Bangkok Post – Wembley hosts Moors and Bromley Boys

This weekend is crunch time for two little-known teams who will be battling for a place in the Football League for the first time when Solihull Moors take on Bromley in the National League play-off tomorrow at Wembley.

It is the first time Solihull have ever been to Wembley and by a strange coincidence they will be back at the same stadium next Saturday to play Gateshead in the FA Trophy final. The expression “just like London buses” springs to mind.

Both teams have spent their whole time in non-league football.

Solihull, a market town in the West Midlands, acquired their rather unusual name when Solihull Borough merged with neighbours Moor Green in 2007.

Since earning promotion to the National League in 2016 the Moors have looked increasingly strong and lost to Grimsby in the 2022 play-off final at the London Stadium. In recent years the Moors have done well in the FA Cup reaching the second round on four occasions.

This season the Moors finished fifth in the league but went on to beat Halifax 3-1 and then thump Barnet 4-0 away in the play-offs to reach the final.

Head coach Andy Whing was ecstatic at his team’s performance: “I’m absolutely delighted. A fantastic result against Barnet. We’re going to be playing at Wembley twice in six days. I can’t wait.” But he warned: “We haven’t won anything yet. I’m desperate for promotion.”

Bromley, a town in southeast London but formerly in Kent, has been the home of a football club since 1892 and like Solihull has a history of non-league football, performing particularly well in the Athenian League.

Nicknamed the Ravens, Bromley won promotion to the National League in 2015. Since then they have been knocking at the door and this season finished third and went on to beat Altrincham 3-1 in the play-offs.

The club is featured in a 2018 comedy film The Bromley Boys written by long-time supporter Dave Roberts. It is set in the 1969/70 season when Bromley were a very poor team and is a light-hearted view of what it’s like being a supporter of a struggling club. But the present Bromley squad are a very efficient outfit and far cry from that depicted in the film.

Chesterfield have already been promoted to League Two while the two clubs relegated to the National League are Sutton United and Forest Green Rovers.

Up in the Championship, with Leicester clinching the title in Monday’s impressive away win at Preston, it is Ipswich who look to be in the best position to take the second automatic place for the Premier League.

The Tractor Boys put their promotion bid back on track on Tuesday with a vital 2-1 away win at Coventry. It puts them three points clear of Leeds United who have a better goal difference. Leeds will have to beat Southampton today and hope Ipswich lose at home to Huddersfield who are as good as relegated owing to their poor goal difference.

Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna could not hide his delight at the Coventry result. “It’s fantastic… but the job is not done yet. We will need a result against Huddersfield.”

There is also a real scrap at the foot of the table with four clubs hoping to avoid the drop. In biggest danger are Birmingham City who are in the relegation zone one point behind Plymouth while Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers are two further points ahead.

It will all depend on today’s results with Birmingham at home to Norwich City and Plymouth hosting Hull City. There will be a lot of nail-biting.