Match Preview: Promotion Final | Solihull Moors FC

Here's everything you need to know about this afternoon's Promotion Final, from ticket information to Bromley's season so far, we've covered it all!

Tickets are still on sale for the Promotion Final!

Tickets are available to purchase from 10am on the official Wembley Stadium website, click here to purchase your tickets!

Anyone who hasn’t received their tickets for whatever reason will need to come to the ticket office on match day, with their booking confirmation email, to receive reprints.

Solihull Moors supporters should head to the WEST Ticket Office on match day. The ticket office will be open from 11:00am.

Andy Whing spoke to Moors TV to preview today's Promotion Final against Bromley at Wembley Stadium.

Click here to watch the Head Coach's thoughts.

Everything you need to know about our opponents

Bromley FC were established in 1892 and were one of the founders of the Southern League in 1894, joining Division Two. Over the next 15 years, the club bounced between leagues before withdrawing in the 1901/02 season.

Bromley joined the Isthmian League in 1908, winning consecutive titles in their first two seasons. They would then follow this by winning the FA Amateur Cup in the 1910/11, beating Bishop Auckland in the final.

After the first world war, the club joined the Athenian League, being crowned champions of it in the 1922/23 season. However, it wouldn’t be until 1949 that the Lilywhites would win another title, and also won the FA Amateur Cup in the same season.

Two years later, the club would win their third Athenian title before rejoining the Isthmian League in 1952. In the division, Bromley finished second in their first year back before winning the league the year after.

In the 1974/75 season, Bromley were relegated to Division Two; renamed as Division One in 1977.

During the late 70’s and the 1980’s, the Ravens would rebound between Division One and the Premier Division with a total of three relegations (and promotions), with the most recent of the three coming at the end of the decade.

Bromley again were relegated to Division One at the end of the 1998/99 season. In 2004, the club came back up after a fourth-place finish saw them reach the playoffs. In the playoffs, Bromley beat Metropolitan Police in the semi-finals; before beating Horsham 3-1 in the final to reach the Premier Division.

In the 2006/07 season, the Ravens finished as runners up in the league and were promoted via the play-offs after beating AFC Wimbledon 1-0 in the semi-finals, before beating Billericay Town on penalties to get promoted to the Conference South.

In the 2014/15 season, Bromley won the Conference South to play in the National League.

Three years later, the club made the final of the FA Trophy, but lost 5-4 on penalties to Brackley Town after ending 1-1.

However, in the 2021/22 season, Bromley went one better as they beat Wrexham 1-0 at Wembley to win the competition for the first time.

Last season, Bromley finished seventh in the National League, qualifying for the play-offs. In the resulting playoffs, Bromley beat Woking 2-1 in the quarterfinals, before losing 3-2 to Chesterfield in the semi-finals.

So far this season

Bromley began the season in poor form after losing both of their opening league games 2-0 against Halifax Town and Barnet, before drawing their next three games to go winless in the opening five.

However, Bromley beat Southend United 2-1 to claim their first win of the season and this momentum carried the side to a brilliant run of form with eight wins in nine games from the end of August to the end of September, seeing them go from 22nd to fourth in the league table.

The only game where the Ravens failed to win was the 1-1 draw away to Solihull Moors, where Ben Krauhaus opened the scoring early in the second half before Kade Craig was in the right place for the Moors to equalise and earn a point.

Bromley then continued to maintain their fine form, by rising to third in the league table after a 2-1 win over Dorking Wanderers at the end of October. After that win, the club never dropped below fourth place for the rest of the season.

By the end of the calendar year, Bromley did the double over Ebbsfleet United to rise up to second in the league table. However, they failed to win in their next six games with defeats to Fylde and Hartlepool United.

This meant the club dropped to third place, but would play one of their best games against Chesterfield as they beat the champions 4-3 at home to kickstart their run of form.

The Ravens would drop to defeats against Eastleigh and York City, but would earn some valuable wins against sides battling for survival in the division to help Bromley secure a spot in the playoffs and into the semi-finals.

This included a 3-0 win in the previous meeting with Solihull Moors, with Michael Cheek and Jude Arthurs both scoring in the first half to end the regular season in style. Krauhaus continued his streak against the Moors with another goal to earn the win at Hayes Lane.

In the playoffs, Bromley fell behind against Altrincham after Regan Linney opened the scoring for the away side. However, the hosts turned the game on its head with three goals in nine minutes with Myles Weston scoring two goals either side of a Jude Arthurs goal to tee up a mouth-watering matchup at Wembley.

One player who will look to make his mark at Wembley is Bromley’s Michael Cheek.

Cheek started to attract attention at Chelmsford City, where he scored 35 goals in 66 appearances for the Clarets. After 18 months at the club, Cheek left to join Braintree Town in the National League.

