Andy Woodman celebrates ‘special’ Bromley players after cup victory over Ipswich

Andy Woodman hailed the character of his Bromley squad as they knocked Championship side Ipswich out of the Carabao Cup on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

Two spot-kick saves from Bromley goalkeeper Sam Long proved critical as the League Two side won the shootout 5-4 against a team who were playing in the Premier League last season.

Ravens manager Andy Woodman said: “I expected the team to go out and execute the gameplan and they did that and then some.

“We knew that Ipswich would have a lot of the ball, but I trust the character and fitness of my players and I think that was on show tonight.

“They aren’t celebrating like ‘big-time Charlies’ for winning the match. There is an air in that changing room of being humble and focusing in on the next challenge. This is a special group of players.”

Deji Elerewe headed Bromley into the lead but half-time substitute Ben Johnson equalised soon after the interval.

The visitors could not find a winner and, after George Hirst and Ali Al-Hamadi were denied by Long in the shootout, Marcus Ifill fired Bromley into the second round.

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna rued a lack of urgency from his side.

“I’m frustrated because winning matches like this give you extra games for players and allows us to get minutes into legs,” he said.

“We were better in the second half and probably should have won the game late on, but once you let it go to penalties you know the risk at hand.

“We had control in the first half but no urgency, which shows we aren’t quite there yet.

“We aren’t the team we need to be at the moment, but we will take the lessons and go from there.”