Venue: Kingfield
Saturday 8th March 2003, 3.00pm kick-off.

Conditions: Occasional drizzle. Strong end-to-end wind
Ground: Good-to-soft. Some sandy patches, but generally even.

Nationwide Conference :
Woking 1 Yeovil Town 1

Att: 3,332

Referee: Mr T Kettle (Maidenhead)

Bookings:
Yeovil: Lockwood (45, foul), Way (59, dissent), Skiverton (74, foul), Gavin Williams (89, foul). Red card: Lockwood (53, 2nd bookable offence)
Woking: Townsend (20, foul), Coates (60, dissent), Martin Williams (72, foul)

Line up : (3-4-1-2)


1. Chris Weale

2. Adam Lockwood

4. Terry Skiverton

5. Colin Pluck

24. Abdelhalim El Kholti

6. Darren Way

8. Lee Johnson

11. Michael McIndoe

20. Gavin Williams

25. Kirk Jackson

9. Kevin Gall

Substitutes: 14. Roy O’Brien, 16. Andy Lindegaard (90, for Williams), 18. Kim Grant, 22. Steven Collis, 23. Neil Mustoe

Woking: 11. Robert Burch 7. Ben Townsend 5. Jonathan Boardman 15. Chris Collins 23. Jamie Campbell 10. Chris Sharpling 30. Ian Hamilton 6. Scott Canham 33. Jonathon Coates 9. Warren Patmore 27. Raphael Nade
Subs : 3. Anthony Allman 4. Scott Smith (67, for Hamilton) 18. Tony Tucker 32. Neil Smith 24. Martin Williams (42, for Patmore)

Scorers: Jon Boardman (19 mins, 1-0), Kirk JACKSON (36 mins 1-1)


This report courtesy of Jeremy Gear:

The Cards throw up a difficult hand for Yeovil!

When all of us connected to Yeovil Town, fans, players and staff alike, looked at the fixtures for the week ahead and saw both Halifax and Woking away, we would probably have settled for four points. Following the heroic performance at the Shay on Tuesday that strategy would have been revised, there was now an opportunity to take all six!

Winning games has become a habit of late, Woking were next, fighting for their lives at the wrong end of the table, the almost certain victory we all expected would strengthen our grip at the top of the league……. Maybe…. just maybe we have all got carried away of late and have taken our firmly planted feet of the ground a little.

One local paper headlined this week how the almost certain promotion would do wonders for the town economy, supporters were trying to identify which game the championship would be won, today, at Kingsfield we all came back down to earth with an uncomfortable bump.

The kick off was delayed for 5 minutes as the 1800 or so Yeovil fans made their entry, contributing to Woking’s best attendance of the season of 3,332. As the players made their way onto the pitch, they would have been mistaken for thinking the game was at Huish Park such was the reception they received, I just wonder if even the players thought today’s game was a forgone conclusion, but complacency is not in Gary Johnson’s vocabulary. I would not like to hear what was in his vocabulary after today’s game, at a guess I bet it was pretty blue.

With the season we have enjoyed so much to date, it would be unfair to criticise a team who led the conference by 11 points at 3.00pm, but everything about today, even the large travelling contingent, just seemed a bit subdued…… maybe it was our wake up call!

Criticise I wont, compare I will. The pitch was in good nick, but I wonder if it was wide enough to suit the type of football the Glovers love to play, the first 5 minutes apart we just were not able to move the ball as fluently as usual. Maybe that was reflected in the reshuffle, again, 3-5-2 was employed from the start but was soon switched to 4-4-2. Comparisons again, last season Adam Lockwood was prone to giving away silly free kicks in dangerous areas and picking up unnecessary yellow cards, this season he has almost eradicated that from his game and has proven to be one of the most improved players in the squad, he has been Mr Consistent. Today however, he seemed favourite to win the ball in the corner, but the Woking winger broke free, made his way towards the area, prepared to cross, and was brought down from behind by Lockie. No punishment for the tackle, only from the resultant free kick on the edge of the box. Woking’s Jon BOARDMAN headed home at the far post from Scott Canhams whipped cross on 17 minutes.

Lockwood then was in the mix again, his clash of heads with old Yeovil favourite Warren Patmore led to the latter being stretchered off the pitch, looking rather the worse for wear, and probably not being able to hear the generous round of applause he received from all four sides of the ground. He should have done better though when earlier he shot straight at Chris Weale, I wonder what the reaction from the away fans would have been then if he had found the net?

Mcindoe and Johnson linked to send a cross low into the box, Kirk Jackson connected but shot tamely straight into the Keepers hands when he should have done better. In the 36th minute, the same combination tried again, Johnson’s delightfully weighted flick was taken in his stride by Mcindoe who composed, took his time, and patiently sent a measured cross into the box for Kirk JACKSON to score his 18th goal of the season from 6 yards.

That man Lockwood received his first yellow card of the game when he chopped down a Woking player from behind with no apparent danger. A couple of half chances later and half time was upon us, after the Halifax experience, we’d get our act together and score a couple more goals in the second period though wouldn’t we?

Half Time: Woking 1 Yeovil Town 1

The second half started, and oh Adam! Within seven minutes of the restart, and again no apparent danger he caught Woking’s Coates innocuously, but enough to get the Linesman flagging and the ref reaching for his pocket simultaneously, a second yellow and off he went. It will be interesting to hear the post match comments from player and Manager alike, but both cards could have been avoided. Darren Way was also booked for dissent after conceding a free kick, and later in the game Gavin Williams, who had reverted to right back after the dismissal of Lockwood was lucky to stay on the Field as he blatantly caught a Woking attacker from behind when through on goal, Skiverton also got a booking for a rash challenge on the edge of the box (the free kick incidentally was sent high and wide by Canham), and Darren Way received a lecture from the ref, Mr Kettle, for another mistimed tackle. Gavin Williams was replaced by Andy Lindegaard almost immediately after receiving his card. Again, making comparisons, but its been a long time since we’ve seen so many Yeovil players losing their discipline and composure.

Back to the game, Yeovil were out of sorts, but some tremendous movement from Johnson, who plays so well away from home, and Mcindoe down the left, set up the hard grafting Kevin Gall, who in acres of space was gifted the most clear cut chance he’ll receive this, and probably next season, but the cards keeper had the audacity to play the joker at the wrong moment and saved Galls effort on 63 minutes!

Woking had chances to win the game, they “scored” but the goal was disallowed for offside, then confusion between Chris Weale and Terry Skiverton saw them both arguing after the unmarked Raphael Nade hit the woodwork, again, it was alarming and uncharacteristic to see the Town at six and sevens.

That was it then, nothing else to report of any note. Everyone is entitled to a bad day at the office, lets hope we can get this one out of our system and be ready for Tuesday’s home fixture against Leigh RMI. We all know we have a manager who will make sure that that’s the case, and we have the players to perform too, today was just one of those days, and making another comparison, we are far better equipped than two seasons ago…watch out Leigh!

Jeremy Gear

Final Score: Woking 1 Yeovil Town 1


Internet Man of the Match Voting Result:

Player MOTM Score
Michael McIndoe 14 558
Kirk Jackson 7 284
Chris Weale 3 184
Abdelhalim El Kholti 4 179
Lee Johnson 2 158
Gavin Williams 3 116
Colin Pluck 2 111
Kevin Gall 2 84
Darren Way 1 74

Overall match rating: 5 / 10
Performance: 4.6
Entertainment: 5.4

38 votes received.