Just to be clear no payment wanted

Even if the coaches go clockwise around the M25 they will still be there too early!

Bromley 3-1 Swindon

They’re in fantastic form. Can’t see us not conceding at least a couple.

I may be wrong on this but I think Sky do make replays of all games available, in full, if you can stand it.

4 wins 2 draws last 6 league games 2nd in current form table behind Walsall.
Only lost once in the last 13 games in all comps.
Only conceded 25 goals so far scoring 30 times.
Won 7 and drawn 9 losing just 5 times so far.
Michael Cheek is the divisions leading scorer on 12 (13 in all games).

They tend to line up recently in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Cheek the lone striker.
Normally they like to play for set pieces and have a fair bit of height in the team and don't play a possession based game, against Newport they had just 182 passes in total.

Against Newport they scored 4 set piece goals, 3 from unmarked headers from corners and a direct free kick. They beat Newport 5-2 in a game in which that had just 26% possession! they had 16 shots with 6 on target.

Watching the highlights Bromley do not have much pace at the back but play to their strengths they bully and press teams, if it works then fair play to them.

We have only ever played Bromley once in our history, a 7-0 win at the County Ground in 1976 in the 1st round of the FA cup.

https://frombromleywithlove.substack.com/p/bromley-5-2-newport-county?r=6x19i&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

2.5hrs trip on a good day normally (I live near Bromley)

I was gonna say thats normally a 2 and a half hour trip.

Pre match here there be Tories in The Richmal Crompton.
Author of the Just William books, a bit before my time, but all for an anarchic 11 yr old who doesn't age across 50 years.
Bonus points for upsetting the trigger point police as well.

Although not all from Bromley, the so called Bromley Contingent did help to send the national news media into meltdown in 1976 in the swearing on daytime tv furore.
Remember it well.
Hilarious.

Wasn't sure that the trains would work as advertised this morning, thankfully the 08:37 did run albeit terminating at Ealing Broadway.

There will be more valuable drinking time in Nottingham ahead of a 12:30 ko on Saturday than today in Greater London.
Maybe not such a bad thing.

A visit to a new ground always gets the juices flowing, although the garden sheds tend to lose their appeal after the first foray & the limited away capacities don’t help.

The manager was correct about the need to try and get a run of results going now, particularly after a couple of good outcomes against play off sniffing teams.

I'm guessing that Bromley play a direct style?
As PV mentioned.
Three of the goals against Newport were from corners, four of the goals were headed plus one from a direct free kick.
Make of that what you will, but in the words of Nat King Cole "there may be trouble ahead".

We are just easing into learning how to play to our strengths, which makes this an interesting encounter.

Getting turned over by former non league upstarts is no longer particularly galling.
Owners may be economical with the truth but there is no bullshit where the L2 table is concerned.

A relatively rare meeting today against a former keeper who is having a decent go at management, although Woodman doesn’t look to have kept the fitness levels up.

It's probable that a pound for pound comparison of the two squads wouldn't see much difference in overall quality either way.

The 9 place difference in the league is possibly indicative of a manager with over 3 years in the job and a well organised team that have found their feet in a higher league & are familiar with the chosen style of play.

We can still get a result today.
I'm going for our own more than just a William to make a significant point(s) gaining contribution today.

Wright on!

30 minutes at the services still there before 11 even with a little Sunday traffic😁

Yeah the supporters coaches usually leave stupidly early and instead of it being an advantage to get there and have a drink in a pub somewhere, they pointlessly kill time at a services for ages.

I was going to say that its fairly rare for a keeper to become a manager for whatever reason, this one is an ex Oxford player too that adds to the spice a little.

Seems to be doing well with less than a 25% loss rate and a near 44% win rate since he took aver at Bromley 3 years ago, I do remember him being a big old unit in goal, his son Freddie has made a good career as a keeper too at Newcastle, Swansea and now Preston.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gf9e8Q0WsAAFlyP?format=jpg&name=large)

Bit of a swap around in selection today.

Gone for high energy by the look of it, with a more normal team for New Year's Day, perhaps.

Mmm, so our 3 outstanding players on Thursday are on the bench. Could be brave or foolhardy. Hopefully the former

Setting up something like this?

Barden
 
Sobowale Wright Delaney

Longelo Ofoborh Kilkenny Kirkman

Butterworth

Glatzel Drinan

Oh no. Only just seen this. Many many thanks for the offer that's really kind. Much appreciated

Longelo’s second 2nd league start since August, he’s been disappointing so far hopefully starts to find some form for us.

