Underdogs Descend upon Woking for F A Cup Showdown.
By John Mead
This coming Saturday will surely be an unmissable occasion for fans of Boreham Wood Football Club. Through to the last qualifying round of the F A Cup for the third successive season, the local side have been given a stern ask having been drawn against Woking Football Club. The Cards, under manager Garry Hill are according to their Gaffer, “ The best squad I have ever worked with since taking over here at the beginning of 2011.”
Indeed Woking are enjoying a superb season to date, currently sitting third in the Vanarama Conference Premier Division, with an eye on League Football next season.
However the same sentiments have been echoed by our own Gaffer Ian Allinson, whose side sit second in the Vanarama Conference South, the best start to a season in the clubs history.
Both sides are full of attacking options. Woking have hit the back of the net on thirty occasions in the League so far, one less than The Wood, with healthy goal differences recorded by both sides.
It will be a superb test for Wood who are aiming to get into the First Round Proper for the third season in succession. Who can forget losing last season’s replay up at Carlisle just seven seconds from the end of stoppage time? Or our fine home display the season before against high flying Brentford in 2012? At half time we went in goal less and more than a match for our visitors, before conceding twice in the second half in front of millions of viewers from around the world watching the live streaming.
Of course this tie brings much more to the memory. In 2005-2006 playing our football two tiers below the level we are now accustomed to we embarked upon a quite unbelievable F A Trophy run all the way to the two legged Semi Final when we came up against the mighty Woking from the Conference Premier. We bowed out gracefully on that occasion, losing 0-1 at home before Steve Ferguson doubled The Cards advantage at Kingfield in the 19th minute. Yet gallant Wood refused to buckle. With Noel Imber imperious between the sticks, he was not beaten again until the final minute, when the real celebrations began for the Woking fans, setting up a trip to The Boleyn for the Final, which The Cards eventually lost to Grays Athletic.
We have met Woking since then, after their relegation to the Conference South in 2009. We recorded two 0-0 draws at home but lost both our matches at Kingfield, 3-0 and 2-1 before Woking ran away with the title and returned to the top tier of Non-League football in 2012.
The Cards are a very settled squad with Scott Rendell the main goal threat. He has netted twelve times already this season, with another long serving player Guiseppe Sole adding seven goals to the campaign thus far.
However this is Cup football and from our clubs perspective it is for Ian Allinson , “ An opportunity to have a free shot at it. We know we will need a bit of luck but we go into this as underdogs. Unlike our games in previous rounds there is no pressure on the players. We saw with both East Preston and Frome Town that the F A Cup is a great leveler. We have a full squad to pick from and that is important. We will be well organised and well drilled against a side that has been expertly assembled by Garry Hill who has a fine track record of doing that.“
F A Cup 4th Qualifying Round. Woking V Boreham Wood, Saturday October 25th, kick off 3pm.
Kingfield Stadium, Kingfield Road, Woking. GU22 9AA.
