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| Salisbury City 2 Woking 1: 27th August 2007 Scorers The Cards unbeaten start to the season ended at Salisbury as the loss of the influential Nick Gindre and Tom Hutchinson cost Woking dearly. Frank Gray's away game gameplan didn't change, playing it cagey in the first half once again but this time the defence could not hold the home side off and they found themselves 2-0 down at half time, with too much to do. Matt Pattison returned in midfield with Bradley Quamina moving to right wingback and Matt Ruby moving into the three-man defence to replace Hutch. Adam Green and Michael Charles also got starts ahead of Danny Bunce and Giuseppe Sole, who both dropped to the bench. Nick Gindre was replaced by on loan Reading keeper' Alex McCarthy. Salisbury started well and put Woking under a lot of pressure early on, having copious amounts of possession. However, despite their dominance the Cards defence looked fairly comfortable until the 13th minute. A 2nd minute header from Robbie Matthews gave new keeper' McCarthy something to deal with and he had to deal with a couple of tame long shots, but there was nothing to be too concerned about. That was until Salisbury's possession paid off and a long flighted cross was not dealt with properly by the Cards defence and Matthews got up to head it down into the path of strike partner Matt Tubbs who was eager to pounce and he calmly volleyed it into the back of the net from close range, leaving McCarthy no chance. The home side continued in the same manner, peppering the Woking area with crosses and passes before the defence was finally breached again. On 33 minutes, a long throw from Andrew Sandell made it past Lorraine at the near post and Darrell Clarke got in between Ruby and Quamina. He twisted and flicked the ball past McCarthy and into the back of the net. The Cards were really up against it now but still couldn't find their way into the game and Salisbury continued to dominate for the rest of the half. That was until the last minute when Goma Lambu escaped down the right and won a free kick. Green curled it into the area and Paul Lorraine made contact with a firm header, which cannoned off the outside of the post, nearly giving Woking a lifeline before the break. Frank Gray made changes, on came David Shin for Jerome Maledon as the Cards went to 4-4-2 (and changed kit), and it made a difference. On 51 minutes, a mistake from Ryan Clarke gave Charles an opportunity to shoot as he miss kicked but instead of hitting it first time the striker took time to control the ball and ended up having to try and play in Morgan who ended up being challenged from behind, half hearted shouts for a penalty were ignored by the ref. On 57 minutes, Woking forced Clarke into his first real save and a terrific one it was as well. Adam Green curled in another good free kick and Jay Gasson rose to head at goal, the ball actually bouncing off his shoulder. The Salisbury keeper' did fantastically well to parry it away and the home side survived. Moments later though and another free kick was headed on by Lorraine and guided to an unmarked Gasson by Morgan. However, it became clear that finishing is not Jay's strong point as he blazed over from six yards. On 63 minutes, Salisbury almost added to their lead when Gasson handled the ball on the edge of the area and Sandell curled narrowly over. Moments later and Sole came on for Charles and the Cards livened up a bit although Salisbury still had a lot of pressure. Another long shot flew into McCarthy's arms and he was sold short by a backpass, which thankfully fell to a Woking defender. Woking fought there was back into it though and after Sole had rolled a tame long shot into Clarke's arms he beat him on 83 minutes. An enterprising run from Shin saw him get past Jonathan Bass and lay the ball back to Green who delivered a good ball in which was headed directly up in the air. Gray seized on the second ball, cushioning a header into Sole's path and the substitute made no mistake firing past Clarke to make it 2-1. The Cards pushed for an equaliser and Sole looked like he had found a way clear until Timothy Bond seemed to bring him down with a clear route to goal. The young striker was adamant it was a free kick but the referee wasn't interested. Adam Green had a shot deflected over and a few corners provided some threat but they could not do enough to get a second and on the first half performance, never really deserved to. However, given the two crucial injuries it was no surprise to see the Cards lose to an organised physical Salisbury side and I don't think too many teams will go there and win this season. It was also nice to see that despite going 2-0 down there was still some fight in the team, perhaps the satisfactory second half performance might convince Frank Gray to use 4-4-2 more often or at least be confident enough to send out the Cards with a more attacking frame of mind. It was also great to see four players who have made their way up from the academy play a part (Ruby, Maledon, Shin and Sole), it can only be good for the future of the club. Man of the match is a difficult one with nobody standing out as having a particularly good game for the Cards. Woking (3-5-2):
McCarthy; Ruby, Lorraine, Gasson; Quamina, Pattison, Lambu (Gray 74), Maledon (Shin 46), Green; Charles (Sole 66), Morgan.
Man of the Match: Paul Lorraine - did his best to try and control the defence under difficult circumstances. Moment of the Match: The Cards fans bursting into "You don't know what you're doing" towards referee Mr Beck. He really didn't... Attendance: 2,093 |
