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| Woking 0 Staines Town 1: 27th October 2007 Scorers Useless bunch of… Right then, where do we start? Firstly, congratulations to Staines Town. They came to Kingfield and fought for every ball and every challenge, they had a gameplan, they defended well and although some of their time wasting was up there with Glenn Cockerill's Woking, who can blame them for that. They rode their luck a little and were kept in the lead by two outstanding saves but they deserved their win and a place in the next round. In fact, it was only some good last ditch defending that kept their score to just the one goal. Although the Cards fans on the message boards were ironically calling them 'plucky part timers' and the like it seemed that Frank Gray and Woking didn't actually get the irony as the first half performance was one of half hearted hoofing, casual control of the ball and higgedly piggedly defending. A lot of the players looked like they thought that it was going to be a walkover. It's funny because I was actually less worried about this team doing that sort of thing. The majority of them came from lower teams and Frank Gray lost his job due to a home defeat to 'lesser opposition' so you would think they would know what their up against. I was wrong. Staines went close on 5 minutes when a free kick was placed just over Gindre's crossbar but Woking replied quickly when a Bunce free kick was flicked on by Gasson and went just wide having looped over the stranded Staines keeper'. Sole shot wide as the Cards pushed forward and then on 8 minutes the Cards defence all surged forward for a free kick. However, it was quickly cleared and they were caught on the break with a neat ball finding Mark Nwokeji who took the ball on his shoulder and neatly stabbed it past Gindre with his left foot. Woking never recovered from that and certainly didn't show the urgency that was needed. They still dallied on the ball as the 'plucky part timers' closed them down quickly, not letting them have any time on the ball and if it hadn't been for two good clearances from Lambu and Lorraine they would have found themselves more than the one goal behind. There was no cutting edge to the Cards play and their first real effort on goal came on 31 minutes when Sole shot tamely wide. Things got slightly better as half time approached with Woking at last managing to get some shots at goal. Pattison fired well over before on 41 minutes, James skipped into the area and forced the keeper' to parry from a tight angle. On the stroke of half time Hutchinson headed wide but in all honesty Woking rarely threatened to level things before the break. The second half started a lot better for Woking. Morgan flashed an early cross shot just wide and a succession of corners put the pressure on. Sole went close when in the aftermath of a corner when James miss hit the ball to him and he fired it towards goal but his effort was well parried for another corner. Staines went close again when Lorraine blocked a goalbound effort and Gindre had to parry away some dangerous crosses. Morgan, the clear Woking man of the match, was now causing major problems and he fired a cross across goal but once again there was nobody to get on the end of it before another enterprising run won a corner. However, some desperate defending from Staines kept the ball out and on the 62nd minute they had a free kick, which had to be well parried by Gindre. Moments later and Gindre nearly dropped a regulatory low cross into his own net but grabbed it at the second attempt. Staines were let off when Sole was fouled 'outside' of the box when it looked very much inside, though it would have been a soft penalty, and the Woking youngster wasted the free kick putting it miles over the bar. Woking went closest on 72 minutes when they won another free kick and James drilled it against the crossbar. There was at least a bit of fight for the last fifteen minutes but Staines rode their luck with the help of their keeper' who was superb. He first kept out Sole and Bunce efforts from outside the area and the rebounds fell unkindly for the Cards before pulling off two sensational saves from a bullet header from Lorraine and a looping header from Hutchinson. In between, Sole curled a free kick just over and Pattison had a shot blocked but it was all too little too late. On the balance of play, a draw would probably have been a fair result but the Cards didn't take their chances and never had the cutting edge they should have. Their initial complacency let them down and Staines took full advantage grabbing their opportunity and battling till the end with the help of some superb goalkeeping. These things will happen, especially with a young side, but I was hoping for better than that and am disappointed with the team. Marv was heads and shoulders above the others for the man of the match award but he needs a goalscoring target man player alongside him and not Sole who had a poor game along with the midfield who never dominated. Woking (3-5-2):
Gindre; Lorraine, Hutchinson, Gasson; Lambu (Marum 70ish), James, Pattison, Quamina, Bunce; Sole, Morgan.
Man of the Match: Marvin Morgan - caused problems all day long. Moment of the Match: The Staines Town management celebrations at the end. Nice to see some passion. Attendance: 1,400ish |
