Tonight was a reminder of how times change and just how fast the rise and rise of Yeovil Town has come. Just over two years ago, a trip to Kingfield stood as one of the biggest and toughest games of the season, and one that would guarantee one of our largest away followings of the season. Now whilst Woking continue to be one of the bigger of the Nationwide Conference sides, the Glovers have stretched the gap between the two clubs to two divisions and the crowds that used to travel annually to Kingfield now travel to Yeovil's away games on a regular basis.

Woking's line-up only contains two familiar faces from that period - striker Chris Sharpling and club captain Neil Smith were in the Kingfield squad during Yeovil's Conference winning season. More familiar to Yeovil fans was the face of Jimmy Aggrey, who will be playing in Surrey during the coming season. Gary Johnson chose to select the players who did not feature in yesterday's match against Southampton - with the exception of Nathan Jones who continues to rest from the kick he got in the Portsmouth game.

Woking's Lloyd Blackman ensured the game got off to a feisty start when he committed a studs-up tackle on Stephen Reed, sliding in on the greasy turf and attempting to set a record for the fastest ever booking in a friendly match. Yeovil started off by far the brighter side and got a deserved lead with trialist Luciano ALVARES making sure that his first impression counted well when he converted a low David Poole cross from six yards out after the right winger had cut to the byline.

Adam Lockwood - playing in an unfamiliar midfield role - was probably very glad this was a friendly match when he put in an early contender for miss of the season. After home keeper Richard MacKinney split a shot, all Lockwood had to do was touch the loose ball over the line, but instead his shot went over the bar from just two yards out. Whoops!

Woking managed to get a couple of half chances going for themselves, although nothing that was going to worry Chris Weale. The best of a couple of attempts was a low right wing cross that Mark Rawle got a boot on, but instead the ball continued to flash across the face of goal, leaving Wealey's backline to do the mopping up.

With 36 minutes gone though, the Glovers were able to double their lead with an excellent solo goal. David Poole got in the centre of midfield, and danced his way around three or four Woking defenders as he headed towards the right channel, finishing off his move by turning towards goal and then lifting the ball smartly over the advancing Woking keeper for a 2-0 lead.

Yeovil continued to create good chances. Arron Davies fired over the bar after Matt Harrold laid the ball back for him as the Glovers continued to make things look apparently comfortable for themselves.

Woking made three substitutions at half time whilst Gary Johnson chose to stick with his starting eleven, although it wasn't long before he began to ring the changes. Stephen Reed had come out for the second half limping slightly following the earlier foul on him, and Gavin McCallum replaced him on the left wing with Arron Davies switching to the right. Next Luciano Alvares was denied a chance to partner his countryman when he swapped with Pablo Bastianini. Woking also made a double substitution and with all of this going on, the game diminished slightly as both sides tried to work out who was marking who and what systems were being played.

David Poole shot into the side netting in an increasingly rare Yeovil attack, although as the game ticked out and Steve Thompson received a generous round of applause as he took to the field against his former club, Woking seemed to make a late attempt to gain some pride from the game.

With just 16 minutes to go, Chris Weale had done little more than take goal kicks, catch crosses and deal with the odd backpass. Finally making a good one-handed save from close range whilst he was on the floor during a goalmouth scramble, Wealey probably didn't expect to have to do more in the final 15 minutes than he'd done all game.

Two minutes later, Wealey stopped a Justin Richards shot with his legs as the substitute proved to be very much behind Woking's revitalisation, with the loose ball being scrambled out for a corner. Next Mark Rawle tested Weale, but his long range shot was tipped over the bar for a corner.

Despite all of Woking's pressure, they could have been done by a sucker punch in the closing minutes. Pablo Bastianini laid the ball off beautifully into the path of Gavin McCallum and as the young winger advanced towards the byline, his deep cross found Arron Davies on the back post, but his attempt to strike the ball first time on the volley went narrowly over the bar.

Right on the last kick of the game though, Woking were again denied the goal that their closing play deserved with Chris Weale once again denying Woking with a parried save and as Mark Rawle attempted to convert into an empty net, Michael Rose anticipated well and cleared the ball from his own goal-line.

Not a perfect performance by the Glovers tonight by any means, and at times a bit of a curates egg. The first half was impressive, and the performances of players like David Poole and Chris Weale across the match were impressive and worthy of individual mention. However, a lack of movement during the final third of the match from the Glovers allowed Woking's substitutes to impress upon the game and were it not for some fine goalkeeping by Wealey, the Cardinals would probably had a little more to show for their late efforts.

Badger

Back to Top of Page