WOKING 0 YORK CITY 2
11 October 2008
There are matches when you just know that missed opportunities are going to come back to haunt you a little later on. This was one of those games. After the smoke, unleashed by a group of York fans who seemed to be under the illusion they were at the ?San Siro?, had cleared, Woking started reasonably well with some decent attacking runs up either wings. Unfortunately, the impact of the absence of Domoraud, or anyone else up front with the desire to shoot, became all too plain, as crosses and chances close to the York goal came and went without anyone taking advantage of them.
Ledgister and Marum should have both put the ball in the net in the first 15 minutes, after some great approach play, but the lack of confidence in front of goal was all too clear for the fans to see. I can only suspect if just one of those chances had been taken the end result would have been very different for the home side, as we seem to need a confidence boost in each match, to go ahead and produce the sort of football we know we can play. Unfortunately, we didn?t get the goal we needed and the remainder of the first half degenerated into a bit of a midfield-hoofing match with few chances for either side, though York started to pick up more possession and put together some reasonable passing moves. After a relatively shaky start York would have been the happier side going in at half-time at 0-0.
Half-time: Woking 0 York City 0
The second half belonged to York really. Woking huffed and puffed but all shape seemed to have been lost and they were pushed back deeper and deeper as the half progressed. Saying that, the second half was no more of an advertisement for the pleasures of watching Conference football than the first half was, really. Fundamental errors abounded on either side and it would not have been a surprise, with 20 minutes left to play, if the match had finished as a scoreless draw.
Delano Sam-Yorke replaced Sole in the 64th minute, just before York pounced to get their first goal as Purkiss passed to Ben Wilkinson, who lobbed Pidgeley from ten yards out. Pidgeley managed to get a fingertip to the ball but couldn?t prevent it from lamely bouncing into the left-hand corner of the net.
Pattison came on for Lorraine in the 68th minute but could do little to stop York taking full control of the remainder of the match, with McBreen scoring an all too simple chance in the 72nd minute to make it 2-0 to the visitors.
To compound what had evolved into a bad day at the office for the home side, Hutchinson was correctly sent off for an all too obvious offence, leading to a second yellow card in the 84th minute, before a fit of petulance led Quamina to follow him off in the 90th minute.
With 2,341 fans attending this match, it was a shame that we saw a reversion in performance to what we witnessed back in August rather than in the last few matches. It was surely a lost opportunity to encourage people to return to Kingfield but, with luck, it was also just a one-off blip in the recovery plan.
Woking : Pidgeley, Lorraine (Pattison 68), Hutchinson, Miles, Bunce, Konan, Ledgister, Quamina, Sole (Sam-Yorke 64), Marum (Moone 73), Lambu.
Subs Not Used: Williams, Worner.
Sent Off: Hutchinson (84), Quamina (90).
Booked: Quamina, Hutchinson.
Sponsor?s (Beer O?Clock Crew) MOTM: Goma Lambu
York : Ingham, Purkiss, McGurk, Kelly, Parslow, Robinson, Rusk, Wilkinson, Holmes (Greaves 80), McBreen (Boyes 82), Farrell.
Subs Not Used: Russell, Mimms, Shepherd.
Booked: Rusk.
Goals: Wilkinson 66, McBreen 72.
Att: 2,341
Ref: K Johnson (Bristol).
