Woking earn their first win of the new year over blunt Wealdstone

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Alan Dowson’s Woking side bounced back from derby day disappointment with a comfortable 2-0 victory over a passive Wealdstone outfit.

Following Woking’s capitulation against Aldershot, Dowson switched the formation from a back four to a back three, having previously been very loyal to the 4-2-3-1 setup. 

Victory was paramount for Woking if they were to keep their hopes of a late play-off charge alive. They started as they meant to go on with Kyran Lofthouse breaking into the box and showing tremendous skill to fire a vicious ball across goal. The chance eventually came to nothing but it certainly set the precedent for the opening half-hour of this contest. 

The hosts dominated the possession and territory and further tested the Wealdstone defence as former Southampton academy product Tyreke Johnson worked well down the left-hand side to create an opening. Efforts from Inih Effiong and Tahvon Campbell were swatted away but the Stones’ defence was creaking. 

Having survived an onslaught of early pressure, Wealdstone manager Stuart Maynard will be disappointed that his side conceded from a set-piece and furthermore got themselves into that scenario in the first place thanks to a failure to clear their lines. 

After former Woking man, Jack Cook initially won the ball back, the 28-year-old hesitated for too long and had his pocket picked, with the attack leading to a corner. Subsequently, the set-piece was whipped in and caused chaos in the Wealdstone area as they failed to clear the danger. Eventually, the ball fell kindly to Effiong, who graciously accepted the invitation to tap home his seventh goal of the season. 

The hosts looked to capitalise on the wind in their sails but were unable to double their advantage despite efforts from Effiong, Campbell, Johnson and Rohan Ince.

Approaching the half-hour mark, Wealdstone were able to claim a foothold in the contest, dominating large amounts of possession and territory, but lacked a distinctive attacking threat. 

The Stones looked devoid of ideas, and as such, were lumping it up towards their attacking players. Wealdstone are by no means the tallest side and it was naive of them to assume that Joshua Umerah could compete with defenders like Moussa Diarra in the air due to the sheer height difference. 

Consequently, Wealdstone were unable to manufacture any chance of note whatsoever, despite having a long spell in control. 

Having said that, the Stones came out a different team in the second half and certainly posed a more attacking threat in comparison to the first 45. Perhaps this will only frustrate Maynard more as his side were able to get into good positions but could only muster a couple of wayward Umerah shots to show for it. 

Despite Wealdstone’s possession, Woking still looked dangerous on the counter and the Stones received a warning sign following a swashbuckling run from Johnson that very nearly carved them completely open. 

The Stones, however, did not learn their lesson and it was a counter-attack that was their eventual undoing once again. Some would say it was a stroke of managerial genius as it was the two substitutes that linked up to grab the second.

New loan signing Nicke Kabamba did brilliantly to hold the ball up and play a sensational through ball to Jamar Loza. The 27-year-old Jamaican forward has featured sporadically for Woking this season, but rounded the goalkeeper and slotted home like a striker in form. 

Sadly for the Stones, the misery continued as substitute Douglas James-Taylor was sent off a little under 180 seconds after making his bow. The 20-year-old Stoke City loanee raised his boot dangerously high in an attempt to win the ball and subsequently caught Kyran Lofthouse in the face. 

As for Woking, they saw out their first victory of 2022 and kept their first clean sheet since November 13th. It was an accomplished and professional performance from the Cardinals who, in truth, could and maybe should have had the game wrapped up in the first 25 minutes. 

Whilst Wealdstone grew into the game and had spells of possession and territory, Dowson’s side never looked all that troubled and were comfortable in keeping their opponents at bay, something that has rarely been said for Woking this season. 

On the other hand, the Stones were maybe somewhat uncharacteristically shaky at the back, meaning that their blunt attack was exposed. Also, their midfield were absent at times and thus provided little to no service to the attacking players. 

Woking’s attempt to mount a second-half charge for the play-offs will continue at high flying Bromley on Tuesday night with the Ravens emerging 2-1 victors away at Grimsby Town. 

Stuart Maynard will attempt to pick his players up as the part-timers welcome Notts County to Grosvenor Vale in midweek. 

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