Bromley boss eager for Ravens to quickly get past distraction of 'groundbreaking' narrative

Saturday's return clash with AFC Wimbledon will be another hugely significant moment in Bromley's history - but boss Andy Woodman admits he will be pleased to get it out of the way.

The Ravens rallied well late on, but could have few complaints about Tuesday night's 2-1 Carabao exit at the hands of a superior AFC Wimbledon - who came from behind to book their place in the second round.

Bromley will not be too dismayed by the cup exit in their first home venture as a fully-fledged EFL club, and Woodman is also too hard-bitten to get over-excited about the Saturday lunchtime rematch which will be the club's first ever home fixture in League Two.

"It's great for everyone involved but I think we've got to move on from that now," Woodman told Capital Football when asked about the excitement of mixing it in the Football League.

"I think we've got to grow up a little bit as a club, grow up as a group of players a little bit and we've just got to realise that we're in this league now.

"The 'new boys' tag is driving me mad," he said jokingly.

"Everyone's saying it's a great this and a great that as if I've never been in the league before. This football club hasn't but I've been in a lot of leagues and I think we should just move on from that and start winning football matches - and that's my message to the players."

Woodman continued: "I feel I'm being grumpy. It's great for the fans and for everyone around the club, but my job's to win football matches and it's just another match for me that I need to win.

"If I keep living in the past, the past will catch up with me. I need to move forward and make sure that these boys move forward and make sure we keep getting results in this league and hit the targets we set ourselves.

"Saturday will be another tough game. They are a good team with riches that we haven't got but we've got to live with that and deal with it."

Woodman added: "Everyone will quietly set out to get in the play-offs. They might not say it or be as brave as I am - but if I turn around and say we just want to survive, what message does that send to everybody? We want to get to the play-offs.

"Since I've been at this club we've had three out of four years in play-offs and an FA Trophy, so why would I want to stop that. That's why we've got to aim for the play-offs.

Bromley upped their game towards the end of Tuesday's cup tie when Woodman sent on some of his A-listers for the final 20 minutes, but says he has no regrets about not introducing them earlier.

"I thought we were good for it tonight in a lot of areas but just lacked a bit of belief in the final third and I think that was the difference," he said.

"The subs coming on [after 76 minutes] was part of the game plan. We haven't got the riches of Wimbledon or all the other teams. We've got the smallest budget in the league and we've got a small squad. If I put out my best team all the time, we're going to fall short and get injuries. I've got to be sensible. We're not going to win the Carabao Cup, let's be honest.

"We haven't got the money to go out and get the top players, so we've got to produce our own, which we've done before and will do again."