Might be a last opportunity for some players ahead of the window.

No worries   coyr!

Ofoborh gone from barely featuring to captain!? That can't be right, can it?

It's weird for sure but whatever!

Its massively odd to me.

Bromley will see us there for the taking today seeing that line  but what do i know.

TBF Bromley have beaten a lot better sides than us so far and fear no one, but if we perform well on rhe day....who knows.

Large squad, why not use it  - Bromley may have a smaller squad.  Looks like the next game against Colchester is being targeted.

Bromley have a tidy little ground, looks to be much nicer than Creepy or Barrows grounds.

A bit of rotation. No win situation (unless we win)

Rest players, lose & you should have played your strongest XI.
Don’t rest players, lose & you should have rotated.

I don’t think I’ve agreed with any of Holloway’s selections but unlike Kennedy he’s at least been getting passable performances & results…

Why aren’t we in red? No clash with their white!

Is their pitch on a slope or is it just the camera angle?

Butterworth with a 20 yard show easily saved.

Hall can’t play many games can he. Neither can Clarke.

Smith has a hamstring strain.

Not sure about Cotterill. That may be tactical.

That was a huge throw in from them from such a small run up, have to watch that today.

You cant give away free kicks there Butterworth, that ball is coming back into our box quickly and high all day long.

Unmarked header luckily goes wide.

Probably sold out of home kits and need to shift what's left of the third, I expect.

That is our third, isn't it? If so what colour is the away?

Nice break by Kirkman and Longelo and he finds Butterworth and his pass to Kilkenny is decent but the shot goes over the bar from an angle.

Wright FK finds Drinan but his looping header goes over the bar softly.

For a big bloke Drinan is not too good in the air, he needs to learn from Smith how to get his jumping right.

Keep this tight and the likes of Smith and Cotteril can hopefully play last half hour and close off.

Kirkman got away with dwelling on the ball, looked like a corner to me but it wasnt.

Slope?
Looks like it’s on a bloody hill

Good delivery from Longelo if Smith was playing up front.

Short throw in finds its way to Ofoborh and his shot goes well wide from 16 yards.

Looking decent in attack down the left, Longelo being direct which is good.

I wasnt sure if it was a hungover cameraman!

Barden with a fuck up taking too long and getting caught in possession.

Ofaborh looking trimmer than i have seen him before

Ofoborh looking a bit rusty, understandably too. Yellow card for him.

The commentator doesn't know the difference between Holloway and Andy Woodman....

Playing up hill first half, all the more reason to try and keep it tight.

So far the Sky commentator has named Marcus Bignot as the Bromley manager and the Bromley Manager with the white cap as Ian Hollaway - I would be offended if I were Ollie

Blimey I had forgotten Glatzel was even playing until then.

We have Rhys Evans on co comms and hes not bad TBH.

How can he mistake someone who is 5 foot 5 for someone who is 6 foot 5?

Kind of but think (from camera view) the far side is higher than the near side. Bottom right corner looks the lowest point…

That was one hell of a throw

Longelo nice cross to Glatzel but his volley goes well over the bar, nice move. Longelo has the beating of the right back Grant so far.

Wondered wtf you were on about but of course I’ve instinctively put the fire stick on rather than Sky…

My last contribution is to say that neither side look particularly good. Neither look threatening. Looks as if a mistake will win this.

And with a multi decade age gap and multi stones diffence in size

Grant has one of the longest throw ins for such a lazy run up I have ever seen.

I meant Bardens one up to Drinan

Yeah it's like diaganol. Right wing looks a shift right now.

Might be a bit of a disservice age wise as its only 7 and a bit years between them ;) .

What little football there is, is being played by us

Ah, that was an inch perfect 60 yard throw, maybe he should throw and not kick it.

Oh absolutely, Bromley are not known for playing much actual football, but what they do play they play very well, and if it works for them....a bit like a poor mans Lincoln from a few years back.

This young ref has been very harsh with his yellow cards

This is dull in the extreme

Wright cross onto Glatzels head but its a weak header and an easy save.

That's the game plan.

I'll take it for now, to be honest with our top goalscorer on the bench and we look just as likely of scoring as them (neither likely)

Its a bit war of attrition, we are trying to play football but its hard against this type of team.

Wright FK inches high and wide.

I think this match is foreshadowing of what is to come for STFC. It's a ''through the looking-glass'' view to National League footeh.

Indeed.

