Specsavers

Cards face long trip

Brian Caffarey
5:13pm, Sun 17th Feb 2013
Barrow v Woking
7.45pm on Tuesday 19 February 2013

The Cards face a 600-mile round trip on Tuesday evening, when they travel to Barrow. The Bluebirds are struggling at the bottom of the table, finding goals hard to come by. Garry’s side nearly always bounce back quickly from a defeat, so he will be looking to his team to put Saturday’s home loss against Newport County behind them with a convincing display. But Barrow will be fighting hard for the points, so Woking can expect a very tough contest.

WOKING

The Cards’ fine run, which saw them notch six wins in seven league games, came to a disappointing end on Saturday when a strong and determined Newport side out-muscled them to build an unassailable 3-0 half-time lead. Billy Knott’s departure, just before the first goal went in, seemed to take some of the stuffing out of the side but they fought back well in the second half to claim a late consolation goal.

It remains to be seen how long Billy will be missing for but the Cards can’t afford to dwell on their misfortunes with games coming up thick and fast and some way to go still to reach Garry’s initial target of 50 points.

BARROW

This is the Bluebirds’ fifth season in the BSP. It’s been mostly a struggle but last season’s 13th-place finish was their best showing so far. Manager Dave Bayliss lost a couple of promising young players in the summer with the moves of Jack Mackreth and Andy Cook to Macclesfield and Grimsby respectively but made some useful signings, including defender Matt Flynn from Fleetwood; Garry Hunter, a very experienced midfielder from Morecambe; Alex-Ray Harvey, formerly with Burnley, who had a loan spell with the Bluebirds last season; and Danny L. Rowe, a winger on loan from Fleetwood. (There’s a Danny M Rowe too!)

Subsequent additions include burly striker Lee McEvilly, whom we’ve seen playing for Accrington amongst other clubs, and the evergreen Efe Sodje, once of Stevenage Borough, who’s just arrived on loan from Bury. Two more new faces are central defender Tom Eckersley, who is on an emergency loan from Stockport County to cover the injured Danny O’Donnell, and Sam Hibbert, another young defender, who’s recently been released by Stockport.

Dave Bayliss won the ‘manager of the month’ award in October but the Bluebirds’ form has gradually weakened since then, although they have shown that they can cause an upset, beating Newport away 2-0 and defeating Luton 1-0 at home. But they’ve lost their last four games, including a very disappointing 2-1 home defeat on Saturday against fellow strugglers Nuneaton Town: the Bluebirds were a goal ahead with only a few minutes to go but then threw the points away. They now sit one off the bottom of the table. At home they’ve won two, drawn five and lost seven, with only 13 goals scored and 25 conceded.

GETTING THERE

The Furness Building Society Stadium
Wilkie Road
Barrow-in-Furness
Cumbria
LA14 5UW

Official website: www.barrowafc.com

The Cards Trust is not running a coach to this game.

By car
Leave the M6 at J36, taking the A590 (signposted Barrow). Follow A590 all the way to the outskirts of Barrow, entering via industrial route towards the town centre. Passing the fire station on the right, take the next left into Wilkie Road. The ground is on the right-hand side. The AA estimates that the trip would take just over five hours from Woking.

By train
Nearest station: Barrow-in-Furness. You’d need to get a train from Euston and travel to either Preston or Lancaster and then catch a service to Barrow-in-Furness. For example, the 14.30 from Euston gets into Lancaster at 17.00, from where you could catch the 17.19 to Barrow-in-Furness, arriving at 18.25. Of course, you would not be able to return the same day.

The station is half a mile from the ground: walking would take around 10 minutes. On leaving the station, exit onto Holker Street and then turn right.

ADMISSION PRICES

Adults: £14 / £15
Over 65s: £11 / £12
Under 16s: £6
Under 7s: £3

LAST TIME OUT

Woking 3 Barrow 1
18 August 2012

The Cards’ second home game of the season saw them maintain their 100% home record following their hard-fought win over Dartford.

On a sweltering afternoon the visitors started more quickly, Garry Hunter giving them the lead after 15 minutes with a curled effort after he had previously hit the post. But Woking were soon level. After Kevin Betsy had been hacked down just outside the box Joe McNerney stepped up to place his free-kick into the corner.

The Cards took control after the break, with Loick Pires proving a handful for the Barrow defence. Woking gained the lead when Bradley Bubb flicked a header in from a Lee Sawyer free-kick and then added another goal on 79 minutes when a beautifully-weighted pass from Betsy put Pires through to finish emphatically.

Woking: Aaron Howe, Adam Newton, Mike Cestor, Mark Ricketts, Joe McNerney, Loick Pires, Bradley Bubb (Jack Parkinson 77), Kevin Betsy, Brett Williams (Gavin McCallum 66), Lee Sawyer (Jay Davies 90), Brett Johnson

Unused subs: Adam Doyle, Sam Beasant

Cautions: Brett Johnson 69

Barrow: Danny Hurst, Mike Pearson, Gavin Skelton, Sean Hessey, Tom Anderson, Paul Rutherford (Aaron Cole 67), James Owen, Garry Hunter, Adam Boyes (Vinny Mukendi 59), Joe Jackson (Obi Anoruo 59), Danny Rowe

Unused subs: Shaun Pearson, Richie Baker

Cautions: Danny Hurst 2, James Owen 53, Tom Anderson 63

Attendance: 1372

MOTM: Loick Pires


NEXT GAME

The Cards have another long trip on Saturday, when they travel to Southport. Woking’s next home game is against high-flying Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday 26 February.

Check the website and make sure that you’ve got all Woking’s re-arranged fixtures in your diary!

Come on, you Cards!

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