After Bromley's convincing 3-1 win on Tuesday against Oxford City secured their place in the National League Semi-Final. This is a position that the club has never been in before in its history. The club will want to use the home advantage to pack out Hayes Lane for one of the most historically significant games in the club's history.
Whilst Bromley has never previously hosted a playoff game, they are all too familiar with the postseason during Andy Woodman's current tenure at the club, with 3 appearances, with the first of which coming at the end of the 20/21 season, where they made the trip up to Hartlepool, where they would go on to lose 3-2 in the eliminator round.
Whilst the next year they would miss out on the playoffs but pick up an FA Trophy in the process, their next playoff campaign would come at the end of the 22/23 season after finishing on a record 71 points, they would travel to Woking in the eliminator and this time would get off the hurdle of the first round with a 2-1 win sending them to the semi-finals were they would take on Chesterfield, however, their luck would run out as whilst a last-minute equaliser by Michael Cheek would send the game to extra time, Liam Mandeville would later find the winner breaking the heart of Bromley fans.
At the beginning of the season, Bromley began with back-to-back defeats, and it initially looked to be a long season for the Ravens; however, for most of the season, Bromley has been able to find form at the right time whilst also being incredibly lucky however have been in and around 2nd and 3rd for the majority of the season so was certainly on track for playoffs hwoever in recent weeks like previous points in the season knew when to dig deep and used the disappointment of their fa trophy semi-final to pick themselves uo in their last two league games securing the target of a top 3 finish.
Whilst hosting a playoff game is new for Bromley, they are no stranger to rising to the occasion in knockout competitions, and the fanbase and local community certainly come out in their numbers, such as in their successful Fa Trophy campaign as well as this season the attendances have grown over the season, and so has the voice of the supporters making Hayes Lane a tough place to go for many of the teams this season.
Whatever happens in the semi-final, there is still a lot to be proud of if you are a Bromley fan as they have also smashed their record points finish with 83 points and could extend this in their final game against Gateshead this Saturday, and regardless of what the score will be at the end of the game, Bromley is certainly a club on the up and looking to have a promising future with Andy Woodman at the helm and his exceptional group of players.