Is it too early to call this a relegation six-pointer? If you’ve seen how poor both of these sides have been so far this season, you certainly wouldn’t say so. Wigan look bereft of confidence and totally directionless, unable to stick goals in the net or stop them flying into their own with any sort of consistency or quality. Visitors Bromley have already resorted to a change in the dugout following their nightmare start to the season that has left them rock bottom of the division with the worst defensive record in the entire EFL by a whole six goals. Rough. It’s safe to say that both sides could’ve done with a win here. Whilst three points wouldn’t have been enough for either team to climb out of the relegation places, a loss to an opponent this poor early on could have devastating long-term repercussions.
Bromley sent shockwaves throughout world football two weeks ago when they announced that they’d be parting company with their greatest ever gaffer, Andy Woodman, by “mutual consent”. While the mutuality of that decision is up for debate, the outcome certainly isn’t. The results were bad before, and they’re bad now. Maybe this Bromley team just aren’t cut out for League One football, and that’s okay! If you catapult yourself from non-league obscurity to League Two champions in just a few short seasons, I think it’s fine to struggle to adapt to playing teams like Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday every week, as opposed to Solihull Moors and Wealdstone. With the financial stakes at play and the huge difference that becoming an established third tier club would make to Bromley, the board decided that they needed to install a new man at the helm to carry them forwards. Bonkers. There have been suggestions that they want to pivot the project and turn to a younger coach whose football will be more attractive to young players that are released from the plethora of Category 1 academies they have in their immediate vicinity, with the long-term aim being to develop these players and sell them on for a profit to fund the running costs of the club. Sensible, yes. But also incredibly harsh on the man responsible for taking them to new heights they could never have dreamed of 6 years ago. Maybe this will all work out and the football-watching public will have egg all over their faces as Bromley cruise to survival. Maybe. On the basis of this weekend’s showing, I’d say it’s unlikely.
Bromley have, so far, looked like the most out of their depth team I’ve seen at any level of the EFL for some time - barring those with crippling financial issues like last season’s Wednesday side. In every single game they look technically, tactically, and athletically miles off of the standard, and it’s clear that their fairytale promotion came perhaps a year or two too soon for them to make a real go of it. Despite all this, Woodman did what he could with the tools provided and he managed to make this Bromley team dangerous in one specific scenario: set pieces. Luckily for them on this occasion, Wigan have been absolutely awful at defending set-piece situations so far this season. They need to schedule some more Tics box exercises in training if they’re going to survive in a decision as set-piece heavy as this year’s League One.
The opening goal, inevitably, came from a long Bromley throw. Mitch Pinnock launched a looping ball into the area that, while dangerous, any semi-competent defensive unit would’ve dealt with in pretty routine fashion. The Wigan defenders decided it would probably be the best idea if one of them completely mistimed their jump, obscuring the view of their teammate so the ball just bounced off of his back before he could react. It dropped oh-so-kindly for Kamarl Grant, and the defender prodded the ball home gratefully from six yards out to give the away side the lead. In most circumstances this would spell disaster for a Wigan side who have, so far, shown little-to-no ability to score goals or fight back into games. Against Bromley, however, you know you’re going to get chances.
It took just twelve minutes for the Tics to find an equaliser, and it was Christian Saydee who found the net for the third time in five games this season, improving already over his record of two in 41 last time out. Charlie Gray picked up the ball near halfway and was given ample time to pick his pass. He played a beautiful ball over the top of the Bromley defence, completely wrong-footing Pinnock and allowing wing-back Connor Barrett to tap a first-time ball across the face of goal for Saydee to tap into the empty net. If you’re making Wigan look like they can carve you open with ease, you’re going to be in trouble this season.
Mitch Pinnock was fantastic out on that left-hand side for Bromley last season, and his 10 assists were a huge contributing factor to their miracle promotion. That being said, he is much more comfortable playing as a wing-back in a back five, or an out-and-out wide midfield player in a bank of four. His new role on the left side of a back four clearly isn’t playing to his strengths, and even Wigan managed to exploit that. The first goal came straight over his head and left had chasing shadows, and he didn’t cover himself in much glory as Wigan took the lead on 23 minutes. Barrett was involved once more as he slipped the ball past Pinnock with ease for Bradley Burrowes to run onto. Burrowes dug out a fantastic cross into the centre that Reggie Walsh was allowed to step onto completely unchallenged, but the Chelsea loanee’s thundering volley was only able to clatter the crossbar on this occasion. K’Marni Miller was unmarked through this entire passage of play, and he was on hand to nod home the rebound from Walsh’s effort into the empty goal to give the home side the lead. Bromley’s flat back four just could not cope with the numbers in the Wigan attack, particularly their wing-backs pushing high, and they looked totally overwhelmed every time their hosts came forwards. That’s not a great sign for things to come as the season progresses.
Despite their defensive struggles, Bromley did manage to level things up in first half stoppage time and, surprise surprise, their goal came from a cross into the box that wasn’t dealt with. Mickel Miller squirmed past Jensen Miller on the left side of the Wigan box and fashioned enough room to put a cross into the area. The initial ball was met by both sets of players and dropped to the floor, and the Wigan defence were too slow to react as George Saville flicked the loose ball over Whitworth and into the net for 2-2.
It was, objectively, a terrible quality game. Both teams were of such poor standard, however, that it was brilliant. It felt like a goal might come from anywhere at any moment with, mistakes happening all over the pitch and both sets of defenders seemingly incapable of performing the minimum requirements of their job. It really was a great watch, just not quite in the way most good games are.
Despite the all-action first half, the second period calmed down. We were only treated to one solitary goal, and that fell the way of the home side. The defending was as calamitous as always. Miller did brilliantly down the left-hand side and fizzed a dangerous cross in low to the near post. A Wigan attacker was lurking, but for some reason four Bromley players made it their mission to try and dive in front of that ball and stop it reaching its target. I’m sure they were well-intentioned, but their commitment to the challenge meant that once they had deflected the ball away from the front post and backwards into their box, Connor Barrett could lay the ball into Burrowes to finish from the centre of the area with nobody around to stop him.
That goal sealed a vital three points for Wigan in their fight to stay in the division and, I know it’s early, but it looks to have all-but sealed Bromley’s return to League Two. They’re only three points from safety, and they have 33 games to turn it around, but I cannot envision a world in which four teams pick up fewer points than this Bromley team. Any half-competent outfit will cut out their set-piece threat and leave them toothless, and even Wigan were able to craft multiple chances of high quality against them without really being any good at all. As for the Tics, the emergence of some of their young talent, like K’Marni Miller, will be a shining light amidst an otherwise grey campaign. Without Joe Taylor to bag the goals or Sam Tickle to keep them out they were always going to struggle, but their problems run much deeper than simply needing a good goalie. Only two teams have scored fewer goals than Wigan, and only three have conceded more. One, or both, of those stats is going to have to see significant improvement if they’re going to make a fist of a survival push. How the mighty have fallen.