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| Woking 2 Stevenage Borough 1: 22nd December 2007 Scorers The Setanta Shield then. Another fully worthwhile cup competition I'm sure and as the holders (that's us…) stepped out of the dressing room you could feel the passion from all 830 or so of us. Still, even the Cards cared more than Stevenage who understandably are more focused on the league. For Woking, with midtable looking almost inevitable, a couple of cup runs wouldn't go amiss in this fans opinion. That's all that happened really, Woking wanted it just a little bit more and although Stevenage put some neat passing moves together they rarely went anywhere and they didn't seem too bothered by that either. The Cards made a few change with Lorraine in for Gasson and young keeper Worner in for Gindre as well as the suspension free Morgan and Pattison replacing Gatting and Lambu. The Cards started the better of the two sides when Morgan had a long shot deflected wide. A couple of dangerous balls forward for Stevenage were taken care of comfortably by Worner and on ten minutes Marum did brilliantly to keep the ball in near the corner flag but his cross was miss controlled by Green. Moments later and Gray had an ambitious flicked volley sail just over with keeper' Russell frantically backpedalling. Stevenage responded and Worner held a firm header at the back post well before on 18 minutes, a Cards corner caused havoc in the Borough area but neither Morgan nor Ruby could stab it in. Minutes later and Liptak burst past James and curled one towards goal but Worner kept it out with a great save low to his left. The game quietened down a bit after that, Borough enjoying a lot of possession but rarely threatening. The Cards produced their best effort on goal after 40 minutes when Gray and Morgan exchanged passes and the former produced a curling effort from just inside the area which Russell did well to parry away to safety. With half time daring close Hakim went close for Stevenage when Hutchinson deflected his shot wide. Woking had a much better second half and went close immediately from kick off. Bunce found Morgan outside the area and he turned well and produced a low drive at goal, which brushed the side netting. Two minutes later and Worner had to produced a smart save at his near post from a long-range drive by Stokes. In the 50th minute Woking broke the deadlock when Marum got the ball on the edge of the penalty area and burst into the box before unleashed a powerful low drive which caught Russell unaware at his near post and somehow got through into the back of the net. Moments later and Pattison picked up a loose ball in midfield and picked a neat pass to release Marum on the right who found Morgan in the area but he could only divert it wide. An injured Ruby was replaced by Quamina and not long after Luke Oliver came on up front for Boro in a triple substitution but was never really a threat and was well marshalled by Hutch. Green lashed widely over on 64 minutes as the Cards came forward again before Morgan broke away and perhaps should have done better with his finish, which Russell did well to parry away. A minute later and Pattison thundered through midfield and forced a good low save from the Boro keeper' again. Stevenage had an awful long range effort go miles wide before James pushed forward a nice through ball for Morgan but he couldn't quite get there ahead of Russell. The tie was then safe on 73 minutes when the Cards made a double substitution before a free kick and on came Lambu and Sole for Pattison and Marum. Gez was already eyeing up the free kick and with his first touch just stepped up and lashed a wicked curling free kick into the corner leaving the keeper' no chance. Borough did fight back well and McMahon fired woefully over twice from outside the box and Worner did superbly to smother a one-on-one and then dived in bravely when Oliver nearly got through on goal before the visitors did score a consolation in the last minute. The Cards defence did not deal with a free kick and it fell to Ronnie Henry who did well to guide it home with his right foot. They couldn't equalise though and the Cards go through to the next round. All in all it was a fairly good performance against an abject Boro side and there was some decent individual performances with nobody really playing that badly. Five wins in five, even if three have been in the cup against supposedly lesser opposition. Winning is a good habit. Now for the tough ones… Woking (4-4-2):
Worner; Ruby (Quamina 59), Hutchinson, Lorraine, Bunce; Pattison (Lambu 73), Gray, James, Green; Marum (Sole 73), Morgan.
Man of the Match:Tom Hutchinson - rock solid. Moment of the Match: Gez's pearler of a free kick. Attendance: 830. |
