Andy Woodman hails ‘perfect away day’ for Bromley after beating Colchester

Andy Woodman felt it was the “perfect away day” for his Bromley side after they claimed a 2-0 victory at his former club Colchester.

After a goalless first half, the Ravens struck twice in the space of four second-half minutes to seal a first-ever win at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Omar Sowunmi powered a header past Matt Macey from Mitch Pinnock’s curled free-kick into the box to give Bromley a 74th-minute lead.

And Michael Cheek doubled their advantage in the 78th minute, finishing clinically first time after Ellis Iandolo had challenged substitute Ben Krauhaus in the box.

Bromley boss Woodman said: “It was pretty much the perfect away day – you don’t get many better than that.

“We had looked at the way Colchester start games and score their goals in the first 15 minutes and come out of the traps, so we knew that we had to be ready for that and make sure that had a counter against it.

“We had to make sure we came out of the traps and put them on the back foot, which I felt we did, but then they had a second wind just before half-time and they probably didn’t want half-time to come at that point.

“We defended well – we knew our roles, we knew our responsibilities, we knew what we had to do and we dug in.

“If you’re going to be a successful team, you’ve got to get clean sheets and you’ve got to get them at places like Colchester.”

Colchester had the better chances prior to Bromley’s opener, with Kyreece Lisbie squandering a gilt-edged first-half opportunity.

Arthur Read’s strike was pushed onto the crossbar by Bromley goalkeeper Grant Smith in stoppage time but it was a disappointing day for U’s boss Danny Cowley and his team.

Cowley said: “It was very frustrating for us, not if you’re of a Bromley persuasion.

“I thought they did everything that they set out to do, so credit to them.

“Our style couldn’t beat their style, so you have to then take the disappointment and try to use it moving forward.

“We felt at half-time we lacked a little bit of quality and conviction but also felt like we were in a good place in the game.

“It’s really a challenge against this type of opponent to get the ball in play, so you have to be really wise and intelligent and unfortunately in the second half we got frustrated and started giving silly fouls away.

“When you do that against Bromley, they put it in your box and it normally leads to a throw and a corner and you really lose your rhythm and we were definitely guilty of that.”