Woking 1 Brentford 0: 30 July 2005
by Anonymous

An attendence of 912 coughed up the exorbitant prices to see a meaningless friendly. Both teams seem to have borrowed kits from Premiership clubs with Woking sporting West Brom colours and Brentford mimicing Fulham. Woking started with a 4-4-2 formation in front of Jalal consisting of Jackson, Aggrey, MacDonald, Cockerill(L) in defence. Sharpling, Murray, Evans, Blackman in midfield with Richards and Ferguson up front.

Woking started brightly taking the game to Brentford early on. Karl Murray burst through after only 4 minutes but his shot from just inside the box was easily saved. More pressure followed with a Richards's back-header just over the bar and a 30-yarder from Blackman was fumbled but collected by the keeper. Evans ghosted through the offside trap but his effort from just inside the box ended up in the keeper's arms he looked disappointed that he had not done better. A rare Brentford attack brought Aggrey into action making a telling block. Woking continued to pressurise with shots from Murray and Blackman saved and blocked respectively. Against the run of play a strong tackle on Liam Cockerill just inside the Woking half saw Owusu get clear, Jalal narrowed the angle and Owusu put the chance wide.

In the 29th minute Woking scored through Steve Ferguson after he got in behind the Brentford defence and collected a quick throw in from Blackman (I think). It was an incisive finish from just inside the left hand side of the penalty area hit across the keeper and into side netting.

The goal and some very animated shouting from Martin Allen in the "technical" area brought a bit more edge about Brentford's play. Jalal had to get down bravely to save from the oncoming player after a corner was not completely cleared. The Brentford number 8 (Olaf Skullson) was booked for a bad tackle from behind on Evans. Both MacDonald and Aggrey had to put in good defensive challenges as Brentford pressed just before half time.

The second half saw many substitutes Smith for Jackson, Selley for Evans, Basso for Jalal, Rawle and McAllister replacing Richards and Ferguson. A much more even game ensued. MacDonald headed wide from a corner and eventually hit a badly worked free kick from just outside the box into the LGS. Basso had to tip a long shot from the Brentford no 3 around a post and make another save from their no 19 who had outpaced Smith down Woking's right flank.

Another surge on that side saw cross to the back post eluding Cockerill but the chance was put wide by the Brentford no 15. Rawle had a shot blocked at the other end. With 28 minutes gone Aggrey made way for El-Salahi who made a superb tackle a few minutes later. That was after a scare resulting from a bad touch and hasty clearance by Basso. A Brentford corner and some head tennis also saw Basso saving right on his line. The final substitutions occurred with only a couple of minutes left Sharpling making way for Cockerill(S) and Murray for Ruby.

It's still early season and it's always difficult to draw conclusions from performances in friendlies. After last season's friendlies I had Luke Oliver written off as a bit part player. How wrong can you be sometimes! I've seen the two home games and I think I'd be picking Jalal, Jackson, Aggrey, El-Sahali, MacDonald, Sharpling, Selley, Murray, Evans, Richards, Rawle as my starting line-up from what I've seen so far. The defence has to prove itself, the midfield looks exciting, the strikers will need to find the net. There are other good players waiting in the wings and fierce competition for the strikers with Blackman, McAllister and Ferguson all performing well today. I'm feeling pretty hopeful at this stage.

Woking (4-4-2): Jalal; L Cockerill, MacDonald, Aggrey, Jackson; Blackman, Evans, Murray, Sharpling; Richards, Ferguson. Subs used: Basso, Smith, Selley, Rawle, McAllister, El-Salahi, Ruby, S Cockerill.

Attendance: 912

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