Cards looking to pull off FA Cup upset and seal dream tie

Swindon Town vs Woking
Emirates FA Cup 2nd Round
Sunday 2nd November

Alan Dowson will look to take Woking into the third round of the FA Cup for the first time in 22 years on Sunday as his side make the visit to League 2 side Swindon Town.

It’s the third year in a row that the Cards have made the second-round proper of the competition, going out to Football League sides Accrington Stanley and Peterborough United respectively in the last two seasons, but the fact that the journey of this year’s team started two rounds earlier arguably makes the occasion all the more momentous as we look to progress past a fifth opponent and set up a potentially money-spinning glamour tie against Premier League opposition.

Swindon, who last played the Cards in a comfortable 3-0 pre-season win in 2017, have endured a difficult season thus far and sit in an underwhelming 12th place in their own division. They also found it tough against non-league opposition in the first round of the cup, eventually overcoming National League North side York City 2-1, a result which saw the end of manager Phil Brown’s short-lived spell in charge. New manager Richie Wellens has had already made his mark with back-to-back league wins but he’ll face a new kind of pressure on Sunday with his team clear favourites for the first time under his leadership and the County Ground crowd no doubt expecting a positive result.

Many Woking fans will still have fantastic memories from the FA Cup, particularly those who were lucky enough to be watching in the early 1990s, and we hope that many more will be in attendance this weekend to hopefully make some new ones!

Woking Team News

The Cards will definitely be without the suspended Charlie Hester-Cook who misses the game in addition to the suspension he served in the league at Gloucester City as a result of picking up too many bookings in this competition. Jamar Loza also remains a significant doubt after missing the games against Slough Town and Folkestone Invicta whilst Charlie Wassmer is cup-tied.

Barring any new injuries in training this week, Dowse should otherwise have a full squad to pick from, including the returning Christian Jolley who returned to action in last week’s friendly against Westfield. There may also be a recall for Reggie Young, who has been in fine form for Farnborough in the last few weeks with a number of goals including a hat-trick, with his initial one-month loan deal now due up.

Swindon Town Team News

For their last game, a 3-2 win over Stevenage Borough, Wellens selected former Tottenham and Liverpool academy player Lawrence Vigouroux in goal; in defence was West Ham graduate Kyle Knoyle, Ellis Iandolo, Ipswich loanee Luke Woolfenden, who spent time with National League side Bromley last season, and Sid Nelson who’s on loan from another Championship club, Millwall.

In midfield was key player and former Cards loanee Michael Doughty, who has six goals in all competitions this season, along with Brighton loanee Steven Alzate and the veteran former Portsmouth, Bolton and West Ham player Matt Taylor; the front three included Keshi Anderson, signed from Crystal Palace earlier this year, academy graduate Sol Pryce who scored twice in this game in what was his first senior league match, and another youngster Scott Twine who got the third.

Last Time Out

Swindon Town 1-0 Woking (FA Cup 1st Round – Saturday 7th November 2009)

Putting the aforementioned friendly to one side the Cards do have relatively recent FA Cup history against Swindon having gone down 1-0 a round earlier during the 2009/10 season. Swindon, a League 1 side at the time, edged a close-fought encounter thanks to a Billy Paynter goal with the Robins’ manager Danny Wilson praising the efforts of a Woking side which included the likes of Tom Hutchinson, Jon Boardman, Mark Ricketts, Giuseppe Sole, Delano Sam-Yorke and Premier League midfielder Harry Arter.

Unsurprisingly, it was Sole who came closest to snatching an equaliser with a trademark free-kick, but sadly the Cards fell just short.

On the Day

The County Ground can be found on County Road and has the postcode SN1 2ED – it’s around a one hour and 40-minute drive from the Laithwaite Community Stadium. The nearest station is Swindon which is around a 20-minute walk from the ground. The Cards Trust are running several coaches to the ground and at the time of writing places can still be booked at a cost of £20 for adults and £15 for under-16s with a £5 discount for all Trust members. Matchday tickets can also be picked up at the club or, alternatively, purchased at the stadium on the day. The cost is £10 for adults, £7 for concessions, £5 for under-18s and £1 for under-11s.

Next Up

The Cards are back on the road in mid-week as they enter the Surrey Senior Cup for the first time this season – travelling to Croydon on Wednesday evening. Our next league action is next Saturday when we take on Weston-super-Mare. Our next home game is the following weekend when we host National League side Maidstone United in the FA Trophy.