© 1997- 2010
| Northwich Victoria 0 Woking 2: 30th September 2006 Scorers Long journey home; quick pint before getting indoors for MOTD; check email; dreaded (unexpected) request from Mick for a match report. So, no notes and I was concentrating on the pictures (cries of "despite evidence to the contrary"). There's more than one way to write a match report, however. Internet plagiarism for one. So here goes , with thanks and an acknowledgement to "Emeraldhat" on the Northwich forum. "They are a well organised, functional solid unit that play as a team. Two banks of 4 had a great understanding of each other and the two lads upfront were lively as well. Their spoiling/time wasting tactics didn't do them any favours with the home fans but the truth is they gave us a football lesson and were very professional. That is what it takes to be a top side in this league and on today's performance Woking should make the play-offs. Defensively they looked sound, keeper looked quality although not much to do, midfield worked hard and two upfront also worked hard getting back to help out their team mates. In essence they were the benchmark of a good Conference team that we have to aspire to be. Referee was a shambles today, woefully incompetent at this level and totally out of his depth, Woking certainly exploited his inept display but it was no disgrace being beaten by them." Reasonably generous (and impressive to see a non-one-eyed view of a game from a 'defeated' supporter) but pretty much sums it up. Ollie B replaced Nurse up front, not Jez as some had hoped. I thought he did OK in that he won a heck of a lot of free kicks, including the pen (more in a moment) in dangerous areas, to the increasing annoyance of the home crowd and players, but in my (completely unbiased !) view, they simply kept catching him and the decisions were correct. Except for two. Ollie was in on goal in the 22nd minute and was tripped from behind. Linesman - who was hopelessly behind play most of the time and missed loads of huge offsides - for once was in line and gave nothing, causing all and sundry to accuse Ollie of diving. I have no doubts it was a trip (and should have been a red), and I was right in line. Bad decision no. 2 made up for this, however. Ollie went up for a ball with the keeper, who punched rather than attempted a catch. Whistle blows. Penalty. Pictures N18 & N19 constitute the case for the prosecution of the ref. Still don't know what it was given for. Tom H was lost to a cut head very early on, as was the defender he jumped with. One of those things. Two brave and genuine attempts at the ball. We re-organised with Karim moving from right back to centre back and Simon Jackson coming on. The defence then kept the Vics at distance for most of the game. They had a couple of goodish chances in the second half, one in particular was side-footed wide when it looked easier to score, but it never felt like they were likely to alter the scoreline. The icing on the cake was, of course, our second goal, partly for sealing the victory, but mainly for Danny Bunce, whose free kick admittedly took a deflection and didn't exactly power into the top corner, but the look on his face, and the instant reaction of his team-mates, lining up for the traditional baby-rocking celebrations, spoke volumes about the team spirit in this group. I've posted on CardBoard before about Glen's contribution during games as there seems to be a school of thought that he simply stands by the dugout and says nothing, which couldn't be further from the truth. He was as active and animated as ever today, and I haven't often heard him being so overtly critical of individuals (and the ref - oh, no, that's normal !) as he was on occasion here. I, for one, have no doubts about his commitment to this team and his desire to achieve something with them. 3 points up north when not playing especially well is the stuff of play-off campaigns. Or am I getting over-excited? Woking (4-4-2):
Jalal; El-Salahi, Hutchinson (Jackson 5), MacDonald, Bunce; Lambu (Sankoh 70), Murray, Smith, Sole (Ferguson 70); McAllister, Berquez.
Man of the Match: Neil Smith - drove them on through the periods of pressure, looks after Jez in every game, accepts nothing less than 100% and always gives it himself. Moment of the Match: Easiest one of the season - the Romario celebration following Danny's goal. Attendance: 990 |