And that break is why you cant take your eye off them for a second, didnt look a foul to me, we may have got away with that. Stop trying to be clever with the passing, make every pass count.

I hadnt even noticed until Hawes just mentioned it, the atmosphere is so flat, I would imagine it to have been more of a cauldron today at such a compact ground.

Yellow for Longelo leaving his foot up. All because Drinan didnt put presure on the keeper for that kick for the first time.

I think we will see a second yellow at some point

Really dumb free kick to give away there.

Ridiculously long break in play!

Close up of Posh Red there in the crowd with his orange hat on.

It is, looks to me like a broken nose though.

Fucking hell looked like he barely touched him.

Maybe not then, unless he hit it on the ground?

Corner bromley

Another corner.

2nd corner in a row both cleared by Drinan.

And finally a goal kick.

Not sure but blood was pouring out of the upper mouth/nose area.

This is not a classic. 12 year old ref letting the players make decisions for him.

Should have been our free kick there for me and gets given to them for backing in.

Just 3 mins added! that player was down for at least 5 mins it seemed on his own.

3 minutes added time when their player was on his arse ignoring the ref for nearly five?!

Agree.

Utter, utter dross

Classy defending by Delaney there.

I've noticed a trend with this. Always add more on second half irrespective of actual time added on.

Probably be 6 or 7 second half when fuck all should be added on.

Officials at this level are fucking diabolical. Every throw in their number 16 has been a foul throw.

Keep it up their end and get in for half time lads.

HT 0-0

Game going to plan so far.

Yep, they look pretty clueless.

Carlisle 1 up at Accrington.

At Carlisle.

Missed most of the first half, sounds like it wasn't a classic.

Horrendously boring game of football.
Fine by me if we can see it out.

I wonder how much Smith & Clarke have in their locker. Even getting them on for 15 mins could make the difference

The decline Glatzel has had across the past 6 months is massive. Offering no threat again today.

Thought the ref on Thursday was bad enough but that was atrocious. For every genuine foul he's given half a dozen that weren't. Again, we are the better side but lack composure in front of goal. If Kilkenny could settle himself he'd be another Dan Kemp, him and Ofobohr bossing it. Also defending well today, Kirkman especially.

Would like to see Smith and Clark... Cotterill even. Wouldn't have said that a few games ago...

Bromley showing as 39% passing accuracy. That would be... remarkable.

Yeah sorry, Carlisle at home.

And Accrington aren't too far up the table anyway so wouldn't be the end of the world.

Looks like no subs at HT for us.

Wake up swindon.

Big block from Delaney there.

Butterworth is so slow in possession most of the time, he seems to have no idea what to do, him losing the ball started that attack for them.

Bromley starting this second half quite well

Enjoyed the penalty shout replay with the incident not in shot there.

12 year old ref doesn't give Bromley what they want for once, luckily enough for us.

Never a pen.

Should be  a Bromley yellow ffs

What the hell was that by Longelo throwing the ball stright to them? ffs.

Ofoborh tries a volley from 25 yards very hard and very wide.

Some how we're attacking without being able to string more than two passes together. It just bounces possession from team to team and we move up the pitch.

This is Sunday league standard stuff, just a bit fitter.

Would like to see cotteril on 60 to try and get a better hold of this and keep possession for longer than a split second.

Bromley bringing on a fella who looks like he could pack down at tighthead no problem.

And much like Sunday League an old fat player comes on for them!

And Smith on not long after. Glatzel not been effective at all today.

Glarzel and Butterworth annonymous today, Drinan not al ot better but his height in defending has helped us so far.

I also cant see Ofoborh finishing the game due to his fitness so I think Clarke will come on for him after 65 to 70 or so.

Tshimanga for Drinan probably a later sub if no joy. Last 10/15

Smith warming up now.

Has to be for Glatzel.

Smith would have got that cross but never will Drinan win those.

Shit finish by Butterworth that, he should have passed it.

Carlisle 2-0 up

Two subs ready to come on, one is smith.

Clarke on for Kilkenny
Smith on for Glatzel.

I assume the game plan was to get to the last 30 in touch and throw the good players on. If so, job half done.

Smith and Clarke on for Killenny and Glatzel

And here they come...

I wouldnt have taken off Kilkenny but Butterworth who has been woeful all game.

Looks close to a pen there.

Sunday league shot from their player 30 yards wide.

Agree

Thinking ahead to the next game.

Time wasting at every throw in.

This ref has been absolutely woeful!

That was a foul on Clarke not the other way. Shit reffing giving Clarke the yellow.

