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| Woking 0 Tamworth 2: 17th February 2007 Scorers After two home wins followed by two away defeats, you might have thought Woking could keep that sequence running against a team rooted to the bottom of the Conference. You'd be wrong, as after a lacklustre, pitiful and passionless performance Tamworth secured a 2-0 win at Kingfield, completing a double over the Cards for the season. Admittedly, there was still a makeshift defence with Osano, Murray, Pearce and Green making up an under strength but capable back four, but even though the two goals conceded were sloppy, the second was only due to the Cards, finally, pushing on and there was much worse things about the display. Firstly, the passionless and negative attitude that depicts the Cards demises. Everything seems so carefree and halfhearted. There was no drive, energy or willingness to go and look for a goal from the first whistle. Jamie Taylor and Craig McAllister may be both capable strikers, both good at what they do but the gel isn't quite there yet and neither has convinced me that they can score consistently. However, judging them is hardly fair when the service and support they get is so sparse. Long hopeful balls up to them with their back to goal, imprecise crosses which sail over their heads. There not miracle workers. The midfield of Lambu, Smith, Barrett and Sole just doesn't work. Two defensive midfielders attempting to do a similar job, combined with two out and out attackers isn't that bad a set-up but it involves two midfielders who battle and fight without really having the creativity to pick out the ball needed to set the Cards fully onto the attack, or make the crucial last minute run into the box to cause problems. Sole is also a striker and looks lost out on the left wing, his confidence seems to be at an all time low at the moment, hardly surprising the way we are playing. I counted a grand total of two half chances that Woking managed in the first half. An Adam Green free kick, which curled neatly into the box before deflecting off a defender to go narrowly wide and another, deflected shot that went wide for a corner from Sole. That was it. Where as Tamworth should have at least been 1-0 up before the break with Bittner having to make at least three or four saves, though at least half of them were brought on himself by some truly awful kicking. His 6th minute goal kick barely got off the ground and Jake Edwards was set clear of the defence but his nonchalant finish saw Bittner guess well and sprawl to his left to block the effort. Tamworth fought for every ball and created chance after chance throughout the half, mainly down to the impressive Taiwo Atieno who was a handful all afternoon. He drilled wide on 10 minutes and then sprinted past Murray on 23 only to have his angled shot parried at his near post by Bittner. On 29 minutes, he headed a golden opportunity over the bar from a corner and then came storming down the left again to force Bittner into another save before finally drilling another long-range effort wide before the break. Any chance of a second half revival? No, the Cards continued with a similar attitude for the second half until, after Sole had wasted a free kick on the edge of the box, Tamworth scored. With 51 minutes on the clock, a bit of head tennis in the Woking area led to a highly unconvincing clearance which landed at the feet of Jake Edwards who took his time to set himself up before curling the ball round Bittner and into the bottom corner. It took the tricky Michael Williams to fashion another opening, which he then blasted over from close range before the Cards finally sprung into life a bit. A neat ball finding the overlapping Osano (who impressed and was easily man of the match with some silky skills, that were perhaps unwisely done on the edge of his own area, sort of like a more cultured Eddie Saunders) on the right who took the ball inside with a neat dummy and produced a fantastic cross to find Taylor in the box, his low header looked goalbound but ricochet off the inside of the post and back out to be hoofed away by a defender. There was suddenly a brief sense of urgency about the Cards play now though, a more frantic but attacking attitude. It actually turned into a fairly interesting game for a little but until finally Tamworth killed it with a second goal on 82 minutes. Woking caught hopelessly up field for a corner and Simon Heslop was played onside due to the fact he was in his own half. He rounded Bittner and tapped in a killer second. The last ten minutes were painful to watch. I don't mind losing, or even not playing that well but at the moment the attitude stinks. I want our players to desperately want to score a goal and to be busting a gut to do that, or when they don't have the ball to work non-stop to get it back. At the moment, that doesn't happen. The performance today was lazy. We only tried when Tamworth scored when they should have been at them from the kick off. Fans don't 'not want to get beat', they want to win. They want effort, commitment, drive and to attack. We don't. More performances like that and we will be plummeting into the relegation spaces. We should be looking over our shoulder now… Woking (4-4-2):
Bittner; Osano, Murray, Pearce, Green; Lambu, Smith, Barrett (Berquez 62), Sole; McAllister, Taylor.
Man of the Match: Curtis Osano - was better than the rest of them. Not hard though. Moment of the Match: The final whistle. Attendance: 1,411 |
