Specsavers

Woking encounter tough lower league opposition at Dowse’s old stomping ground

David Legrand
12:00am, Sat 20th Jul 2019
Dunston UTS 1 Woking 1
Pre-season Friendly
20th July 2019

Woking travelled to the far north-east of England and Dunston UTS for the second leg of their whirlwind tour of the north, having taken on and beaten League newcomers Salford City less than 24 hours previously. This game was arranged through Alan Dowson’s contacts, as it was his club when he was younger, in the part of the world where he grew up.

A small crowd – less than 200 – gathered to watch the match at Dunston’s small ground in the middle of an industrial estate. Storms had been hinted at in the weather forecast, but they didn't materialise and it turned out to be a nice day.

With a couple of exceptions, Woking’s first team squad were present again with a couple of trialists who have appeared in previous PSFs in the starting line-up. As members of the Northern Premier League Division One North West, Dunston are 3 levels below Woking in the football pyramid and, in gaining a well-earned draw from this pre-season friendly, they provided stiff and credible opposition. The short time gap and additional travel for Woking may have been a factor in that it induced a degree of tiredness.

Some key moments from the first half:

15’: Jack Skinner had to come off with a serious head injury following a clash, and was replaced by Josh Casey.

27’: Woking’s No. 19 Trialist came away with the ball after a tussle with a Dunston defender, and finished well from a 1-on-1 situation with the keeper.

39’: Dunston come close to scoring, with an effort from outside the area going just wide of Ross’s goal, passing a number of Woking players on the way.

45’: The 1-0 lead at half-time was looking a fair scoreline, with Woking having looked threatening from set plays.

Half-time: Dunston UTS 0 Woking 1

50’: A tussle between Hodges (pictured above) and Dunston’s No. 8 Page resulted in a brief confrontation/‘afters. The referee intervened to calm things down

55’: Dunston broke with the ball following a Woking corner. Eventually, Heslop was played in and scored their equaliser.

57’: Hodges came close to scoring after running past a number of Dunston players into the opposition box

85’: A Dunston attack after Woking gave the ball away required a smart close-range save from Ross to prevent them from taking the lead.

Woking: 13 Craig Ross, 18 Joe Morrison, 12 Nathan Collier ©, 4 Manny Parry (2 Jack Cook 45’), 14 Godfrey Poku, 8 Moussa Diarra, 15 Jack Skinner (3 Josh Casey 19’), 17 Trialist, 19 Trialist, 10 Max Kretzschmar, 11 Paul Hodges

Unused subs: 1 Sam Howes, 8 Kane Ferdinand, 16 Shaun Donnellan, 9 Jake Hyde

Goals: 19 Trialist 27’

Bookings: None

Dunston UTS 1 Karl Dryden, 2 Liam Marrs (12 Callum Elliott 57’), 3 Dan Halliday ©, 4 Michael Pearson, 5 Andrew Grant-Soulsby, 6 Craig Scott, 7 Liam Brooks, 8 Luke Page, 9 Mark Fitzpatrick, 10 Scott Heslop (14 Dan Lowther 65’), 11 Callum Smith (16 Dessie da Silva 68’)

Unused subs: Dan Capewell

Goals: Heslop 55’

Bookings: None

Referee: Michael Oliver

Attendance: 187

Man of the Match: Max Kretzschmar. Always looking for the ball during Woking attacks and delivered some threatening set pieces. Worth mentioning Poku, who was very vocal in organising the team, and Hodges who had a strong 2nd half.

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