Woking 4 Westfield FC 0
Pre-season friendly
24th July 2018
Beautiful clear blue skies greeted the players for their warm-ups - although at 26°C (79°F), the players didn't need much in the way of heat!
The LGS was closed, but there was plenty of room for the several hundred fans that attended for the friendly against local club Westfield FC, which plays in the Bostik League, South Central Division, two levels below Woking, so this was expected to be a less stern test than the most recent game against Salford. That’s how it turned out and the Cards were comfortable winners. The defence had another clean sheet to celebrate and goals from open play have started to appear.
Before the match there was a well observed minute’s silence in memory of John Martin who was a past councillor for Kingfield and Westfield and was very involved with both clubs.
New faces included Kiran Khinda-John
(previously at Eastbourne but now released and who played for Dagenham a couple of weeks ago) and he played at centre half alongside Jack Cook, with Sam Mason in goal, Dan Choules
(from the Academy) at right back and Dan Spence on the left. Spence is still listed on the Sutton United site as one of their players and there was unconfirmed talk of a possible loan at the match. The back five stayed the same for the whole match.
Ahead of them were Max Kretzschmar
(Captain) and Charlie Hester-Cook with Reggie Young
(a graduate of the Academy) wide on the left and Paul Hodges on the right. Providing the opening forward line were Jake Hyde and Greg Luer.
The game started with Woking on the front foot and with Reggie Young particularly impressive on the left wing, although Hodges was also causing concern for Westfield on the right. Woking dominated possession and it was the seventh minute before Mason had to make his first save. The crowd was expectant after Hodges was fouled 25 yards out, but Kretzschmar shot just over. Young had a shot blocked and Hodges had a shot saved after a good run.
After a third of the first half, there was the first serious threat on the Woking goal and poor marking allowed Westfield a good chance, but the header went over the bar. There was another missed header and a free kick from a dangerous position, and the ten minutes after the first chance was Westfield’s best spell in the match.
Woking got back into the ascendancy and after half an hour, there was a fine seven-pass Woking move, but Hyde headed over. In the 31st minute, Kretzschmar drew the attentions of three defenders just outside the box and won a free kick which he despatched neatly into the bottom right corner to make it 1-0. Westfield tried to react, but a weak shot went wide.
On 35 minutes, Young was injured after appearing to catch his studs in the turf and was down for some time, but came back to show the effects weren’t serious. After some nice work in midfield, in the 41st minute, Hyde beat the offside trap to pick up a great through ball and after committing the keeper, slotted the ball home to make it 2-0.
Again Westfield tried to react and some poor defending by the home side gave a chance that might have been converted by a better side, but Woking finished the half at 2-0.
Half Time – Woking 2 Westfield FC 0
The Cards kept the same line up in the second half, while Westfield made two changes, with the full backs Silvano, Camara and TJ coming off and Chiloka and Anuilar and Downy coming on.
However, after only four minutes of the second half, Young and Hester-Cook went off for the Cards, to be replaced by Declan Appau and Danny Taylor.
Westfield again made some effort to impact on Woking, but it was the home side that was most threatening and Moaners Corner had plenty of opportunity to comment after what looked like a clear penalty was not given just in front of them as Woking attacked the LGS. Jack Cook made a great run through and pass, but the final shot hit the side netting. Danny Taylor led a good attack and got in a dangerous cross.
On the hour, Saraiva and Duane Ofori-Acheampong came on for Hodges and Luer
However, at the other end there was a misunderstanding between Mason and his defenders that almost let in Aaron Watson for Westfield, who had been lively and busy, but, fortunately, the Cards again rode their luck. In the 65th minute, Woking got a good break with Ofori-Acheampong crossing and Jake Hyde scored his second goal. 3 – 0 and the home fans started to relax!
Jake Hyde slots home Woking's 3rd goal, from Duane's cross on the left (pic: David Holmes)
Appau was brought down just outside the box, but the resulting free kick was saved.
In the 71st minute. Kretzschmar was replaced by Kane Ferdinand and shortly after, Choules (who did not look like a recent Academy graduate) slipped allowing Watson of Westfield to get in a good cross, but the subsequent shot only rattled the hoardings by Mason’s left hand post.
At 80 minutes, Bellmaine, Burnham and Steer came off for Westfield to be replaced by Brambt, and Grosset with TJ returning to the field.
The game looked as though it might peter out, but in the 84th minute, Appau running in from the left got onto a through pass from Saraiva, and just beat the keeper to the ball to prod it into the net. 4 - 0.
In summary, this was a good chance for Woking to build some confidence going forward, but against better opposition, the couple of bad defensive mistakes might have been punished. There were some signs of very cohesive play and especially early on, some sharp wing play. More might have been made of the opportunities for wing play in the second half, when Ofori-Acheampong came on but four good goals was a positive return.
Woking: 1 Sam Mason, 2 Dan Choules, 3 Dan Spence, 4 Kiran Kinda-John, 5 Jack Cook, 6 Charlie Chester-Cook (14 Declan Appau 49’), 7 Paul Hodges (Fabio Saraiva 60’), 8 Max Kretzchmar © (18 Kane Ferdinand 71’), 9 Jake Hyde, 10 Greg Luer (15 Duane Ofori-Acheampong), 11 Reggie Young (12 Danny Taylor 49’).
Unused Subs: 13 Berti Schotterl (GK), 16 Kofi Halliday.
Westfield FC: 1 Gary Ross, 2 Joaquim Silvano (15 Endo Chiloka 45’), 3 Calvin Camara (16 Quentin Anuilar), 4 Abi Dolaji, 5 Matt Steer (7 TJ 80’), 6 Dale Burnham (14 Rawu Grossett 80’), 7 TJ (17 Louie Downey), 8 Adam Bellmaine (12 Will Brambt 80’), 9 Graeme Purdy, 10 Karle Carder-Andrews, 11 Aaron Watson
Unused Subs: 18 Jordan Stepney, 19 Danilo, 20 Carl Dowse, 21 Connor Chaws, 22 Jason Dwumro
Goals: Kretzschmar 31’, Hyde 41’, Hyde 65’, Appau 84’
Bookings: None
Referee: Ryan Atkins
Man of the Match: It was hard to pick a man of the match – there were a lot of good displays, especially from Hyde but in the end, Young’s commitment and fine wing play swung it for me.
