This weeks live National League TNT sports game comes live from Greater London as Bromley host Maidenhead at Hayes Lane.
Andy Woodman has enjoyed great success at Bromley, guiding the Ravens to the playoff final in his first season in 2021 before winning the FA Trophy in 2022. It has been an average start to the season for Bromley, with Woodman’s side sitting in 13th place with nine points from seven.
The Ravens started the season with back-to-back 2-0 defeats at FC Halifax and at home to Barnet. However, since then, they are unbeaten. A trio of draws at home to Wealdstone (1-1) and away to Kidderminster (0-0) and Rochdale (2-2) was followed up by back-to-back 2-1 wins at home to Southend and away to Altrincham.
Bromley are the joint second-lowest scorers in the top 18 with only seven goals, so they will be hoping to improve on this tally in front of the TNT cameras.
Maidenhead continue to defy the odds at this level, with Alan Devonshire at the forefront of this. The 67-year-old ex-England international has enjoyed 15 years at The Magpies across two spells and is a club legend.
In 1997, Devonshire ended a 27-year trophy drought by winning the Isthmian League Full Members Cup, while also gaining promotion to the Isthmian Premier League in 2000. Leaving in 2003, Devonshire enjoyed fruitful spells at Hampton and Richmond and Braintree before being inducted into the Maidenhead Hall of Fame in 2010.
Returning in 2015, Devonshire secured promotion for The Magpies in 2017 and has successfully kept the semi-pro outfit in the National League since.
This season, Maidenhead sits in 10th with 10 points in seven games, having only lost once (3-1 at Hartlepool). The Berkshire side have become draw specialists, drawing four games this season, including a trio of 0-0s in their last three games against Oxford City, Kidderminster, and Woking. They are the second-lowest-scoring team in the National League, with only six goals thus far.
Bromley snuck into the playoffs last season, finishing in 7th, two points clear of Southend in 8th. Their end-of-season was imperative for this, going unbeaten in their last nine games. The play-off quarterfinal presented a tough challenge away at Woking, but after a second-half fightback, Woodman’s side prevailed.
The semi-final provided an even tougher challenge away to Chesterfield. Bromley went down to ten men but still scored a 99th-minute equaliser through Michael Cheek before unfortunately losing in extra time.
Maidenhead managed to stay up comfortably by 10 points, despite only winning one of the final 12 games. Devonshire’s side struggled away from home, only picking up 18 points in 23 away games. Their home form was imperative to them staying up, drawing with Barnet, Chesterfield, and Wrexham and beating Woking and Dagenham Redbridge. Maidenhead also struggled to score goals, only registering 47.
Bromley’s key man is undeniably Michael Cheek. The 32-year-old is entering his fifth season with the Magpies, having scored 13, 23, 17, and 17 goals in his previous four seasons. In fact, Cheek has scored double digits in his last ten years of football. With two goals in seven so far this season, he looks set to reach double figures yet again.
Craig Ross signed for Maidenhead in the summer after five successful years with Woking. The 33-year-old is a non-league stalwart, accumulating over 300 appearances in his career. Since signing for the Magpies, Ross has kept five clean sheets in seven games, including four in his last four.
1-0 Bromley-7.50
Under 2.5 goals has landed in 2/3 home games for Bromley and 2/3 away for Maidenhead. Both teams are struggling for goals, with 13 between them and solid defences only conceding 14 between them.
Under 2.5 goals- 1.8- Bet 365
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