MATT YOUNG has highlighted Woking’s need to improve defending from set-pieces after conceding a combined five goals from dead ball situations in their last two games.
The Cards suffered a 2-0 defeat to Bromley before falling to a 3-1 loss away at Dover just three days later, seeing Anthony Limbrick’s side drop to fifth in the National League.
After back-to-back defeats for the first time this season, Young has highlighted his side’s need for improvement, especially after goalkeeper Nathan Baxter was rarely tested in both games.
Photo by David Holmes – a full set can be viewed at www.wokingfc.co.uk
He told BBC Surrey Sport: “The set-pieces are our Achilles heel. It is something we’ve spoken about post-match and highlighted because in these past two games Nathan has had a maximum of about three saves to make.”
“We conceded three against Dover and two at the weekend so it’s something we’ll have to nail because these are valuable points we need to be picking up. We played against two good sides, but still we need to be nailing our set-pieces.”
Ryan Bird raced his side into a 2-0 lead after the opening 21 minutes to move to the top of the National League goalscoring charts before Joe Ward pulled a goal back shortly after-time.
Manny Parry then restored Dover’s two-goal cushion just two minutes later as Woking succumbed to their second defeat in as many matches, and Young has stressed the need to make improvements quickly.
Photo by David Holmes – a full set can be viewed at www.wokingfc.co.uk
He added: “It’s a kick in the teeth that we concede two minutes after getting right back in it but defending is something we need to nail.”
“We’re a good side, we’ve shown that all season but we can’t let this sort of thing keep happening over and over again. To do it once is a mistake, to do it twice is stupid.”
Despite this, Woking remain just four points off the top of the table, and the defender, who has seamlessly fitted in at right-back this season, believes his side has shown their quality in stages, and has warned other sides that Woking can be the superior team of the division.
“On our day we’ll be better than any team in this league. With the set-pieces, we’re more than capable of holding our own and heading the ball. You see that in patches in games, but we need to be consistently on it.”
“We’ll take it away and we live and learn, but it’s something we can focus on. To take the positives, it’s happened before Christmas, so we’ve got a lot of time to put it right.”