ANTHONY LIMBRICK has admitted that even Woking’s own supporters are surprised with the start they made after a 1-0 win at home to Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday afternoon.
Regan Charles-Cook scored a goal worthy of another match winner in the 76th minute, curling his strike into the top-corner to give the Charlton loanee his third goal in his last three home games.
Woking stay third in the National League, just a point off the top of the league leaders Macclesfield, and Limbrick is astonished with his sides start to the season.
He told Radio Woking Sport: “It was an absolute batting performance again and if you said we’d be third in the table coming in after these games a lot of people, even our own fans will be surprised.”
“Credit goes to John Steel and Dagenham they are a very good side that’ll be up there come the end of the season. They’re a tough side with a good manager and some very good players so it’s a coup for us beating them at home.”
Photo by David Holmes – a full set can be viewed at www.wokingfc.co.uk
Despite this, it was the visitors who enjoyed most of the possession and the chances in a dominant first half, and Limbrick slammed the performance of his side in the second half.
He added: “In the first half we didn’t play well at all. They were the better team, they passed the ball better, moved it better, got balls in the box.”
“It took us about half an hour to get going, we didn’t pass the ball, we didn’t get tight enough to press the opposition. I had a few words with a few individuals at half-time and said ‘we need to do better, we need to play like we did in the last ten minutes of the half.”
“They were definitely the better team in the first half and we weren’t happy with that, that’s not how we want to play at home.”
Dagenham and Redbridge came into the game just a place and a point below the Cards, but were the league’s top scorers with 27 goals. Despite the first-half performance, Limbrick was pleased with the defensive work of his young side, with an average age of just over 21.
“What the players do is they dig in, take the feedback on board and they went and delivered in the second half and to keep a clean sheet against the league’s top scorers isn’t an easy thing to do so it’s a credit to us and how we’ve been defending.”
“They had a lot of corners and set-pieces and we’re not the tallest team but it’s about positioning and aggressiveness and winning the ball and I thought Josh Staunton was very good. When you have a young team they’ve got to stand up and be counted for and to show that maturity is pleasing.”
Photo by David Holmes – a full set can be viewed at www.wokingfc.co.uk
Woking grew into the game with Joe Ward creating a chance in the 46th minute before Inih Effiong came on and made an instant impact, coming inches away from putting the Cards ahead.
Limbrick said: “We had a couple of other chances, a great header from Inih that I can’t believe the keeper saved, I was already off down the touchline celebrating but we’ve got to be pleased with the win.”
Charles-Cook may have been lucky to stay on the pitch, with a late, clumsy challenge on Dagenham captain Scott Doe, which only produced a turning point.
The Charlton loanee notched a superb strike minutes later to seal all three points, but his manager raced to his defence, and was also pleased his hard work in training is paying off.
“It was a great goal, we’ve seen him do that in training and ive challenged him to have better end product and for him to come out with that in such an important time of the game was great.”
“It didn’t look like the best tackle but he’s not that kind of player and he’s not trying to hurt or injure the player but he could have been fortunate to get a yellow.”