Review of the up’s and downs of Woking’s FC 2021/22 season

It has been another rollercoaster ride for Woking fans after another season of ups and downs for the loyal fans of the Surrey-based side.

The club went into the start of the campaign looking to put behind them a poor 2020-21 campaign which resulted in the club suffering a disappointing season, finishing in 20^th place with just eight wins all season.

The club kicked off their campaign with a 3-2 victory away at Wealdstone before suffering a narrow 3-2 loss to Halifax Town. The start didn’t get any easier for the Cards with a trip to Plainmoor against Torquay United. Woking put on a performance to be proud of by thrashing the Gulls 4-0.

Two further defeats resulted against Wrexham and Eastleigh with fans sensing that the Cards could well struggle once again due to inconsistent results.

However, an encouraging victory against one of the favourites for promotion Chesterfield, followed by possibly the Card’s best performance of the season by going to another side tipped for success Notts County and defeating the Magpies 4-1 gave the fans of the Cards some much-needed happiness.

Unfortunately, a much-needed FA Cup run failed to materialise, with the Cards getting knocked out at the fourth qualifying round stage by Horsham.

After the setback of the FA Cup, it was back to league action with Woking still struggling for form after three wins in eight games.

On Boxing Day, Woking got back to winning ways with a 3-2 victory against Dover before the Cards suffered a narrow 3-2 loss against their rivals Aldershot Town at the start of the year.

Despite getting back to winning ways with a victory over Wealdstone, Woking hit a bad patch with no wins in nine matches before stopping the rot with a victory against Maidenhead United.

During this poor run of form, Woking sold their leading goalscorer, Tahvon Cambell, back in February to Football League side Rochdale. At the time, Woking were heavily reliant on his goals with the striker netting 13 times.

Replacing him was always going to be difficult, with the club desperate to keep him by offering him a much better deal, but he decided that he wanted to move on and get back to playing at Football League level.

After the recent run of poor results and performances, the club took the decision to sack manager Alan Dowson on the 28^th of February.

Dowse was a likeable character who would give his life and soul to the club and was very much a manager who wanted to give back something to the community. Unfortunately, as everybody knows football is a results business and the club decided to make this difficult decision.

Assistant manager Ian Dyer was put in temporary charge, overseeing a 1-0 loss at Grimsby, and a goalless draw against Kings Lynn Town before picking up his first victory in a caretaker role with the win against Maidenhead.

Woking moved for Yeovil Town manager Darren Sarll and was appointed by the club as their new manager on the 28^th of March.

Sarll’s first match in charge was a televised game against high flying Boreham Wood, with the Cards coming away with a 1-0 victory to get the new man at the helm off to a winning start.

A couple of narrow defeats followed before the Cards bounced back to winning ways with a 4-1 victory at Dover and a home victory against promotion-chasing Wrexham.

The end of the season has seen the Cards fail to win their last three games, with Sarll having a good look at the squad he has inherited, with plenty of changes expected in the summer.

The club have already announced that no fewer than ten players who are out of contract will not be kept on at the club.

It will certainly appear to be an interesting summer ahead for Woking with Sarll expected to bring in some new players and start to build his own side ahead of next seasons campaign.

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