Game 5 - The Ravens (H)
Team - Bromley FC
Date - 23/08/2025 14:00
Where - Meadow Lane

What would your starting line-up be? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

This is our 11th game against Bromley. It doesn't feel like 11 games. Anyway.....we drew at home and beat them away last season. The 4-2 away win was one of our best results IMO.

Bromley are unbeaten. 2 wins. 2 draws. They drew away at Shrewsbury. They are a decent side but I think we are a better side than them. Michael Cheek is a player I'd like to see at ML.

This will be a tough one. No doubt Andy Woodman watched the game last night and picked out our weaknesses to exploit. Let's hope Martin and the boys are prepared and ready. Probably just as important, lets hope the ref is ready to clamp down on the dark arts and time wasting.

This match will be a whole lot different to the match against Shrewsbury, Bromley are a strong team and will finish in the top 10 teams in my opinion.

I would change the goalkeeper and give Griffiths a chance but apart from that I see no reason to change the starting line up,

Bromley are not without faults, and this is why having good players and depth in the squad comes in handy.

They have beaten Barnet and Cheltenham, who aren't exactly the best teams in League Two, at the same time as we have struggled ourselves against teams that Bromley may be better organised against. They did well against Ipswich in the FA Cup, so they can be tightly organised and quick to attack.

Fleetwood gave them a good game, and I think that's a match they showed resilience not to lose, and both sides earned a good draw.

I see the game as being a marker more toward seeing if our performances are improving, and just how far off we might be against those more organised teams that have a good level of chemistry within their squad. Alassana Jatta will be back for this game, right? It was five games, which included the League Cup. So, hopefully, he will be back and ready to prove himself. I would think we can defend our goal well; we have the quality to score at the other end. I am more nervous about how we tend to concede what look like fairly easy goals, and making sure Kelle Roos is switched on.

I do feel that we will be able to see where Notts are when they meet Bromley on Saturday. If Notts can put in a good performance against a side that is currently unbeaten after four games, & come away with a win, I will be very encouraged for Notts's prospects for climbing up the league 2 table after such a slow start.

Mind you, It will be a tough game & Notts need to cut out the silly errors that we saw against Shrewsbury during the game. Bromley will take full advantage & could punish Notts if Notts give away possession in dangerous areas. Notts also need to work on defending crosses into their penalty area, which they have failed to do, during matches, so far this season.

Notts are very capable of getting a positive result on Saturday. They just need to be focused & alert for the full 90+ minutes. They have also proved that they can score goals when their attack is on song. So all we need is a good all round performance & Notts should get another win

Drop Roos and give the Kid a go in goal. Don't expect A.J to comeback Firing on all Cylinders, he'll need time to settle back into his Scoring Routine, don't be surprise to see him start on the Bench, then be brought on in the second half. Lets hope Notts have also laid the Curse of last season, that being losing to higher placed teams, Bromley currently sit 7th. Score Prediction 1-1.

Totally agree with everyone that this is a real benchmark game. Andy Woodman is a good intelligent coach (Notts surely should have been capable of tempting someone of his calibre with a job offer). I can't remember the last time Notts beat a well coached team so if we did it on Saturday it would massively restore confidence. Worried about our inability to defend crosses though.

What should be our tactics for the Bromley game? One thing for sure Andy Woodman will have analysed our recent matches. What conclusion will he have made? Roos doesn't come for crosses, punches rather than catches. Simple: get crosses into the box. After all Cheek scores a lot of his goals from inside the box. Lots of crosses into the box will cause all kinds of panic.

What do we do to counter it? Stop crosses, don't give up possession needlessly. Anything else?

Notts need to try to stop the crosses coming in from open play if at all possible. Bromley free kicks & corners will be just as dangerous too. When they do threaten Martin needs to ensure Griffiths is in goal to deal with it behind a good experienced defence.

Notts need to stop giving the ball away in dangerous positions. If Tsaroulla venchers forward Notts need to ensure the space he creates at the back is covered.

For this match I would start with a flat back four with conventional wingers. Tsaroulla on the left, Cotter on the right with Macari, McDonald, Aljofree, & Bedeau in the back four.

Unless there's a knock we don't know about, I think MP will be delighted to pick an unchanged team after a 4-1 win.

He's said he'll change things when we don't win so the corollary of that is to reward a winning side. I'll be happy with that, although it will overlook an opinion verging on a fact - In both of our 2 home games so far, our two poorest performers by far in each game have been Roos and Norburn, oddly the most experienced players in the side. I think the coaching staff and the Gas Board (aka technical board) will know this but we have to keep picking them. We need Roos to gain his confidence, and we need Norburn to gain his form, his 2nd game was better than his first after all. But I don't think they'll suddenly be our best, or even average, performers on Saturday and we'll have to try to win in spite of this.

I hope Notts keep showing signs of getting better. There’s a good team in there, but they need to stop dropping points in games like this. It’s a big test for both sides, especially at this point in the season. Bromley have started well, while Notts are still finding their feet.

That said, Notts are beginning to settle. They’re not quite firing yet, but you can see the pieces starting to come together.

It feels like one of those matches that could go either way. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends 2-2.

Notts have the players and the talent. What matters now is putting in the effort and sticking with it. If a team tries to stop us playing, we need to find ways around it. I really hope we’re starting to see the results of all the work done in training.

Bromley might sit deep and be happy to defend, so we’ll need to stay patient and keep pushing. If we create chances, the goals should follow. After the strong showing against Shrewsbury, it’ll be good to be back at Meadow Lane. The fans have plenty to be excited about.

I think Bromley will know we try to play it down the channels, and as a team that had done well against us before, we need to make sure that our football isn’t predictable or sloppy. I don’t mind conceding good goals, but defensively we did look much better last season than we have so far. I can see it being a goalless draw myself.

I hope I don't regret writing this, but I would stick with Kelle Roos.

We are starting to find our feet and bringing in a young lad who is only just starting to get his experience in senior football. I think it would just be wise to remain settled; the change could put pressure on the defence, or they could make his life coming in much harder. I am more inclined to want to see the defence and keeper settled, but I do understand why it is being suggested.

I really hope we keep Nick Tsaroulla out wide; I would be tempted to stick with Kellan Gordon on the other side.

The midfield pretty much writes itself; it's just a case of who will be with Matthew Dennis and Jodi Jones. So, at most I would imagine only two changes, but I don't know if we have any knocks or injuries hampering selection. Usually, head coaches in Martin Paterson's position tend to remain unchanged after achieving their first win. I do think it's a blow that Alassana Jatta is ruled out. If it is a trick to surprise Bromley and he does end up being selected, I would naturally feel a lot more confident.

Notts just needs to keep at it from the Shrewsbury performance and work on the criticism that was mentioned, such as the passing. Yet, to some extent, we need to be forgiving with that, especially if it means being more creative on goal.

Or, at the expense of passing back and putting ourselves under pressure for no reason.