Coach breakdowns, Ubers and floodlight failures: Andy Woodman reveals Bromley's 'unprofessional' preparation ahead of Hartlepool United win and John Askey's touch of class

Woodman’s side made the long trip to the North East with promotion-chasing Bromley hoping to bounce back from an uncharacteristic home defeat to Aldershot in the week as they faced a Hartlepool team who were hoping they had turned a corner in recent weeks.

Five points from three games at least stemmed the tide in terms of defeats for Hartlepool, although Askey remained cautious as to how far his side had progressed ahead of a meeting with what he described as one of the divisions ‘tougher opponents.’

But although Askey was rocked by a late illness to defender Emmanuel Onariase, fortune might have been favouring Pools when compared to Bromley’s pre-match preparations. The Ravens’ team bus broke down which meant Woodman and his squad were late on their arrival to Victoria Park having had to get changed at the hotel before a series of Ubers would drop them off along Clarence Road.

And yet Woodman’s men raced into the perfect start when Michael Cheek fired in, unchallenged, from inside the area before the experienced striker doubled his tally before half-time when capitalising on a loose ball from a corner.

Woodman and Bromley’s pre-match misfortune might have been set to reappear, however, when a floodlight failure threatened to abandon the game at the break before an intervention from Pools boss Askey who persuaded referee Steve Copeland to continue the game as the Ravens went on to secure a 4-1 success.

“I thought we were excellent,” said Woodman. “We showed resilience, we showed character after midweek and we showed team spirit, which we’ve got in abundance.

“It wasn’t an easy game. Anybody watching at home will think ‘4-1, that must have been easy’ but there was some proper dogged defending, putting bodies on the line and being clinical at the other end.

“They’ve come up with the goods again – everyone says coming up north, southern boys don’t fancy it. We have all that chucked at us, but we were excellent.

“It hasn’t been easy. We’ve had a coach breakdown, we had to come here by Ubers, which is insane.

“My players had all of their strappings done at the hotel. We’ve had to come across from the hotel in kit – I can’t even start to tell you how unprofessional today has been.

“But we’ve got a no excuse culture here and that comes from me and my staff and we reflected that in the way we performed.

“I must mention John Askey, the manager of Hartlepool, as well,” Woodman added.

“I’ve learnt a really valuable lesson from him today; very sportsmanlike and he showed a real touch of class, and I’m not saying this because we won.

“The floodlight went out, so at half-time he could have quite easily said the game can’t go on at 2-0 down and he was extremely sporting and said ‘let’s play the game’ and fair play to him for that and I wanted to show him the respect and gratitude he deserves.”