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| Grays Athletic 1 Woking 1: 15th August 2007 Scorers For the second time in two matches the Cards performed poorly after just scoring. The defence seem to part as Ben Watson ran towards them and Hutchinson and co remained motionless as he ran through one-on-one with Nick Gindre who did nothing to stop his strike. You would almost have though they wanted him to score...which I suppose they did. After a rather dull first half and a more entertaining second, the last five minutes were certainly interesting. Woking started with the same team as Saturday and immediately found themselves on the back foot. Grays came out to attack with the wind and a sloping pitch behind them and dominated for most of the half. However, despite their territorial supremacy they certainly didn't create that many chances over the half, especially nearer the beginning. Karl Murray's ninth minute header was the only attempt on goal in the first twenty minutes and even that was a token gesture from an overhit cross. The first real chance came on 24 minutes when a long ball over the top beat the Cards offside trap and Aaron O'Connor latched onto it but skewed his left footed effort just wide from the angle. Moments later and Jay Gasson had to dive in to block a Danny Kedwell effort as he got on the end of a cross from Ernie Cooksey. Woking's only chance of the half came after 31 minutes, Marvin Morgan flicking on a long ball for Giuseppe Sole who created enough space to get a left-footed shot away but it was skewed badly wide. Grays upped the tempo as half time approached and Jamie Stuart headed wide from a Stuart Thurgood free kick. On 38 minutes, Kedwell played a neat one-two with Charley Hearn before getting a shot away but it was a tame effort, which Nick Gindre easily gathered. With half time approaching Mark Marshall chased a long ball and beat Gindre to it, whipping in a dangerous ball before the keeper' had got back to his line, thankfully Hutchinson was on hand to head away for a corner. From the resulting ball in Gasson and Pattison got in each other's way and the ball fell kindly for O'Connor who raced away from Gindre and turned to put a snapshot in at goal. The attempt beat Gindre but was deflected away by Hutchinson on the line, leaving the Grays striker yelling at the referee for a penalty, feeling he was apprehended by the Cards keeper'. O'Connor headed over from a free kick and Danny Bunce had to produce an outstanding tackle on Murray before the half time whistle blew and Frank Gray will have been relieved that it was still 0-0 at the break with Woking surviving two real chances for the home side to take the lead. The second half started with O'Connor in the action again this time firing wildly over before Grays made their intentions obvious, bringing on the attacking Dennis Oli for Stuart Thurgood. They surged forward and on 50 minutes Hearn's free kick found Kedwell at the back post and Gindre had to make a smart stop to keep the ball out. The resulting free kick resulted in Hearn eventually ballooning over a left footed volley. Grays continued to put the pressure on and on 53 minutes there was more desperate defending in the Woking area before Gindre plucked O'Connor's volley out of the air, but the danger was only gone for a couple of minutes. A roving run from Oli resulted in a corner and after the ball pinged around the Woking area Kedwell finally got a shot away which was fantastically cleared off the line by Hutchinson. Frank Gray took action taking off Matt Gray and bringing on Goma Lambu and the game suddenly opened up into an end-to-end contest. Shortly after Lambu's addition, Morgan seized upon a loose ball and he played it neatly to Sole who fired in a left-footed drive, which was deflected off Andrew Sambrook and whistled just past the post, though not according to the referee who gave a goal kick. On 64 minutes, Sole got another opportunity when Lambu and Morgan chased down the ball and forced Ross Flitney into an awkward kick which landed straight at his feet. His audacious lob unfortunately ended up in the back of the terracing. The game swung from one area to the other with no real clear-cut chances falling to either team. Craig McAllister came on for Kedwell and Michael Charles replaced a tired looking Sole. Despite some neat football, the game looked like it would finish 0-0 when an innocuous drop ball resulted in a bewildering goal. Following a stoppage for a Woking injury the referee allowed Matt Pattison to give the ball back to Grays and he aimed a long ball towards their penalty area which ended up trickling into the back of the net with keeper' Flitney standing on the D. The Grays players were slightly upset about this as the Cards fans mock celebrated the goal and chanted '1-0 to the Cardinals'. After a bit of a kafuffle, Woking let Grays kick off and watched as substitute Ben Watson ran unchallenged towards the Woking goal to equalise against a very unhappy Gindre. The drama didn't end there though and Woking put Grays under pressure again and forced Jon Ashton into a miss hit back pass which Morgan capitalised on, nipping in ahead of Flitney and being tripped. The referee pointed to the spot and the Cards had a great chance to steal three points with just two minutes left. However, despite Charles seeming eager to take it Bunce had his effort well saved by Flitney and the Cards would have to be content with a point. To end proceedings, Hutchinson and Marshall were involved in an incident at the end, which led to a small bundle of players forming (wrong end of the pitch to tell you what happened but both picking up bookings). To be fair, a draw was probably a fair result although Grays will probably feel a little aggrieved to have not made the most of their first half chances and territorial dominance. The Cards battled hard as a team and will be pleased with the point although gutted to have missed the chance to win it late on. It was a decent team performance with no real stars though Morgan looked dangerous up front again, Lambu made a big difference when coming on and Gindre produced a very solid goalkeeping display. Woking (3-4-1-2):
Gindre; Lorraine, Hutchinson, Gasson; Ruby, Gray (Lambu 57), Quamina, Bunce; Pattison; Sole (Charles 76), Morgan.
Man of the Match: Nick Gindre - a solid display. Moment of the Match: Matt Pattison's 35 yard thunderbolt!!! Attendance: 1,004 |
