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Woking go into second place in the Vanarama Conference after winning twice in a week thanks to strikers Jack Marriott and Scott Rendell as they were on target and claimed victory for Woking against Altrincham.
Woking kicked off the game and showed an early intention going forward. It was Scott Rendell who showed his presence early on after returning to the starting 11, he was dominate in the air showing great skill flicking the ball onto the likes of Jack Marriott and Kevin Betsy, who were running on through to the ball.
The early pressure Woking posed, of course created chances and it was John Goddard who came close early on. His curling shot just tipped over the bar by Altrincham goal keeper Stuart Coburn and from the corner a goal mouth scramble lead to Marriott just missing the ball as it rolled passed him into the hands of goalkeeper Coburn.
Altrincham started slowly (Maybe this was the long journey) but nerves showed from Lee Sinnott’s men and Woking who were in full swing taking good advantage off this, as another Goddard chance just missed the near post.
The first quarter of the 1st half showed Woking were creating the opportunities, but just lacked the killer instinct in front of goal in the final 3rd of the pitch and should have really killed the game off with the amount of chances they created.
Scott Rendell spoke to Radio Woking after the game and said “We had some unbelievable chances in the game and we’re not playing brilliantly at the minute but we are winning, this is a sign of a good team.”
Woking continued to play on the edge of the box but Altrincham did pose a slight threat on the counter attack, Woking’s defence done well to keep Altrincham from creating too much of a threat though. However, Altrincham did have their chances when Ryan Crowther had a shot tipped over by Ross Worner and a disallowed goal, but the referee’s decision went against the northern side and a free-kick was award to Woking.
Altrincham kicked off the second half and quickly lost possession as Woking started the second half just like the first, with the intention to go for goal. This intention finally turned into a goal as Josh Payne delivered a corner to the near post for Rendell to flick it on too Marriott who converted from two yards into the back of the net.
From the goal, the crowd 1056 strong on a cold Tuesday night were in high spirts, this didn’t stop Altrincham trying to cause an upset though as Tom Marshall headed towards goal but was met with a great save from Worner.
Woking were defending well keeping Damian Reeves at bay and with Joey Jones and Chris Arthur doing their jobs well, it made the night overall a good defence performance. Topping the night off though was left to Scott Rendell as he received a beautiful ball from Josh Payne and found himself in space to slot the ball into the bottom corner.
From the goal Gary Hill made two changes bringing off James Clarke and Rendell for Giuseppe Sole and Dean Morgan. This slowed down the play and brought a calmest to the game and Woking were sailing to victory at this point and it could have easily been three-nil, as Morgan done well to beat his man in the Altrincham box but found his shot blocked by his own team mate. It was unfortunate for Sole as he tried to get out of the way.
This didn’t dampen the spirts around the ground as the referee blew his whistle, securing a clean sheet but more importantly it confirmed Woking would take on all three points on the night placing them in 2nd position in the Vanarama conference.
This win means Saturdays away game against Macclesfield is even bigger as the Cards make the away trip for another 3 points against an inform side who find themselves (Just like Woking) in the chance for a play-off spot. Kick off at 3pm.
Rendell said “If we can win games like we did on Saturday (Vs Braintree) and tonight, it will be important towards the end of the season.” Asked about the next two games against Macclesfield and Forest Green “We got to go into them with confidence. We are second in the league, so they’ll be looking at us thinking they’re there for a reason and right fully so. We go there with nothing to fear and will be looking to take all 6 points.”
Sponsors Man of The Match: Josh Payne
Attendance: 1056
Photo’s from David Holmes