5s v Old Wokingians

A tale of two halves (and no subs)
Wokinians 4 - 2 WBFC

Goals: Griffiths, Stuart
Assists: Joel, Tuchar
Player of the match: Mitchell

England playing in a world cup on a Friday evening only meant one certainty - a hungover Borough side made the long trip down to Woking on Saturday in search of 3 points. A bare 11 took to the field, buoyed on by 3 traveling fans.

The Borough started the much better team, pressing from the front and forcing Wokininans into early errors. Some neat link up play with Joel in the final third allowed Chris Griff to pick up the ball on the edge of the area, ghost past a defender and rifle the ball into the far bottom corner. As he pounded the badge in celebration, we all started to believe it was our day.

The Borough continued to play some lovely football and we should have at least doubled our lead in the first half, with a few chances going begging, notably a goal ruled out for offside and a header from Joel following a dangerously swung in corner being the pick of the bunch. However it wasn’t all one way traffic - a brilliant double save from Nick kept us in front. Things seemed to going Borough’s way in the first half - even Simmo fancied his name on the scoresheet with a lovely lobbed attempt - unfortunately this was a misplaced clearance which sent Nick scrambling towards his own goal - an audible welp made the back-peddling save even more emphatic. The Borough deservedly led 1-0 at the break.

With the wind now blowing in their favour and the luxury of substitutes providing fresh legs, Wokinians grew into the game during the second 45. Around the 60 minute mark came the controversial equaliser - a low shot across goal appeared to hit the inside of the post, and bobble back out and into the arms of Nick. Unfortunately goal line technology, like Oyster Card, hasn’t made it down to Woking and a goal was awarded. Wokinians jubilated, Borough (and the laws of physics) bemused. Their second came shortly afterwards - a ball over the top allowed their nippy striker to run through on goal. A good save from Nick, however the save unfortunately ricocheted onto the backtracking Griff and found its way into the net. Wokinans ahead.

The resilient 11 of Borough battled on in search of an equaliser. A great run from Joel beating 3 or 4 defenders ended abruptly as he was brought down, seeming inside the penalty area. The resulting marks in the turf from the guilty challenge were not enough to persuade the referee to award a penalty, instead a freekick on the edge was given. Unfortunately we couldn’t make it count. Then came their third - the Wokinians fullback plucked the ball from the sky and rifled it (with some wind assistance) home from 30 yards - some hit from the lad.

Borough still battled on - the game was far from over and we still continued to create chances. The lads’ determination epitomised when Alex didn’t want to leave the field even when seeing double. A reminder of why the new concussion substitute rule is a great addition for the safety of the game - a rule which is far more effective when you have substitutes.
The fourth ended Borough’s hopes of a comeback - a good near post header from a corner found its way into the top corner after shaving Simmo’s head on the way in.

However there was still time remaining for Nathan to grab his first goal for the mighty reds. Tuchar fouled on the edge of the box led to a nicely positioned freekick. Nathan stepped up, and in Ward-prowse fashion, whipped the ball over the wall and into the net. Keeper rooted.

Full-time 4-2. The lads battled well and played some nice football, creating decent chances. Ultimately the fresh legs of Wokinians made the difference in the second half. UTB.