Woking Res. 2  Northwood Res. 2

Saturday 9th April 2011

Northwood Res.		Suburban League Kingfield Stadium, Woking
Ben Dowsett	1	Kick Off
Reece Fallon	2	3.00 p.m.
Dominic Franklin	3	H/T
Patrick Lawrence	4	2-1
Jamie Lindsay	5	Scorers
Prince Alozie	6	Northwood
Jack Hutchinson	7	Desaugaurante, Alozie
Seldyn Grant	8
Lucas Williams	9
Dujon Desagurante	10
Courtney Francis	11
Michael Williams (6)	12
Jack Dodds (7)	14
Jack Cockburn (11)	15
-	16
-	17

The game started with Woking very fast out of the blocks and they took the play to the Woods in the early exchanges, however the visitors stood strong at the back, well led by skipper Jamie Lindsay. Northwood started getting into the game and Seldon Grant and Jack Hutchinson began bossing the play and were working very hard.

Tackling was very competitive and the game was being played at a very high pace with both teams creating chances. A move down Woods’ left flank by Woking saw a cross allowed to pass, and the Woking striker headed in off the post: how he was on his own is the question, but a hint of offside was not considered by the officials. This stung the Woods and a couple of half chances came and went, before a good move resulted in a corner, which was taken by Jack Hutchinson superbly and he found Dujon Desagurante, who despite being challenged managed to head home.

Woods were struggling to bring  Lucas Williams into the game but eventually the left side came into its own and a couple of tackles and heavy pressure resulted in the Woking defender handling the ball in the box and Prince Alozie executed the penalty very well to put the Woods in front. A super crossfield ball from Reece Fallon  reached Lucas, and the attack was eventually repelled by Woking but uncomfortably so.

At half-time with the score at 2-1 to Northwood, it was stressed that to keep this lead needed a more hard work and a third goal would break the camel’s back. Straight after the restart Woods had Williams in space and his shot beat the Woking goalie with ease, only for the ball to rebound from the post. At this stage in the game, fresh legs were needed and the youngsters came on and took up the mantle. Jack Dodds was soon in the thick of it and half-chances were coming but with no end result. Michael Williams came on for Alozie and Courtney Francis was replaced by Jack Cockburn, although at this stage he played out of position to help the side.

The Woods striker got caught in possession on the halfway line and somehow the ball found its way into the visitors’ area for the home team to level with approximately 12 minutes to go. The game was quite frantic at this stage and Ben Dowsett, who made a good number of excellent stops through the match, found himself under more pressure but kept his cool. Cockburn replaced Patrick Lawrence at the back, and Patrick who was running on empty still managed to contribute to the team’s performance. At the end, a draw was probably a fair result but it was pleasing for the Ref to come in the dressing room to tell the lads that he could not understand how they were bottom of the league. Yet again the Woods second string displayed a great attitude and performance against good opposition and deserved  the point they obtained today.

Report: GEOFF FOSTER