Stones edge the Cards in National League South
On a perfect evening for watching football, Wealdstone edged past Woking 1-0 in an eagerly-anticipated clash in National League South at Grosvenor Vale.
With ex-Hampton & Richmond manager Alan Dowson now in charge, Woking fielded some familiar faces including Max Kretzschmar and ex-Barnet striker Jake Hyde. Newly-relegated Woking were a big disappointment as was the match overall.
The first-half was goalless and provided poor entertainment as the game was constantly punctuated with niggly fouls and injuries. Max Kretzschmar didn’t really impress, although took some nice set pieces. At the other end the home side, prompted by the impressive Danny Green in midfield struggled to piece together many meaningful attacks.
The second-half didn’t improve much until both sides had used their full compliment of subs. Wealdstone looked increasingly dangerous with the hard-working David Pratt pulling the Cards defence out of position. A series of fine saves by the visiting keeper kept Woking in the game until David Pratt was hauled down in the 87th minute and sub Matt Lench slotted home the penalty to seal the win for Wealdstone.
Woking failed to test the home keeper in the final moments and then had their right-back sent of for two yellows after two agricultural tackles, one in each half.
A good crowd of 1,323 saw the game with around 400 from Woking. The Cards fans must have been very disappointed with this display. They are light years away from the Geoff Chappell teams of years ago and may struggle to get out of National League South this season.