League leaders chasing fifth straight win

Dover Athletic vs Woking
Vanarama National League
Monday 26th August

The Cards will look to make it two wins in three days and five consecutive National League victories on Monday afternoon as they make the trip to Dover Athletic.

Woking’s remarkable start to the season continued Saturday with a 2-0 home win over previous league leaders Solihull Moors. Jake Hyde and Manny Parry scored the goals early on and another brave defensive performance followed as a Ben Gerring-inspired backline protected the league’s best defensive record. It leaves the Cards sitting pretty at the top of the table with 15 points from six games – all with just three goals conceded. However, Alan Dowson will know his team will have to be at their best yet again if they want to stay there. The Cards have lost on their last five visits to Crabble and haven’t won a competitive fixture away to Dover since November 2011 – when Jack King, Dale Binns and Elvis Hammond scored for Woking in a 3-0 win.

The Whites, managed by Andy Hessenthaler, have themselves had a strong start to the season. After finishing in a slightly disappointing 13th place last season, their lowest league finish since promotion to the National League in 2014, they have started this campaign in far better form, winning four of their first six games, accumulating 12 points to sit sixth in the table at this early stage. Their best form has come away from home where they have won three straight games, beating Chesterfield (2-1), Barnet (1-0) and, on Saturday, Sutton United (2-1). Their three home games have resulted in a 2-1 win over Wrexham, sandwiched between 2-1 defeats against Dagenham & Redbridge and Torquay United.

As always, the team would really appreciate your support this weekend, particularly as it’s been so brilliant on away days already this season. We hope to see you there once again on Monday!

Woking Team News

Dowse made just the one change on Saturday as Hyde was rewarded for his brace against AFC Fylde with a start in place of Ibrahim Meite – quickly rewarding his manager’s faith with his third of the season. The boss also reverted to his favoured 5-3-2 formation with Josh Casey moving inside alongside Gerring and Parry, Tyreke Johnson playing at left wing-back, and with Hyde up front alongside Dave Tarpey.

There’s every chance we’ll see a couple of changes on Monday after just a 48-hour turnaround. Moussa Diarra and Max Kretzschmar are both believed to be fit, or close to it, but will need to wait their chance to get back in a winning team. Godfrey Poku will also be in Dowse’s mind after a solid 25-minute cameo against Solihull.

Dover Athletic Team News

Former Woking striker Inih Effiong was the matchwinner against Sutton as he found the net for the third consecutive game and will likely be the dangerman once again on Monday. Effiong scored 10 goals for the Cards two seasons ago before leaving for Ross County mid-season. His move to Scotland didn’t work out and he joined Dover in the summer of 2018. He scored 11 times last season.

The full team lining up for the Whites on Saturday consisted of Lee Worgan, the vastly experienced former Maidstone United keeper, in goal; in defence were Fulham academy graduate Josh Passley, summer signing Aaron Simpson, who was previously with Wolves and was most recently at Irish club Waterford, captain and England C international Kevin Lokko, and former Aldershot Town loanee Will de Havilland, who was with Maidstone last season.

In midfield were Michael Woods, a part of the Harrogate Town team which reached the play-offs last season, the experienced former Eastleigh man Jai Reason, along with Kurtis Cumberbatch; out wide were Steven Rigg, a recent addition from Gateshead, and the experienced Ricky Modeste, back with the club after a spell at Billericay Town, whilst Effiong was the focal point up front. A couple of players to watch out for from the bench are Nassim L’Ghoul, the dangerous winger who was at Welling United last season, and Alfie Pavey who got a brace in the opening day win over Chesterfield.

Last Time Out

Woking 1-2 Dover Athletic – National League (28 April 2018)

The Cards relegation to National League South was confirmed on the final day of the season. The hosts, needing a win to have any chance of survival, put in a brave performance and came close to pulling off the great escape. After Charlie Carter cancelled out Giancarlo Gallifuoco’s opening goal, and with relegation rivals losing elsewhere, just one more goal was required. But with Woking throwing everything forward they were caught out at the back and substitute Keanu Marsh-Brown got the winner with virtually the last kick of the game.

On the Day

The ground can be found on Lewisham Road; the postcode is CT17 0QJ – a drive of around one hour and 40 minutes from the Laithwaite Community Stadium. The main railway station in Dover is Dover Priory which is approximately 2 miles from Crabble. The closest station to Crabble is Kearsney which is about a 10-15-minute walk from the ground.

There is a travelling club coach for supporters which departs at 11am – although at the time of writing there are very limited spaces remaining. Please contact Adam Bowyer (adam.bowyer@cardstrust.co.uk) or call the club shop for more information.

Ticket prices are £18 for adults, £15 for those over the age of 60, £9 for those under the age of 18, and free for anyone under the age of 11 accompanied by a paying adult.

Next Up

The Cards next game is on Saturday afternoon when Barrow are the visitors to the Laithwaite Community Stadium. That’s followed by another home game three days later against Torquay United.