Lovetts

No pre-Christmas cheer as poor Cards crash out

Albert Cole
12:00am, Sat 16th Dec 2017
Woking 0 Maidenhead United 2
Buildbase FA Trophy 1st Round
16th December 2017

Anthony Limbrick made five changes from the side that performed so well against The Posh in midweek; bringing in Bristol City loanee keeper Jojo Wollacott for his Cards debut, as well as Matt Young, Josh Staunton, Chez Isaac and Regan Charles-Cook returning to the starting line-up.

Maidenhead kicked off with the Cards attacking towards the Leslie Gosden stand, and apparently adopting an unfamiliar back three, Orlu, Staunton and Wynter in the centre, and Young and Ralph operating as wing backs.

The game was slow to get going, but Maidenhead were always on the front foot, and when skipper Orlu conceded a free kick some 30 yards out, quite central, Christian Smith had the first real go at goal, forcing Wollacott into a fine save at full stretch low down to his right hand side. It took Woking 25 minutes to even remotely threaten, Charles-Cook curling a 25 yarder just wide of Carl Pentney’s right hand post. That was followed by a flowing Maidenhead move, which forced another good save from Wollacott from Sean Marks’ glancing header.

Woking just couldn’t get going, and in truth there didn’t seem to be any urgency to do so. The visitors should have taken the lead on 32 minutes with a classic route-one attack. Marks flicked on to Moses Emmanuel, who found himself one-on-one with Wollacott on the right hand side of the penalty area, but somehow dragged his shot wide of the far post when he seemed certain to score.

Just before half-time, Wollacott got down quickly to his left to deny Emmanuel following a swift Maidenhead attack.

Half-Time: Woking 0 Maidenhead United 0

One hoped that a good half-time talking to from Anthony Limbrick and Jason Goodliffe might have galvanised the Cards, and for literally a couple of minutes Matt Young at least got forward and we dared to hope, but unfortunately that was as good as it got. Indeed just five minutes after the restart and Woking were behind. Former Cards striker Emmanuel broke free on the edge of the box and had time to compose himself before easily firing the ball past Wollacott and into the corner of the net.

Three minutes later and Jason Banton, still feeling his way back carefully from injury, came on to replace Josh Staunton, another feeling his way after a long lay-off. The afore-mentioned Jason Banton did at least manage to get a shot away from the edge of the box, a fine effort actually which was well tipped over by Pentney. From the resulting corner, Richard Orlu’s downward header was cleared off the line.

On 78 minutes, Woking won a central free kick some 25 yards from goal. Inih Effiong, for so long no more than an outlet for Woking’s hoofed clearances from defence, put the ball down. There then followed an apparent misunderstanding with Banton, who eventually came back to gently roll the ball to Effiong, who proceeded to blaze well over the top. A complete waste of a promising free-kick.

The game, which appeared to be drifting aimlessly towards an inevitable conclusion, was settled beyond doubt on 89 minutes. Orlu lost possession in defence, being robbed by Jake Hyde who turned and shot past Wollacott.

The visitors had their tails up and were finishing strongly. In injury time Harry Pritchard broke away on the left and shot wide of the far post when he should have done better, and there was yet still time for the same player to hit the post as the Cards defence stood and watched.

Woking: Jojo Wollacott, Richard Orlu ©, Jordan Wynter, Josh Staunton, (Jason Banton 58), Matt Young, Chez Isaac, (Charlie Carter 79), Kane Ferdinand, Nathan Ralph, Regan Charles-Cook, Joe Ward, (Jamie Philpot 73), Inih Effiong.

Unused Subs: Joey Jones, Sam Mason

Maidenhead United: Carl Pentney, Remy Clerima, Rene Steer, Harol Odametey, Alan Massey ©, Moses Emmanuel, (Adrian Clifton 85), Sean Marks, (Jake Hyde 85), Harry Pritchard, Maximilian Kilman, (James Mulley 81), Jake Goodman, Christian Smith

Unused Subs: Nana Owusu, Ryan Peters

Goals: Moses Emmanuel 50, Jake Hyde 89

Referee: Adam Penwell

Attendance: 648

My MOTM: The award goes to debutant keeper Jojo Wollacott, who made two or three really good saves, and was competent throughout.

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