Cards aim for five in a row

Brian Caffarey
8:13am, Thu 27th Aug 2015

Boreham Wood v Woking
Vanarama National League
3pm on Saturday 29 August 2015

The Cards have made a great start to the season, winning four out of their opening five games and playing some very attractive football in the process. Garry Hill would love to keep the winning run going at Boreham Wood on Saturday, followed by a home game against Welling United on Monday afternoon, but heâ€™ll know that both clubs are more than capable of tripping up the Cards if they donâ€™t apply themselves fully. Garry is hoping that many Cards fans will make the relatively short journey to cheer the side on to three more points.

WOKING

The Cards continued to make light last Saturday of their injury problems in attack. Gez Sole was sidelined with a hamstring injury but Kadell Daniel came in to play a major part in the 5-2 demolition of Chester, with Bruno Andrade and Ben Pattie also joining in the fun from off the bench. Although the Cards were playing against ten men for three-quarters of the game, the quality of their football was nevertheless often eye-catching.

Barring any further injury problems, the expectation must be that Garry will start with the same eleven again.

BOREHAM WOOD

The Wood came through the play-offs last season to gain promotion to the National League: a terrific achievement for a club with limited support. Almost inevitably, the pundits marked them out for a quick return to the lower level but they have made a good start, especially given a very tough opening set of fixtures. They had an opening day win over FC Halifax Town but this was followed by defeats at the hands of Eastleigh, Gateshead and Forest Green Rovers, although it is clear that they were very much in the hunt in all those games against much-fancied sides. They produced the shock of the day last weekend when they beat Tranmere Rovers 2-0 away, with goals from Graeme Montgomery and Harry Crawford.

The Woodâ€™s success last season owed a lot to the goalscoring exploits of Lee Angol, who was on a season-long loan from Luton Town and who has now joined Peterborough United. But Allinson has managed to secure the services of experienced striker Charlie MacDonald, perhaps surprisingly released by Barnet. MacDonald has been injured but is reported to be returning to match fitness. Other signings include Danny Woodards, Scott Doe and Luke Howell â€“ all with plenty of League experience. Doe and Howell were team mates of Brian Saahâ€™s at Dagenham and Redbridge. Other additions include ex-Chelsea youngsters, midfielder/striker Billy Clifford and striker Conor Clifford (unrelated), while 19 year-old striker Jamie Lucas is on loan from Bristol Rovers. Lucas pulled a hamstring at Tranmere and will presumably be missing. Ricky Shakes, formerly with Ebbsfleet United but also with plenty of League experience, missed much of Woodâ€™s last season but should be a useful performer for them at this level.

GETTING THERE

Meadow Park
Broughinge Road
Borehamwood
Hertfordshire
WD6 5AL

Website: www.borehamwoodfootballclub.co.uk

By Coach

The Cards Trust coach leaves the Laithwaite Community Stadium at 12.30pm and costs Â£13 for members and Â£22 for non-members, with accompanied U16s at Â£7/Â£9 (a maximum of two with one adult). Phone or email (shop@wokingfc.co.uk) the Club Shop today to book your place.

By Car

Head for M25 west bound and exit J23, A1 Southbound to London. Exit slip road to Borehamwood. Join A5135 and go straight over two roundabouts. At third roundabout take second exit into Brook Road. Away supportersâ€™ car parking is in the Brook Road car park. There is also parking in the Civic car park about five minutesâ€™ walk away. The AA gives the journey time from Woking as about an hour but it would be wise to allow longer on a Bank Holiday weekend.

By Train

Nearest station: Elstree & Borehamwood on the Thameslink line

Take the train to Waterloo and then go by tube to St Pancras International or Kentish Town to pick up the Thamselink train to Elstree and Borehamwood. Direct trains from St Pancras International go from Platform B at 10, 24, 40 and 54 minutes past each hour and take 22/24 minutes.

Walking from the station to the ground takes around 20 minutes. When you come out of the train station, turn right and walk down Borehamwood High Street until you come to McDonalds on your left. Turn left into Brook Road. After about 500 yards turn right into Broughinge Road.

Trains back are at 08, 23, 38 and 53 minutes past each hour.

ADMISSION PRICES

Adults: Â£16
Over 65s: Â£12
U16s: Â£8

The game will be segregated, with away supporters occupying the South Stand, which can be accessed only from the entrance and turnstiles in the Brook Road car park.

