Lovetts

Cards Start With A Win

Alan Worth
11:39pm, Tue 13th Jul 2010
SEVENOAKS TOWN 1 WOKING XI 2

Pre-Season Friendly
13th July 2010

A Woking XI began their pre-season with an “unofficial� friendly this evening against Kent League outfit Sevenoaks Town at Greatness Park. In a team made up of triallists and Academy players, Graham used only two of the current squad - Daniel Sintim, who played throughout, and Matt Pegler, who was given forty minutes in the second half.

On an inevitably hard and bumpy pitch the game was played throughout at a frenetic pace. With triallists doing all they could to catch the manager’s eye and Academy players only just introduced to a group of new players it was unsurprising if at times the football was a little disjointed. But in the end the Cards deserved their win with a performance that gradually improved as the match progressed and saw a young Woking side dominate much of the second half.

At the start, however, it was Sevenoaks who had the first scoring opportunity. A free kick conceded by David Ray was blasted wide of the Cards goal by Minter.

But Woking had the lead almost immediately after, with Troy Powell linking up with Gomez Dali. One-on-one with the keeper, Dali made no mistake with his finish.

The ‘Oaks’ were not going to let this early setback hand the ascendancy to their visitors as they fought back strongly. Cash was almost through on goal but ruled offside. Meanwhile keeper Will Vines, on trial from Barnet, was called on to prevent Minter latching onto a bouncing through ball. He remained untroubled for much of the half and his powerful clearances helped Woking launch a number of dangerous raids on the hosts’ goal.

After a free kick from Chris Sullivan had been over hit, Dali almost managed to make the most of a quick goal kick that had ended in confusion in the Sevenoaks defence. The forward almost doubled the lead after thirty minutes when he got his head to an Anson Cousins’ cross from the left. His downward header was goal bound but Funnell made an excellent save diving to his right and turning the ball away for a corner.

After forty minutes Dali had to be substituted after incurring a head injury. Another triallist, Danny Fernandez, replaced him.

On the stroke of half time Sevenoaks equalised. A ball crossed in from the left was met by Webb, who put his shot away clinically, leaving Vines with no chance.

Half-time: Sevenoaks Town 1 Woking 1

For the start of the second half Graham Baker made two changes, with Gavin Miller on for Neema Doucoure and Josh Casey replacing Troy Powell. Casey played as a left back with Ryan Watts, who had started in that position, moving to the left side of midfield. These two triallists combined well together, with Watts looking increasingly impressive in his new role. In fact early on Casey made an excellent run through the very middle of the Sevenoaks defence – his final lay-off unfortunately finding a Woking forward in an offside position.

The inevitable string of substitutions followed, but for Woking this appeared to create less disruption than the multiple replacements made by the home side.

Ollie Palmer was on after five minutes of the second half and came close on a number of occasions, benefiting from a number of good lay-offs from Fernandez.

Watts also came close on the hour mark with a lobbed effort after the home side had stopped, expecting a free kick that was not awarded. The ball flew just over the bar with the keeper back pedalling fast.

By now the Cards were dominating play but unable to find a winner. Ollie Palmer, Danny Fernandez and Charlie Turnbull all had chances but good goalkeeping and last ditch defending denied the threatening Woking attack. But it was Turnbull who finally gave the Cards the victory they deserved, particularly after a dominant second half performance.

With nine minutes remaining the Cards youngster drilled his shot from outside the box into the bottom right hand corner of the net after good work from Watts and Palmer.

The management team will have hopefully learnt plenty about the triallists on show and for the Academy players this was a useful first workout against a hardworking Sevenoaks side. Of the triallists Ryan Watts caught the eye particularly in his second half, midfield role and a good number of Academy players showed what a rich crop of talented youngsters we have at Kingfield. These games are meaningless in terms of prospects for the new season but it’s always good to start with a win.

The pre-season games now come thick and fast as Graham prepares his part-time squad for our second season in Blue Square South. We’re off and running!


Woking: Will Viner* (Matt Pegler 51), David Ray (Aaron Gough 58), Ryan Watts, Charlie Turnbull, Daniel Sintim, Neema Doucoure (Gavin Miller 46), Chris Sullivan (Ollie Palmer 51), Matt Powell, Gomez Dali (Danny Fernandez 40), Troy Powell (Josh Casey 46), Anson Cousins (Paul Davies 59)

*Triallists in italics

Sevenoaks Town: (Starting Line Up) Funnell, Webb, Cook, Briggs, Fofana, Burgess, Minter, Quinn, Cash, Creasey, Brown

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