Match Report | Sarll's yellows win at Yeovil

Yeovil Town 0-1 Woking
Vanarama National League
4th March 2023

Darren Sarll made two changes to the team held at home by Wealdstone, with James Daly and Luke Wilkinson making way for Solomon Nwabuokei and Joe McNerney, whilst new signing Billy Sass-Davies took his place on the bench.

There was a party mood at Huish Park after the Glovers were successfully taken over in midweek, but Woking looked to spoil this. With three minutes gone, Rohan Ince crossed for Marcus Dackers, but his looping header was well saved by Grant Smith.

Yeovil had their first chance with a quarter of an hour gone, but Jordan Young’s free header was straight at Jaaskelainen. The Cards took the lead straight after, when a cross was poorly dealt with by the Yeovil defence under pressure from Dackers, and Kyran Lofthouse smashed the ball home on the half volley.

Dackers had a great chance to double the Woking advantage after brilliant linkup between himself and Padraig Amond, but the striker fired just wide from inside the box.

A brilliant double save from Grant Smith, first from McNerney and then from a superb Ince half-volley, kept Yeovil in the game as the Cards looked to double their advantage.

Woking pressure forced Smith to venture well outside his own box, but luckily for the Yeovil keeper, his miskick forced a throw in when it could’ve been far worse.

The Cards took a lead into half time and possibly could have been further ahead, if it wasn’t for Smith’s excellent saves.

Half-time: Yeovil 0-1 Woking

Jordan Young’s free kick flew just over Jaaskelainen with five minutes gone of the second half, as the Glovers looked to set the tempo early on.

Nothing much happened in the second half until the 89th minute, when Jamie Reckord and Charlie Cooper combined, but substitute Andrew Oluwabori was unable to make his header count.

Three and a half minutes into an added seven at the end of the game, a ball over the top found Jordan Young, who somehow dinked the ball wide of the Woking goal when he had options to square to in the middle.

The Cards managed to see the game out successfully to register their first clean sheet since mid-January. This was a good performance and a hugely valuable three points considering the players unavailable.

Woking: 22 Will Jaaskelainen, 2 Kyran Lofthouse (18 Simper 81’), 3 Josh Casey, 4 Scott Cuthbert, 5 Joe McNerney, 10 Padraig Amond (Sass-Davies 90+5'), 12 Dan Moss, 16 Sol Nwabuokei, 17 Jim Kellermann, 20 Marcus Dackers (Nelson 90+5’), 24 Rohan Ince

Unused subs: Craig Ross, Ricky Korboa

Goals: Kyran Lofthouse 15’

Bookings: Ince 50’

Yeovil Town: Grant Smith, Edwin Agbaje (Oluwabori 66’), Morgan Williams, Owen Bevan, Josh Staunton, Jamie Reckord, Charlie Cooper, Matt Worthington, Jordan Young, Alex Fisher (Palmer-Holden 84’), Jordan Stevens

Unused subs: Johnson, Owers, Maguire-Drew

Bookings: Reckord 18’, Cooper 26’

Referee: Elliott Swallow

Attendance: 3237 (323 Woking fans)

Man of the Match: Josh Casey was solid at left back, a captain’s performance on a day in which grit and determination was needed.