Someone get this fucking infant ref off, it's time for his afternoon nap.

Ridiculous yellow

This ref is ruining a poor game. 

Holloway having a stand up arguement with someone in the crowd.

Hasn't reached the standard of woeful.

1 down

Fuck sake.

0-1

How tf has that gone in ffs

Butterworth not getting a tackle in for the cross but that was a free header and shit keeping.

That’s dreadful goalkeeping again

Diabolical performance so far.

New goalkeeper please.

Pathetic keeping

Barden went down in slow motion there with the agility of a keeper twice his age. The ball then looks like it crumbles through his biscuit hands.

Should have been our fucking free kick anyway.

Barden soapy tit wank. Send him back now.

Corner to Town.

1-1

That didn't last long.

1-1

Longelo

Get the fuck in.

Lovely finish!!!

Deserved the goal TBH.

Hard to process that. Really happy it's back level but still pissed off at Bardens weetabix hands.

Clarke finds Smith but his low shot is a bit soft, great chance.

just seen it what was he doing. :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

As we said in the other thread, we BADLY need a new keeper.

Cotteril for Butterworth please, probably Kabongo for Drinnan too

Shame we didn’t sign Grant Smith. We were linked with him under Flynn.

This.

Is the ref allergic to giving Bromley yellow cards or something?

That was a booking for the foul on Longelo as much as any of our bookings have been.

Cotterill on for Butterworth. About time.

Clarke shot well wide from 18 yards.

The erraticness of this league is mad. Game could easily end up 6-5, 5-6 etc

I don't think either team is worthy of the win and the officiating definitely is something to be desired. Again, it's a window into National League

I might be crazy but Tshimanga for Drinan soon?

I agree, hasn’t been very consistent!

Funny how the second we conceded (and it was a shit goal to concede) certain posters appear.
Few minutes later we score & they are gone.
No posts during the week, none pre game, only after we conceded a goal or lose.

Hopefully it’s the last we see of them today.

Drinans the better defender and has height but Drinan has made no impact all game in their half.

Might need Drinan enough defending set pieces with Barden flapping.

This has to be the weakest ref I have seen this season, dreadful.

Utterly clueless.

Smith with a 20 yard shot defelcted just wide for a corner.

Tshimanga time

Tshimanga on for Drinan.

And there it is.

All I ask is that he stays on his feet.

Smith tries a 1 2 with Clarke but he cant get to the return in the box.

Wow the ref gives them a yellow!

I will note that it is the festive season and some people will post less frequently than normal, so you're probably getting some correlation from that factor too. People also have lives outside of the TEF...

Also, you are partial to being a bit of a WUM yourself tbf DV. You might do it better than some but it doesn't make you any better for doing the same thing  ;)




NB: And yes, I know you don't always do it too

Clarke shot just over the bar.

He's clearly somewhat of a newb. Well that or he's still shitting yellow  :D

Looked really good since Clarke and Smith coming on, hopefully we can pinch a late goal!

Cotterill shot defelcted wide for a corner.

Foul on Tshimanga, not sure that was a foul.

5 mins added.

Nothing I said was meant as a wind up
Nor was it specific to this week or an isolated occurrence this week.

90 seconds of defending to do here....

30 secs now!

Maybe not. 30 seconds left and a free kick.

FOOOOORREEWAAAARD.

FT 1-1

Shit game happy with a point though over all.

FT

Good result all things considered keeps the unbeaten run going.

Would have taken a point before hand.
Annoying that the goal we conceded was entirely preventable.

Decent enough performance.

When does the window officially open? Can we have a new keeper in for Wednesday?

I was generalising in that regard



Ok

Ian Holloway red and white army.

Happy with a point. Expected us to lose. Desperately need a decent goalkeeper in January though.

Decent point. Dreadful game but many are.

I swear the ref blew before the 5mins was up tbf  :D

That will be 2 great away points - IF we follow it up with a win v Colchester.

(WE WANT CLEM OUT)

Happy with a point, unbeaten in the last 3 now, hopefully that helps with the confidence and we can build on it, create a gap between us and the bottom 2!

An average one would probably do.

How's that bleach drinking exercise going? I hope they're paying you for it

Reese Evans was great on co-comms for Radio Wiltshire.

He’d have saved the goal ‘n all…

Heavy rain and strong winds predicted.

Dizzy heights of 19th, sadly we've got 3 games played more than some, 2 than most and 1 on some.

Not a great spectacle.
But a great point. That's important, Carlisle gained 2 on us today, Morecambe save boxing day.

