Andy Woodman exclusive interview: League Two leaders Bromley are the real set-piece kings, forget Arsenal and Brentford

In the Premier League, Arsenal are the kings of the corner; Brentford the kings of the long throw.

But it is a team three divisions below, in Sky Bet League Two, who can currently consider themselves the true set-piece masters.

Since the start of 2024/25, no other team in the top four divisions has scored more goals from set-pieces than Bromley.

It is the source of 58 goals for Andy Woodman's side, which represents 52.7 per cent of their total return. Twenty-five of those have come in 27 games this season, equating to almost one every game.

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"They're a massive part of the game, we've been seeing that in the Premier League," says Ravens boss Woodman.

"It's a big chance to put a ball right in the middle of the opposition's box. Normally it takes 10 or 12 passes to get to that position.

"In everything we've tried to find a gain and we'll continue to do that. We haven't got the best players - with respect to my players - we haven't got the biggest budget, we haven't got the biggest ground. We've got a lot of minuses against us, so we have to find a different way.

"We knew we had to make it a really big focal point for us, so the staff have really put some hours in. They sit down as a group of staff and go through it, then deliver it to the players. There's a lot of work done in the classroom on it and the players have got their rewards.

"If you take the lead from the NFL, everyone knows the playbook in the NFL. It's no different with set-pieces. Everyone's got to know their job. The end result is no coincidence."

One man in particular has benefitted more than most. No player has scored more goals from set-pieces than Michael Cheek, who has 19, five more than Derby's Carlton Morris.

Indeed, only Erling Haaland has scored more league goals in the top four divisions since the start of 2024/25.

Things could well have been a lot different, though.

"Four years ago, when I first came, he wanted to go because he saw me get rid of all of his mates, as it were, and change the culture. He felt we wouldn't put a team together," Woodman recalls.

"I remember standing with him saying, 'I'll get you in the Football League, but I'll only get you in the Football League if you get me in the Football League'. We had this mutual respect of what we had to do for each other.

"He's more than done what he said he'd do for me. He's a phenomenon. Hopefully, we've repaid him by putting a team around him that, one, plays to his strengths and, two, has helped get him in the league and put him on a platform. We just need to make sure we keep putting the ball in the danger area for him.

"He's probably the most humble footballer I've ever met, a real lovely gentleman that just loves scoring goals. I'm chuffed he's my player for many more years. He will be a Bromley legend, hero forever and a day."

Bromley are one of only two teams in the top six tiers of English football - along with Sunderland - who still boast an unbeaten home record. Woodman calls it "our super strength".

That, combined with the set-piece success, has driven the south-east Londoners to the top of Sky Bet League Two.

Opta's supercomputer gives them a 55.98 per cent chance of lifting the trophy come May, and a 86.72 per cent chance of promotion by any means. They have reached a new level after missing out on the play-offs by just four points in 2024/25 - their first season as an EFL club.

They reached the summit after a 3-1 win away at Crawley on December 29 and have been there ever since, meeting the objective Woodman set them of being top on New Year's Day.

And five straight wins in December fed into an astonishing run to now that has taken in 12 victories in 14 games.

Woodman says he has never been involved in a run like it, either as a player or a manager - but he does have a gripe.

"Some people say it's got to come to an end sooner or later. Well, why has it?" he asks.

"I say to the guys all the time, the top teams are the top teams for a reason. They keep winning. They don't get embarrassed to keep winning. They don't suddenly start thinking as a group, 'we've had a good run, that's enough, we're due to lose one'. They just keep winning and winning and winning.

"That's the culture, the mentality we've got around this place. Anyone that comes here now has to buy into the culture of what we are. The one thing we are - and I'll put this on record - is we're the fittest team in the league by a country mile. We've got legs and energy all over the place.

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"And if you've got that with a group of players that want to give it everything every game, you've got a nice ingredient there before you've even kicked the ball."

Woodman is self-aware. He knows his team have not yet achieved anything, and makes it clear on more than one occasion. "It just gives you a pat on the back," he says.

But he knows there is also a balance to be struck.

"We are there to get shot at now. We wanted to put ourselves there. Now we've got to react and be different to how we were getting there.

"Equally, I tell the players they've got to embrace this. There is zero pressure on them. There is not one person in the country that thought Bromley would be top of the table, other than myself. I believed in that and they've now got to believe they deserve to be there.

"We've really concentrated on just us being the best version of us and, to date, it's gone very well.

"I've got a team of scarred players, I would say: released, not good enough, come up through the National League, would never be a league player. It's like a band of brothers. They've really bonded and really worked hard.

"Deep in the depths of them, they want to prove everyone they are good enough. They're doing that at the moment and I'm really, really proud of them."

Watch Bromley vs Crewe in Sky Bet League Two live on Sky Sports+ on Tuesday night; kick-off 7.45pm

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