Laithwaite Independent Financial Advisers

Cards must keep up the pressure

Brian Caffarey
3:10pm, Thu 15th Dec 2011
Thurrock v Woking
3pm on Saturday 17 December 2011

The Cards travel to Thurrock on Saturday nine points clear of second-placed Welling United, who have a game in hand. The ‘Fleet are bottom of the table but, with a new management team in place and a host of new players, cannot be taken lightly. Garry Hill will be anxious to ensure that hard-won points recently gained against top sides are not thrown away in apparently easier fixtures. Get along to Ship Lane if you can to support the team!

WOKING

Injury worries have surfaced, with Paris Cowan-Hall out with a hamstring injury, sustained in the Sutton game, and Mark Ricketts expected to be missing for some six weeks with a broken leg from the Dartford match. The recent signing of Ben Smith provides valuable cover in midfield but there is no doubt that Ricketts is a key player for the Cards and will be sorely missed.

Garry Hill implied after Tuesday’s game that he wasn’t too happy with the contribution of some or all of the substitutes he put on in the second half, so he may feel that his options for covering absences are a bit more limited than previously thought. Nevertheless, the squad should be more than capable, if they play to anything like their recent form, of getting another three points from this match.

THURROCK

Thurrock have had a disastrous season so far. They prop up the table with only 12 points from 19 games. Their home record is particularly dire, with no wins, three draws and seven defeats, with only five goals scored and 24 conceded. The recent home defeat to fellow strugglers Staines Town led manager Robbie Garvey to quit, handing the reins over to his assistants Lee Goodwin and Grant Gordon. They’ve lost no time in bringing in a host of new players: Luke l’Anson and Nathan Ashton from Dover; Ahmed Deen, most recently on loan to Cambridge City; Jamie Davis; Anthony Furlonge, a young defender on loan from Southend United; and Blaine Hudson, a defender who had just returned to Cambridge United from a loan spell with Cambridge City.

Garvey had already brought in some highly experienced players to try to turn the club’s fortunes round. The line-up for Thurrock’s last game, a 3-2 defeat at Eastleigh, which was Lee Goodwin’s and Grant Gordon’s first game in charge, included Craig Holloway, Stuart Thurgood, Lee Boylan and Paul Terry – all very familiar names in the non-League world. Ex-Card Steve Ferguson is also in the squad, along with Dean Cracknell, Bertie Brayley and Drew Broughton.

GETTING THERE

Ship Lane
Grays
Essex
RM15 4HB
Website
http://www.thurrock-fc.com

By Coach

Departs: 12.30pm
Cards Trust Members: £13
Non-Members: £18

Phone the Club Shop or email shop@wokingfc.co.uk to book your place.

By Car

Head for the M25 Eastbound. When going through the Dartford tunnel use the left-hand bore. On emerging from the tunnel leave the motorway at the first exit, Junction 31. This leads to a large roundabout controlled by traffic lights. Take the third exit, which is Ship Lane, and the ground is about 75 yards on the right.

By Train

Nearest stations: Purfleet or Chafford Hundred (Lakeside Shopping Centre)

From Waterloo take the Jubilee Line to West Ham, then the train to Purfleet.
The journey should take around 2 hours altogether.

Both stations are around 2 miles away so it would be a long walk to get there on foot. However, the number 372 bus runs from Lakeside to Ship Lane.

ADMISSION PRICES

Adults: £12
Concessions: £7
U15: £3

LAST SEASON

Woking 1 Thurrock 0
1 February 2011

Garry Hill’s second game in charge marked the beginning – though it was far from obvious on the day – of a fantastic run of league results which took the Cards into the play-off places. On a foggy, chilly evening Thurrock came to Kingfield with a good recent record and proved tough opponents. In the end the difference came down to a superb piece of finishing from Elvis Hammond on the half-hour mark. Picking up, to the right of the area, a pass or shot from Dave Gilroy, Woking’s ace striker lashed the ball back across keeper Woolley. Kieran Murtagh, making his debut, showed glimpses of the excellent form which was to follow.

Thurrock 0 Woking 1
12 March 2011

This narrow win in a scrappy error-strewn game was Woking’s ninth win in ten league games, with only one goal conceded. New signings Andy Burgess and James Walker were on the bench. Woking’s cause was helped midway through the second half when burly defender Rob Swaine, who’d threatened at set pieces, was shown a straight red for upending Jay Davies. But it took an own goal in injury time – Olima deflecting into his own net an excellent cross from Aswad Thomas – to gain the Cards three more precious points.

Come on, you Cards!

P.S. Don’t forget that Woking are at home on Boxing Day to Farnborough. Kick-off is at 1pm. Going to a match on Boxing Day is a great football tradition, so line up your family and friends now for a trip to Kingfield!

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