So we are in a mini league for now. Got to follow this up with 3 on NYD!

100%

Table looking a bit prettier at the moment but still only 3 points off relegation.
Need to make sure we beat Colchester,  bit of a bogey side.   

Much better after the subs. Looks like Holloway is starting to formulate his best XI...

You're joking... Another one

It's not going to be anything to write home about and had the long range, laced shot by Bromley, been on target we may have seen a different outcome.

It really was a peek into how matches week in week out would likely be at NL. Where even if you try to play some kind of football, teams will make it difficult. It's imperative that this ''taster'' does not become an accepted formality

Certainly, Town will take an away point but for me personally it is so bloody disheartening to see that getting a point versus Bromley is now seen as an acceptable result. Acceptable in isolation yes, but for many other reasons no

Ahhhh Swindon, Swindon, Swindon. Whatever will they do with ye

Happy New Year TEFfers. Let's see what becomes it

Much the better side but you have to think we'd have won if Smith and Clarke had started. Still, good result. Back 3 great, Kilkenny good, wing backs good today. Must back it up with a win on Wednesday now

Yes, but begs the question why not start with the majority of it? But long term we might be on the way up

I don’t expect us to start putting any decent runs together until we get a capable goalkeeper. That should be the absolute priority in January.

Looking at that table, I think 19th will be as good as it gets this season. Next teams Newport, Barrow, Fleetwood and Colchester are 5 points clear of us with 2 or 3 games in hand.

Really is a mini relegation league forming there. Really hope the likes of Tranmere get more dragged in to it than they currently are. Will be cheering on whoever they play in their three games in hand assuming it isn't someone like Carlisle.

Sort of get it over Christmas when the games come so regularly. Can’t be running Clarke in particular into the ground.

Clarke is so important and not long back from injury.

Smith had a tight hamstring v Grimsby.

Both put in a shift at the wombles.

We got a point, it worked. Not worth risking them having 5 or 6 games out. Could still happen of course but risk minimised.

It’s not looking great at the moment although it could change by Wednesday.

Happy with a point, not sure we deserved to win, but definitely didn’t deserve else.

Not a game with great quality, but the players put in a shift & worked hard for the draw.

Blimey, currently showing Gusts of 50mph! Seems like ages ago we had a home game without agent wind being involved!

Hopefully it will change by then but it’s not looking good with 3 days to go!

Shame Barden decided to don the gloves that he had used to butter the skin of the Christmas turkey but a good away point.

Pretty crap attritional game but we are now showing fight and I think from what little football was played, we were the better side. 3 unbeaten, it's been a decent festive period for us so far.

The Bromley perspective:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2X1V26F3LQ&t=271s

Ah but that brings the wind tunnel back into play.  Our secret weapon.

Woodman reckons there was a handball in the build up to our goal? I missed that....

The facts are the goal stood Andy🤣

Good to snatch a point against another more able side . 

https://x.com/kc_mcqueen/status/1873378058792849799

This is a clip of our goal right behind where it happened. There's no handball...

Hah....and look at all the appeals from the Bromley players.....none!!

I missed the handball too, if there was one.

Didn't think woodman's assessment was otherwise that wrong.

Not at all. It was very fair to be honest....

Haven’t read back yet, anyone know what the attendance was?

Was flagged as a sell out, but seemed like quite a few empty seats

Pleased with the point.

Most of our more technical passing sides of years gone by would more often than not get rolled over by teams like Bromley.
Good to see that the current lot have a bit of fight in them at least.

Checked a few different sites and the attendance still isn’t showing.

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0zlEWMYqks

Have found it posted that there were 502 from Swindon, but no total attendance

Very strange considering the away following has been announced.

If they had appealed for it, the preteen ref would have probably called it.

3833

https://x.com/bromleyfc/status/1873362339627733220?t=NxShe5B8qfhTwz8VKjK9Zg&s=19

Have found it posted that there were 502 from Swindon, but no total attendance

Atleast another 8-10 along the home terrace. A few quizzical looks at our orange hats, but chatted to a decent Bromley fan in front.

3,833 in case you never found it.

Cheers

No idea why they delayed announcing!

They got a mysterious offer for 1,000 fake tickets in exchange for some admin fees. Confused matters.

The Colchester game, bizarrely had been picked by Sky to be on their main event channel. (SKY Sports Football actually)

Still 3pm?

Extended Highlights - Hadn't realised that Bromley were unbeaten in 10 prior to the match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2cvM89WqNg

Yep