Woking Aldershot Town
Vanarama National League
1st January 2024

Woking kicked off the New Year by hosting local rivals Aldershot Town. Manager Michael Doyle made two changes to the side who held the Shots to a 0-0 draw at the EBB on Boxing Day; Scott Cuthbert returned in place of Timi Odusina, who took a place on the bench, whilst Jim Kellermann missed out through injury, which meant a return for Paul Osew, the Woking hero at Dorking in December.

As for the Shots, they made just the one change from Boxing Day, Ryan Glover replaced by Olly Scott. Woking kicked the game off towards the KRE, but just four minutes in found themselves having to make a substitution when Manny Oyeleke went off injured. On came Tunji Akinola, and the following ten minutes saw Woking dominating possession, but Aldershot and in particular their coveted midfielder Josh Stokes showed what he’s about, firing just wide from the edge of the box.

On 16 minutes, excellent play from Padraig Amond, Osew and Rhys Browne saw the latter just dink his effort into the side netting with Jordi van Stappershoef narrowing the angle. However, on 25 minutes, a lapse in concentration from the Cards saw Stokes pouncing on the ball, and he found Lorent Tolaj, who finished excellently into the bottom right-hand corner via the post.

It took just three minutes for Woking to level the proceedings. A superb run and shot from Akinola saw only an outstanding save from van Stappershoef deny him, but there was Browne to tap home and send the KRE wild.

But on 35 minutes, Aldershot retook the lead. A bursting run down the left from Tolaj saw his ball into the box misread by Cuthbert, and there was Tyler Frost to tap into an empty net. It was all Aldershot for the rest of the half, and a big chance came in first half injury time as a cross from Stokes was emphatically met by Tolaj, but his bicycle kick went just wide of the top corner. An even first half, but the Shots had been clinical, in particular Tolaj.

Half-time: Woking 1-2 Aldershot Town

Aldershot got the second half underway, with Woking kicking towards the Leslie Gosden Stand. The game had gone pretty flat when Michael Doyle sent on Reece Grego-Cox in place of Paul Osew on 63 minutes. A Shots defender gave the ball away minutes later to Browne, but there was Cian Harries to make a good sliding challenge.

Another Aldershot mistake saw van Stappershoef almost slice the ball into his own net from what seemed an innocuous backpass, before the resultant corner saw Dennon Lewis force the Dutchman into a save under his own crossbar.

After Jack Barham was slipped in behind the Woking defence on 73 minutes, he rounded Andre Jr before drilling the ball towards goal, but Dan Moss made a superb block on the line and received the plaudits from his goalkeeper afterwards.

But Barham would get his name on the scoresheet on 82 minutes. A well worked free kick saw Haji Mnoga’s header parried by Andre Jr but the striker nipped in to tap into an empty net and put the result beyond doubt.

Or so Aldershot thought. Out of nothing, Amond’s cross found Grego-Cox, and cushioned header beat van Stappershoef and nestled into the bottom corner on 88 minutes. Josh Stokes’ dive inside the box saw him receive his marching orders for a second yellow.

But despite a lengthy amount of injury time, it was the Shots who prevailed. Clinical when it mattered and showed good game management to see the game out at 3-2. Woking will travel to Solihull on Saturday looking to put things right.



Woking: Alexis Andre Jr, Dan Moss, Josh Casey, Scott Cuthbert, Luke Wilkinson, Manny Oyeleke (Akinola 4’), Paul Osew (Grego-Cox 63’) Rohan Ince (Anderson 77’), Padraig Amond, Dennon Lewis, Rhys Browne

Unused subs: Jaaskelainen, Odusina, Anderson

Bookings: Ince 65’, Lewis 79’, Casey 79’, Grego-Cox 86’

Goals: Browne 28’, Grego-Cox 88’





Aldershot Town: Jordi van Stappershoef, Haji Mnoga, Ollie Harfield, Cian Harries, Coby Rowe (Glover 75’), Stuart O’Keefe, Tyler Frost, Lorent Tolaj (Bray 88’), Josh Stokes, Olly Scott, Jack Barham (Thomas 88’)

Unused subs: Widdrington, Bray, Willard

Goals: Tolaj 25’, Frost 35’

Bookings: Rowe 50’, Harfield 74’, Stokes 79’, 90+1’, Tolaj 79’

Sent off: Stokes

Attendance: 5321