Boreham Wood have provided the following useful document for supporters - BorehamWood-Woking.pdf

LAST TIME OUT

Woking 2 Boreham Wood 1
FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
26 October 2014

The Cards maintained their record of never having been beaten by the Wood but it was a close-run thing against the Conference South high-flyers. An end-to-end frantic first half saw chances for both sides, with Woodâ€™s Lee Angol and Graeme Montgomery a constant threat, but neither side could quite apply the finishing touch, partly due to some fine goalkeeping from Jake Cole and James Russell.

Woking finally made the breakthrough in the 56th minute, with Gez Sole scoring his 100th goal for the Club â€“ with a towering header!

Almost immediately, though, the Wood were back on terms, Ricky Shakes ghosting into the box to tap in the equaliser. But a few minutes later the Cards re-took the lead when Chris Arthur made a fine run, picking out Sole, who finished neatly into the corner.

Woking lived dangerously as the visitors piled on the pressure towards the end, with Shakes heading home only to be ruled offside.

Woking: Jake Cole, Adam Newton, Joe McNerney (c), Josh Payne (Joey Jones 70), Keiran Murtagh, Scott Rendell, Giuseppe Sole (Jack Marriott 86), Kevin Betsy, John Goddard (Theo Lewis 70), Chris Arthur

Unused subs: Mike Cestor, John Nutter, Dean Morgan, Andy Little

Goals: Giuseppe Sole 56, 61

Boreham Wood: James Russell, Luke Garrard, Jason Brown, Sam Cox, Josh Hill, Callum Reynolds, Mathew Whichelow (David Moli), Ricky Shakes, Lee Angol, Junior Morais, Graeme Montgomery (Scott Thomas)

Unused subs: Mario Noto, Austin Lipman, James Courtnage, Ryan Johnson, Greg Morgan

Goal: Ricky Shakes 57

Attendance: 1,107

COMING UP

The Cards are at home to old foes Welling United at 3pm on Bank Holiday Monday (31 August). A big crowd is expected â€“ come and join us!

Come on, you Cards!

P.S. Donâ€™t forget that BT Sport are showing highlights of National League games in their new show at 9.45pm on Sunday.

Injuries take their toll

Brian Caffarey
9:17pm, Sat 29th Aug 2015

Boreham Wood 1 Woking 1
29 August 2015

The thinness of Garry Hillâ€™s squad was all too apparent in the closing stages of this game as Keiran Murtagh, who had been switched to central defence to partner Brian Saah following injuries to Joey Jones, Mark Ricketts and Ismail Yakubu, strove manfully to prevent the home side from grabbing all three points in a game which, at half-time, had looked fairly comfortably in Wokingâ€™s grasp. Kadell Danielâ€™s superb free-kick had given the Cards a 1-0 lead at the break but substitute Junior Morias eventually levelled for the Wood in the 83rd minute.

The Cards lined up as expected in an unchanged side from that which had started the game against Chester a week ago. For the Wood, Charlie MacDonald made his first appearance of the season after recovering from injury.

On a warmish, calm late summer afternoon the Cards started brightly, with a â€˜sighterâ€™ from the influential Murtagh, followed by a clever through ball from the hard-working Dan Holman which nearly put Daniel through. John Goddard, not looking entirely comfortable right out on the left flank, then found himself in the left of the area but was dispossessed as he tried to jink past a defender.

The Wood responded in the 11th minute with a well-directed effort from Graeme Montgomery which looked destined for the top corner had not Jones managed to deflect it away from goal.

Daniel and Holman both looked determined to shoot on sight, with the former cutting in on his favoured left foot a couple of times but too far out to trouble keeper Preston Edwards.

By the quarter of an hour mark Woking had assumed a measure of control in midfield and a â€˜purpleâ€™ passage of attacking play saw the Cards put the Wood defence under some pressure, with a blocked Goddard effort and an audacious looping snap shot from Holman from all of thirty yards.

Woking continued to look the more likely side to score, with Daniel firing at the keeper from close range after working his way to the near post, with Holman free inside him. But the Wood also had a good spell around the 25-minute mark, prompted largely by Billy Clifford, ending with Luke Howell firing over the bar. Danny Woodards also made a fine run down the Woking right, his cross zipping right across the Woking area.

Chris Arthur, who had another confident game, then went on a typically powerful run, stinging Edwardsâ€™s finger tips with a shot which he could only parry for a corner, from which Yakubu might have expected to have done better with his downward header. More Woking pressure followed as Murtagh flicked on a header to Goddard, who crashed a volley against the crossbar.

