Woking progressed to the second round of the Southern Counties League Cup, but were made to work hard for 120 minutes for their victory.
The first half of the match was quite a dour midfield battle with neither side creating much. The match came alive briefly in the 29th minute when a long range shot for Woking was deflected wide by James King. From the resulting corner, Woking had a golden chance close in but a miscue allowed Abdi Hamadi to clear the danger.
Once again the play became locked in midfield with neither goal threatened until first half stoppage time, when Rourke Pickford caught a close range header from Woking’s near post corner.
The second half was thankfully more lively. Pickford did very well to divert a long range sot away from the top corner before United got a great chance to open the scoring. Jake Lovell dispossessed his dithering marker and drew the keeper before playing in Daniel Wishart, but a flying block to his shot from a flailing Woking leg kept the match goalless.
This heralded United’s best spell and Lovell earned two free kicks in quick succession. The first deflected off the wall forcing the visiting keeper to dive to his left to gather the ball. The second saw him square the ball to Abdula Nsubuga whose low shot was palmed away.
Against the run of play, Woking broke quickly to score with a low shot from 20 yards, but it didn’t take long for United to equalise when Wishart got free on the left and sent a flat far post cross over to Lovell whose firm header was planted in the bottom corner.
Mark Goodman fired just wide from Lovell’s lay off but neither side looked like getting a winner so extra time was needed.
United started the extra 30 minutes in fine form and another Goodman shot drifted just over in a move originating straight from the kick off. However, five minutes in, Woking took the lead after an Nsubuga foul earned them a free kick which was flicked in at the near post on the half volley.
United pressed hard for an equaliser towards the end, with Wishart heading Charlie Noble’s cross straight at the Woking keeper and Noble himself making the keeper work again with his low, firm shot.
And Woking survived a late scare when Josh Andrew’s cross was skewed by a defender towards goal but kept out once again by his keeper.
Report by Nick Bell.
Website United Man of the Match: Daniel Wishart.
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