In his first season, Braintree finished third in the league table, with Cheek a key part of the side. The forward scored 15 goals in 40 games in the regular campaign but failed to score in the resulting play-offs as Braintree lost to Grimsby Town in the qualifiers.

Another successful individual campaign followed for Cheek and Braintree, as the club made the second round of the FA Cup for the first time in 2017, eventually losing to Millwall. However, despite Cheek’s 19 goals in the league across 44 games, Braintree finished in the bottom four and was relegated to the National League South.

Cheek then left to join Dagenham & Redbridge ahead of the 2017/18 season. In his solitary season at the Daggers, Cheek finished as the club’s top scorer with 13 goals in 34 appearances as the club finished in a solid 11th position.

After leaving Dagenham, Cheek joined Ebbsfleet and again spent one season at the club. For the Fleet, Cheek scored 16 goals in 39 league appearances before joining Bromley in 2019.

At the Ravens, Cheek has played over 180 games in all competitions, scoring over 70 goals and each season finishing with double figures in the goals department.

His most impressive campaign was the 2020/21 iteration, where Cheek ended as the National League’s top goal scorer with 23 goals in 43 appearances, winning the Golden Boot. This helped the club reach the play-offs but fell to Hartlepool in the quarterfinals.

This season, Cheek has scored 21 goals in the National League in 44 games and is Bromley’s top scorer this season.

Bromley’s manager for the last two years has been former player Andy Woodman, with the ex-goalkeeper already having over 125 games under his belt in the Bromley dugout.

In his playing career, Woodman came through Crystal Palace’s youth academy before leaving Selhurst Park in 1994 to join Exeter City. Woodman only played six games at the club before joining Northampton Town in 1995.

At Northampton, Woodman would play over 160 games across four years, before joining Brentford at the turn of the century.

As well as playing for Brentford, Woodman would play for Colchester United and Oxford United before retiring and Rushden & Diamonds in 2006.

Immediately after, Woodman stayed at Diamonds as assistant manager. However, he left the club after they were relegated from the Football League at the end of the season to join his former teammate Alan Pardew at West Ham United as part of his coaching team.

Woodman and Pardew remained together after they both moved to Charlton Athletic, spending three years there before going to Newcastle United in December 2010.

Woodman spent five years as a goalkeeping coach at St James Park before again joining Pardew, this time at Crystal Palace where he stayed there until January 2017.

A month later, Woodman managed National League South side Whitehawk. At the club, he kept them above the relegation zone and left less than a year later with the club safe.

After that, Woodman joined Arsenal as Head of Goalkeeping and stayed there until he joined Bromley in March 2021.

In his first season with the club, he managed to win the FA Trophy with Bromley as he won 1-0 at Wembley over Wrexham.

Back in August, Kyle Morrison scored in the final minute of the game against Eastleigh at the ARMCO Arena to earn the first point under Andy Whing.

The first win of the season came in the Moors’ next match as we travelled to beat Ebbsfleet United, with two goals from Matty Warburton enough to send the Moors into sixth place after the second matchday – the lowest position Solihull would find themselves in after this season.

The Moors then had an amazing start to the season by going unbeaten in their first 14 league matches until they eventually fell to defeat to Aldershot Town in early October with a 0-1 loss at the ARMCO Arena.

Solihull enjoyed success in the FA Cup before facing League One side Bolton Wanderers at the Toughsheet Stadium, where the league side won 4-0 and knocked the Moors out of the cup.

The Moors were in a poor run of form heading into the end of the year with only one win from November up until the game against Oxford City. But a late Jack Stevens goal turned the game on its head as Solihull claimed all three points and followed this up with a 2-0 win against high-flying Chesterfield on Boxing Day.

In the new year, Solihull were inconsistent with form but a win away to Halifax Town started a run of one defeat in ten games to keep up with the chasing pack behind them.

A 0-3 loss to Southend United ended the Moors good run heading into the business end of the season, but followed it up with a thrilling 2-2 draw against Barnet on Easter Friday and a 0-1 win against Wealdstone the following Monday.

Andy Whing’s side then comfortably brushed past Ebbsfleet United and a late Jack Stevens winner meant that the Moors would finish fifth in the regular season.

In the playoffs, the Moors were on fire in the first half against Halifax with Tahvon Campbell, Stevens and a fortunate own-goal gifting the hosts a 3-0 lead. The away side pulled two goals back to make the game interesting but Jamey Osborne scored a brilliant goal to book their place into the semi-finals.

In the semis, the Moors travelled to face Barnet and started the game in the best way possible with James Clarke giving the Moors the best start. Stevens again scored for the Moors to give the away side a 0-2 lead heading into the break, and the fans were in dreamland after Campbell scored just past the hour mark.

A late Joe Sbarra goal just before the end made it a 0-4 win over Barnet and play at Wembley for the first time in the Moors’ history.