However, it was a brief reprieve for the home side. In the 40th minute Murtagh, winning a tackle, strode towards the area, shimmied and was brought down. Daniel, fast becoming a free-kick specialist, stepped up to bend a superb kick past Edwards, giving the keeper no chance to move, let alone save the strike.

The Woodâ€™s best chance of the half came in the three minutes of added time as the ball ran loose in the Woking area but Jake Cole was down smartly to foil Howell.

Perhaps equally significant, though, was the aggravation of an early injury to Jones, who limped off to be replaced by Godfrey Poku.

Half-time: Boreham Wood 0 Woking 1

The Cards started the second half as though they were determined to nab a second goal quickly, with Holman going close and the Wood defence, from the resulting corner, then somehow managing to smuggle the ball over the bar to safety, followed by two more corners.

But the attacking momentum was not really sustained, with the Wood starting to find more joy in midfield, aided by two early substitutions. Montgomery and Billy Clifford both had shots on target, with the former also having an effort blocked by Ricketts. Wokingâ€™s cause was weakened further in the 57th minute when Ricketts was injured and, although he played on for another twenty minutes, he was clearly struggling.

A crucial substitution for the Wood came in the 75th minute when the pacy, direct Junior Morias entered the fray. Bruno Andrade, no slouch himself, replaced Ricketts a couple of minutes later after the planned substitution of Andrade for Goddard was aborted by Ricketts himself.

Andrade soon showed a clean pair of heels to his opposing full back as he raced the length of the field on one break from defence but his cross-cum-shot was well off target. Arthur executed a brave block at the other end to defy the Wood as they sensed that Woking were faltering. In the 83rd minute Morias jinked into the box and, making space for himself, fired into the corner to level the scores.

To add to Wokingâ€™s woes Yakubu was injured in the process and became the third Woking player of the afternoon to limp off. With no defender on the bench, and the natural replacements, Ricketts and Jones already sidelined, Garry Hill was forced to move Murtagh to centre back, with Ben Pattie coming on to join Holman up front.

In the seven minutes of added time the Wood strove to grab all three points, with Morias coming closest as he met a cross with a side-foot volley which Cole tipped over the bar. The final defensive action saw Murtagh recover from a defensive slip to execute a well-timed tackle in the box to preserve a point which was the least the Cards deserved.

Garry Hill and Steve Thompson will now have the difficult task of putting a team together for Mondayâ€™s game against old foes and â€˜bogeyâ€™ side Welling United. Come down to the Laithwaite Community Stadium to cheer on the Cards!

Boreham Wood: Preston Edwards, Ben Nunn (Junior Morias 76), Danny Woodards, Scott Doe, Callum Reynolds, Ricky Shakes, Luke Howell (Matthew Whichelow 54), Charlie MacDonald (Harry Crawford 54), Graeme Montgomery, Conor Clifford, Billy Clifford

Unused subs: James Russell, Josh Hill

Goal: Junior Morias 83

Booked: Callum Reynolds, Connor Clifford, Graeme Montgomery, Harry Crawford

Woking: Jake Cole, Jake Caprice, Chris Arthur, Mark Ricketts (Bruno Andrade 77), Brian Saah, Ismail Yakubu (Ben Pattie 87), Joey Jones (Godfrey Poku 48), Keiran Murtagh, John Goddard, Kadell Daniel, Dan Holman

Unused subs: Nick Hamann, Giuseppe Sole

Goal: Kadell Daniel 40

Booked: Brian Saah, Mark Ricketts

My MOTM: A close-run thing between Keiran Murtagh, Chris Arthur and Dan Holman, with my vote just going to Chris Arthur (pictured)

Attendance: 601 (258 Woking fans)

Boreham Wood LINEUP
23	Preston Edwards
2	Ben Nunn
3	Danny Woodards
5	Scott Doe
6	Callum Reynolds
8	Ricky Shakes
9	Luke Howell ('54)
10	Charlie Macdonald ('54)
11	Graeme Montgomery
16	Conor Clifford
20	Billy Clifford
BENCH
1	James Russell
7	Matthew Whichelow ('54)
15	Josh Hill
17	Junior Morias
19	Harry Crawford ('54)

WOKING LINEUP
1	Jake Cole
2	Jake Caprice
3	Chris Arthur
5	Brian Saah
6	Ismail Yakubu
4	Mark Ricketts
7	Joey Jones ('45)
8	Keiran Murtagh
16	Kadell Daniel
11	John Goddard
20	Dan Holman
BENCH
18	Nick Hamann
12	Godfrey Poku ('45)
15	Bruno Andrade
10	Giuseppe Sole
19	Ben Pattie