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 Bromley vs Oxford City

Vanarama National League

Hayes Lane

Saturday 21st October, 15:00

Referee: Michael Barlow   Assistants: Thomas Holden & Marcus Carmichael   Fourth Official: Steven Goldup

TEAM NEWS

Reece Fleet picked up an injury last weekend away at Scarborough and subsequently missed the replay. City face a late call on the midfielder's availability.

Lewis Miccio, after missing the last five with injury, made the bench in midweek, and will be hoping to regain his spot in the Starting XI this weekend.

Josh Ashby and Alfie Potter will miss the weekend's fixture. Aaron Williams-Bushell & Nya Kirby are also doubts for the contest after the latter managed just 45 minutes on Tuesday evening.

Josh Parker has returned from international duty with Antigua & Barbuda and could feature. As could Rafferty Pedder, who was ineligible for the two FA Cup games whilst on loan from QPR.

RECENT FORM

Oxford City - L L W D L

City have struggled for form in recent weeks. An agonising defeat to Altrincham, followed by defeat to Southend meant that the Hoops occupied a relegation place heading into their last league fixture.

However, they dragged themselves up into 20th, courtesy of victory against Fylde, secured by a late Olly Sanderson brace.

Ross Jenkins’ side will be looking to put more daylight between themselves and the sides below, and could rise as high as 15th with a win.

Bromley - W W L D W

After no wins in their first five matches, Bromley are now on an excellent run, currently sat in third in the form table over the last ten matches.

In recent weeks they have collected impressive home victories against Gateshead and Eastleigh, and have lost just one game at home this season, going down 2-0 to an impressive Barnet side in August.

They also boast the third best defensive record in the division, conceding just 16 goals from 15 games so far.

ONE TO WATCH - Michael Cheek

Bromley’s talisman striker has netted 7 in 14 this year already, after scoring 17 on the way to the play-offs last year. In fact, the 32-year-old has netted double figures for goals in every season since 2012/13, a remarkable feat.

A player that has worked his way up through the leagues, Cheek made a name for himself at Heybridge Swifts before gaining a move to the National League South with Chelmsford.

He impressed there as well, scoring 26 league goals over two years, and stepped up yet another division at the time to play for Braintree.

He spent two more seasons at the Essex side, registering 34 more goals, before a move to Dagenham and Redbridge in the summer of 2017.

He spent one season there, before one season at Ebbsfleet, before finally ending up at Bromley, whom he is now playing his fifth season with.

In his time at the club so far, ‘Cheeky’ scored the winning goal in the side’s FA Trophy final win at Wembley in 2022, along with 77 league goals and counting.



A prolific centre-forward at this level, Cheek is comfortable on both feet and in the air, and will need to be marshalled well by the City defence if they are going to get anything from the game.

THE GAFFER'S THOUGHTS

“The word 'reaction' gets thrown around all the time, I don't think we'll have to do too much to get a reaction from the performance we put in on Tuesday night.

"We have to go again, we can't be doom & gloom so we have to keep going. We'll pick the boys back up and we'll go again."

HAVE WE MET BEFORE?

Bromley are one of the teams in the division that City have faced most in the division. However, this will be the first meeting between the two clubs since the 2001/02 season.

In total the sides have met 79 times. The only club the Hoops have faced more times in the division is Maidenhead United (81 meetings).

THE MANAGER - Andy Woodman

Andy Woodman only took up his first senior managerial role in 2017. Prior to this, he worked as a goalkeeping coach for West Ham, Newcastle and Crystal Palace over a ten year period, following his retirement in 2006.

In his playing career, he represented various clubs in the Football League, turning out as shot stopper for Brentford, Northampton and Oxford United, to name just a few. Born in Camberley in 1971, he came through Palace’s academy ranks but never made a senior appearance for the Eagles, moving to Exeter in 1994.

However, his move to Northampton a year later would see him become a cult figure at Sixfields. He made over 150 appearances for the Cobblers, even earning himself a testimonial at the club at the end of his playing career.

He moved straight into coaching roles, assisting Alan Pardew at all three aforementioned Premier League sides.

After leaving Palace in 2017, Woodman landed himself a role in the National League South with Whitehawk. He kept the side up in his one season there.

Woodman then returned to a goalkeeping coach role, this time with Arsenal, a post he held until 2021. He then took over Bromley, guiding the side to the play-offs in his first few months.

He won the FA Trophy with the side the next season, defeating Wrexham in the final. During this time he also turned down a job offer from League One side Gillingham.



Woodman has started life well off this season as well, after bouncing back from a difficult start to collect the Manager of the Month award for September.

HOW TO FOLLOW

FOLLOW THE ACTION:

Stay tuned to our official Twitter page for all the build-up, regular updates and post-match action.

LIVE STREAM:

This game will be available for international streaming via National League TV. You can buy a match pass by clicking HERE!

AUDIO/RADIO COMMENTARY:

Can't make it to the match? BBC Radio Oxford will be providing full commentary of our match online.

Click HERE to head to the BBC's non-league commentary page where you'll be able to tune in at around 14:50. Or simply tune into BBC Radio Oxford on BBC Sounds.