LCS Events

Cards seek away joy

Brian Caffarey
2:19pm, Thu 30th Aug 2012
Mansfield Town v Woking
3pm on Saturday 1 September 2012

The Cards continue their testing sequence of away trips to fancied sides with a visit on Saturday to Mansfield Town, who lost in the play-off semi-final to York City last year and have had a disappointing start to this campaign. Woking will be hoping to expunge from their memories a surprising 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Braintree Town on Tuesday night but will have to improve on some sloppy defending in the last couple of games.

WOKING

The Cards didn’t play particularly badly on Tuesday evening, creating a number of decent chances and scoring an excellent goal through Brett Williams, but they were undone by a combination of poor defending, including two botched clearances by Aaron Howe, and some exceptional finishing by the Iron, especially by their impressive new signing from Histon, Dan Holman. Overall, too, Braintree’s workrate and covering seemed to give them the edge over a Woking side which looks as if it hasn’t quite yet gained the sharpness that is required in this demanding league.

Woking fans can be sure that Garry and Steve won’t panic but nor will they just sit back and hope that things will get better. Indeed, it would be no surprise to see Garry attempt to strengthen the squad before Saturday’s game, especially since it seems doubtful if Gez Sole and Bradley Bubb will have recovered sufficiently from the injuries they’ve picked up.

MANSFIELD TOWN

Paul Cox has restated the Stags’ promotion ambitions with 13 signings so far. Perhaps the most notable was that of Wrexham’s Jake Speight, who’s expected to form a lethal partnership up front with Matt Green. Other new arrivals include former Kidderminster Harriers’ top scorer Nick Wright, midfielder Godfrey Poku from Luton, defender John Dempster from Kettering, midfielder Jamie Tolley from Wrexham and former Card Jamie Hand. A player to watch is the exciting Lindon Meikle, who joined the Stags from Eastwood Town a year ago. Cox has recently signed Ryan Tafazolli, a 6’5� defender from Concord Rangers and who was formerly at Southampton’s Academy. He has also been talking to another giant defender, Exodus Geohaghon, currently with Kidderminster but who had a spell on loan with Mansfield last season.

Mansfield started the season with two unexpected defeats, at home to Newport County and away to Gateshead, and currently lie 16th in the table, one place below Woking, also with six points. Their results so far have been:

Mansfield Town 3 Newport County 4
Gateshead 4 Mansfield Town 1
Kidderminster Harriers 2 Mansfield Town 3
Mansfield Town 1 Hyde 0
Grimsby Town 4 Mansfield Town 1

GETTING THERE

One Call Stadium
Quarry Lane
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 5DA

Official website: www.mansfieldtown.net

By Coach
The Cards Trust coach leaves Kingfield at 10.00am. The cost is £17 for Trust members and £22 for non-members. To find out if there are any seats left, ring the Club Shop or email shop@wokingfc.co.uk

By car
Leave the M1 at junction 28, take the A38 to Mansfield and after 6.5 miles turn right at the crossroads into Belvedere Street. Then turn right into Quarry Lane. Journey time is about two and three-quarter hours. If you arrive early there is limited parking at the ground at a cost of £5. You run the risk of being clamped if you park at the retail car park.

By train
The ground is a five-minute walk from Mansfield Station. Cross the road towards a retail park and you will see the floodlights in front of you.
You need to make your way to London St Pancras to catch a train to Nottingham and then change for a service to Mansfield. Possible trains leave St Pancras at 10.30am, 11.15am and 11.30am. Via changes at Nottingham, these services should get you to Mansfield at 13.27, 13.57 and 14.27 respectively. Trains back from Mansfield leave at 17.14, 17.46 and 18.18.

ADMISSION PRICES

Adults: £15
Men over 65, Women over 60: £12
Students: £12
Under 16s: £8
Under 10s: £4

LAST TIME OUT

Woking 2 Mansfield Town 2
18 April 2009

The Cards desperately needed three points from this game in their attempt to stave off relegation but a draw saw them slip to fourth from bottom and, with other sides having games in hand, it looked increasingly probable that Woking would finish in the bottom four.

Graham Baker fielded an attacking line-up and Woking had the best of the play in the first half but fell behind to a superbly-executed overhead kick from Robert Duffy shortly before half-time. But the Cards bounced back straightaway with a back heel from Colin Miles after Oliver Bozanic’s corner had been played back in.

Although Mansfield looked much livelier as the game resumed after the break, it was the Cards who took the lead in the 67th minute as Joe Anderson slid in to convert a fine, low cross from Joel Ledgister. Mansfield, though, gained the momentum and in the 80th minute Duffy did what he had been threatening to do all afternoon, looping a header beyond Danny Knowles.

Tom Hutchinson was thrown on up front in an attempt to restore Woking’s lead but it was Mansfield who looked more likely to snatch all the points.

Woking: Danny Knowles, Patrice Konan, Paul Lorraine, Colin Miles, Joe Anderson, Paolo Vernazza (Matt Pattison, 74), Bradley Quamina, Oliver Bozanic (Goma Lambu, 75), Joel Ledgister, Liam Marum (Tom Hutchinson, 86), Wilfried Domoraud
Subs not used: Charlie Moone, Dan Sintim

NEXT GAME

The Cards follow up this away trip with another tough outing on Tuesday evening to Hereford. The next home game is on Saturday 8 September when Garry Hill’s side take on newly-promoted Nuneaton Town.

Come on, you Cards!

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Registered office The Laithwaite Community Stadium, Kingfield, Woking, Surrey, GU22 9AA

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