MATCH PREVIEW – BROMLEY (H) | Boreham Wood Football Club

Boreham Wood vs Bromley
Saturday 23^rd April 2022, 3.00pm
LV BET Stadium Meadow Park, National League

THE CONTEXT

This Saturday, the Wood welcome fellow play-off hopefuls Bromley to the LV BET Stadium Meadow Park as they finally look to bring an end to their poor run of form.

The Ravens sit just one place and one point below their hosts, but have won just one of their last 12 National League games going into this weekend’s crucial fixture.

Wood are enduring in a similar vein of form, with their winless run extending to 11 games after their defeat to Wealdstone last time out and seeing them to drop 10^th in the National League table.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

“THE DESTROYER”
BRYON WEBSTER

Veteran defender Bryon Webster enjoyed his first taste of regular football with Czech side Banik Most, having come through the academy of York City and enduring further spells with Harrogate Town and Whitby Town. He returned to England two years later with Doncaster Rovers, but was loaned to Hereford United and Northampton Town where he joined the latter permanently. A successful stint at Yeovil Town saw him earn a move to Millwall, although he briefly returned to Huish Park on loan and later went on to play for Scunthorpe United and Carlisle United prior to his move to Bromley.

“THE PLAYMAKER”
COREY WHITLEY

Corey Whitley began his career in the PASE academy, playing a handful of times for Boreham Wood’s first team before spending three seasons in the non-pyramid TTFF League for Yalova and later joining Isthmian League side Waltham Forest. He continued his rise up the non-league after enjoying success at Enfield Town, with moves to Dagenham & Redbridge and Ebbsfleet United preceding a switch to League Two side Newport County. Opportunities were limited during his time in Wales and he made a temporary return to Meadow Park, with a previous loan spell at Bromley later being made permanent.

“THE FINISHER”
MICHAEL CHEEK

A proven goalscorer at National League level, Michael Cheek made a name for himself at Heybridge Swifts where he earned a move Chelmsford City, with 35 goals in just over a season and a half seeing him switch to Braintree Town. A further 42 goals for the Iron earned a move to Dagenham & Redbridge where he netted 13 goals in his solitary season along with a further 16 coming for Ebbsfleet United, convincing Bromley to move quickly to sign the prolific striker after his release. He has gone on to score 51 goals for the Ravens.

LAST TIME WE MET

Bromley 2-3 Boreham Wood
Saturday 11^th September 2021
Hayes Lane, Vanarama National League

A stoppage time winner from Tyrone Marsh stole all three points from Bromley for the Wood’s fourth win in five, after the Ravens had twice fought back to equalise.

Having previously welcomed the offside flag due to a golden chance going amiss, Scott Boden did eventually notch his first goal for the club to open the scoring after just 16 minutes, with Josh Rees having an excellent opportunity to double the lead shortly after Will Evans had headed over the bar, but he was unable to take advantage of Mark Cousins’ poor clearance just before half time. With Harry Forster and James Alabi both going close in the first half, Bromley had grown into it and the Wood paid the price for not extending their lead when Billy Bingham equalised just two minutes after the restart, although Rees did restore the lead less than ten minutes later despite the Ravens piling on the pressure and looking more likely to score. Michael Cheek thought he had rescued a point with his bullet header just after the hour-mark and inspired the hosts to another positive spell that required Nathan Ashmore to deny ex-Wood man Corey Whitley on 89 minutes. Luckily for the away side it wasn’t all over, as Marsh was on hand to create late drama when he coolly finished past Cousins to send the visiting support into raptures and bring all three points back to Hertfordshire.