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| Who's got Graham Westley as there bitch? The Woking!!!Stevenage Borough 1-1 Woking: 24 January 2006 It's hard to know what to say after the Cards performance at Stevenage. It was far from good, satisfactory perhaps but to suggest they deserved to pick up the point that they did is a little biased. However, they kept going all the way till the end and it was nearly them that nicked the win in the closing four minutes of injury time. What made the game it was though was the Cards fans behind the goal in full voice from start to finish in a way, which we just haven't been this season, in full support. Other than a few negative chants after conceding the goal when GC bizarrely refused to bring on a second striker for ten minutes before letting McAllister into the fray, the support was fantastic. The first half was the typical scenario of a Woking away game, the opposition coming forward at will while the Cards sat back, got men behind the ball and stifled the play, keen to break where possible. Ferguson and Murray, the supposed second strikers, played more like left and right wingers leaving JR isolated and alone up front, he adjusted to the role well but struggled to hold it up, unsurprisingly, as he much prefers the ball over the top to run onto. However, despite all the dominance both in terms of possession and territorial advantage the Boro rarely threatened going forward, there passing play was all very neat but got them nowhere and the final ball was always normally cleared by Hutchinson or Nethercott. Louis was a handful to the Cards back line but, as we have come to realise, was also very lazy and on many occasion failed to press and put us under pressure. Any moment of danger would usually come from the excellent George Boyd who was easily the most accomplished player on the pitch, two of his delightful left footed crosses could easily have resulted in a goal had it not been for good defending and poor heading from Nurse and Stamp. Other than that, a hopeful free kick and a few tame long shots, was all Stevenage could manage and the best chance of the half fell to a Neil Smith whose late run in the area was perfect to meet the ball at head height but he wasted the chance, heading straight at Julian. Ian Selley had a shot well saved and a number of corners and free kicks caused the Stevenage defence some worry with Nethercott and Hutchinson making there way forward. 0-0 was probably a fair reflection of the half. However, in the second, Stevenage began to look more threatening, Louis firing woefully over early on but the chance was there, and soon you could feel a Stevenage goal arriving. Simon Jackson made an excellent saving challenge as the defence was split for once and was injured in the process, dislocating his shoulder. El-Salahi replaced him but it was from the Cards right where the goal came, Justin Gregory a good cross and it was met by Darryn Stamp, rising above Watson at the back post and thundering it into the ground and past Jalal into the net. As previously mentioned it took ten minutes before GC made a substitution and finally he brought on Sharpling and McAllister for Smith and Evans. A necessary move and suddenly with Fergie on the left, Sharpling on the right and two strikers, we looked a lot more threatening. The pressure was all a little hopeful to begin with, not really leading anywhere, a few set plays caused moments of optimism but not a lot else. The time ticked away and Stevenage looked set to take all three points. However, on 87 minutes, Selley and Murray combined beautifully with some one touching passing and left McAllister in space just outside the box, he still had a lot to do but produced a scintillating curling strike of great accuracy that bulged the back of the net. The Cards fans went absolutely wild behind the goal unsurprisingly they had every right to. McAllister had another half chance, that bobbled it's way through to goal, to steal it in the final four minutes and Woking survived a corner with seconds left but it ended 1-1. The performance was nothing to write home about, in fact the same old … stuff but you can see that the talent and the will power is there, it's just they need to play with a little bit more inventiveness, like maybe passing the ball around on the ground then and again and not being afraid to go and win the game, I'll doubt we'll see it though. Even if our playoff hopes are gone, it was nice to dent our old friends. Very nice indeed! Woking (4-3-3/4-5-1/4-3-2(wingery type people)-1): Jalal; Watson, Hutchinson, Nethercott, Jackson (El-Salahi 54); Evans (McAllister 71), Smith (Sharpling 71), Selley; Ferguson, Murray; Richards. Subs not used: L Cockerill, Davies Man of the match: Ian Selley Attendance: 2,152 |
