Plucky Thurrock battle hard, but are well and truly walloped!

Woking 3 Thurrock 0: 22nd October 2005
by Mick

It’s always nice to play the minnows in the FA Cup and give them a right royal thrashing like we have done in the past. Remember how we stormed past Lymington and New Milton 4-2 and today’s neighbours East Thurrock 2-0 in the replays. Plucky Thurock tried their best, bless em’ but were just simply not up to the high quality of the Cards. For the first sixty minutes Woking simply teased the visitors, letting them think they had a chance before blowing them away with three quick goals. I’m sure the Thurrock fans enjoyed their cup final and their players battled hard and almost scored at one point when the ball went into the Jalal’s six yard box for once but in all truth, Woking were just too good for them…

Seriously, though, this was a potential banana skin and for 60 minutes the Cards, although relatively unthreatened at one end, didn’t look like they would put the ball in the net at the other. For all Ferguson and Evans tricks and flicks and fancy runs in the first half there was absolutely no final ball or shot that really troubled the defence. The best efforts were mainly from corners where Oliver caused problems and McAllister had a low shot blocked awkwardly by keeper’ Glenn Knight but in truth it was not an easy opportunity. Although, they had difficulty dealing with Evans and Fergie at times, the two were there own worst enemies, too frequently trying to beat another man or look for a pass when a shot was needed.

Up front, McAllister struggled to win the ball in the air, often surrounded by two men and Richards never really got going and had an bit of an off day by his standards. The midfield battled hard and the Cards did have most of the play but the tempo was very slow and that’s not really ideal, this wasn’t helped by a very pernickety referee who absolutely refused for a throw in or free kick to be taken more than yard from where it should be.

The second half didn’t really bring much luck either until, eventually, Glenn had to change things and brought Ian Selley on for the ineffective Steve Evans. The change did the team good, with Sells pulling the strings in midfield and Smith doing the running. It allowed Karl Murray to venture out on the right wing where he can be very effective, looking comfortable on the ball and having the pace to cause the opposition problems. With this change a goal wasn’t far away and sure enough on 68 minutes it arrived and richly deserved it was too.

Ferguson was revelling in the fullbacks lack of pace on the left wing having just been moved and produced a neat little turn just inside his own half and began sprinting down the left wing in full flow. He left the Thurrock back line trailing in his wake but there was only man who had read his run and had the pace to keep up with him. 6ft 7” in stature, that man was Luke Oliver pounding into the box. Fergie cut inside got to the by-line before neatly clipping the ball across goal and past the keeper’ to leave Lukey with an empty net he just got in front of a defender and put the ball into the back of the net to give the Cards the breakthrough.

It was nearly two not long after when a Karl Murray cross was just behind Justin but in front of McAllister and his shot was expertly stopped by Knight who reached down to his left like lightening and held it as well. Woking were on fire now and Richards broke through on goal, surging past his marker but with the keeper’ running out to him he put his right footed drive just past the post. However, Woking added two more before the final whistle. On 80 minutes, Richards got to a loose ball in the box and calmly laid it into the path of the newly sponsored (well that’s clearly the reason why he’s scored ;-) ) Simon Jackson who hammered a left footed drive into the bottom left leaving the keeper’ motionless.

Just to finish proceedings, on 84 minutes, Steve Ferguson, my MOTM, scored the goal he richly deserved, dancing down the left with the ball at his feet, the Thurrock defence couldn’t touch him and he just sped past cut inside a little and beautifully angled himself to curl a stunning effort into the bottom corner to wrap up a hard fought win. In the last minute a challenge on Ian Selley resulted in a second booking for "some Goodfellow bloke" and he was dismissed leaving both teams with ten men for the remainder as Selley went off clutching his head. Hopefully, he will be ok, it didn’t look to be much more than concussion.

3-0 was pretty flattering but it was all about the hard graft and patience to get the first goal and the team stuck with it and duly delivered. Special mention to Murray and Smith, who battled hard and paved the way for Selley to be introduced into midfield, along with the inspirational Fergie. It was a very good win and put the Cards into the 1st Round draw to play…Southport…lovely!

Woking (4-4-2): Jalal; El-Salahi, Oliver, Nethercott, Jackson; Evans (Selley 62), Murray, Smith, Ferguson (Rawle 84); McAllister, Richards (Blackman 89). Subs not used: Aggrey, Davies

Man of the match: Steve Ferguson

Attendance: 1486

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