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[FM11] Woking FC - Efforts of a non-league virgin (career save)


jaycar

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Welcome to my first ever non-league effort!

After years of playing in leagues no lower than league 1, I've started to feel my games were lacking something...reading threads from the likes of Crouchaldinho has made me want to give it a go myself..so here goes, hopefully at least one person will bother to read it...

This save is with the patch version 11.3, with the latest database. The only league added is the EPL, all the way down. its also off of the large database with all UK and Irish and all Scottish players added. I've chosen to make it a little club to big club save, the only club I will leave Woking for would be Liverpool. But I have to win the Champions cup first of course... ;)

Club Information

Nation: England

Year Founded: 1889

Status: Semi-Professional

Reputation: Local

Chairman Status: Loves the club

Legends: None

Icons: Geoff Chapple, Colin Lippiatt, Neil Smith

Favoured Personnel: Chris Sharpling, Shwan Jalal, Tom Hutchinson, Clive Walker, Vince Matassa, Jon Boardman

Fierce Rivals: Aldershot

Other Rivals: Stevenage, Crawley, Farnborough

Finances: Okay

Average Ticket Price: £12.00

Average Season Ticket Price: £190

Season ticket holders: 475

Estimated Value: £475 (loan debt: £40K)

Continental Competition: None

Media Prediction: 2nd

Squad Personality: Fairly Ambitious

Captain: Mark Ricketts

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Shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia....

Woking Football Club is a football club from in Woking, Surrey, England, formed in 1889. They are playing in the Conference South in the 2010-11 season.

Isthmian League years

In 1911 the club joined the Isthmian League, maintaining their place in the top division for 72 years and finishing as runners-up to Wycombe Wanderers in 1956-57. That achievement was eclipsed in the following season when, in front of a 71,000 crowd, the Cards beat Ilford 3-0 in the last FA Amateur Cup Final to be televised live. The club then went into decline, culminating in a first-ever relegation in 1982-83. By the end of the 1984-85 season the club had fallen further down the football ladder, being relegated to Division Two South of the Isthmian League. It was during that season that former player, Geoff Chapple, was appointed as manager. Although he was not able to save the club from relegation, Woking just missed out on promotion at the first attempt, the club clinched the Division Two South title in 1986-87. After two third place finishes in Division One, they were promoted back to the Premier Division at the end of the 1989-90 season.

The following season saw Woking embark on a "giant-killing" FA Cup run. Entering the competition at the Fourth Qualifying Round, they beat Conference opposition in the shape of Bath City, Kidderminster Harriers and Merthyr Tydfil to set up a Third Round tie away to West Bromwich Albion, then in the second level of English football. Recovering from being a goal behind at half time, Woking won 4-2, with a hat-trick from Tim Buzaglo and another goal from Terry Worsfold. The Fourth Round saw the Cards draw a home tie against Division One side Everton. The game was switched to Goodison Park where Woking lost to a Kevin Sheedy goal.

Conference years

Promotion to the Conference

Promotion to the Conference was achieved in 1991-92. The Isthmian League title was clinched in early April, with seven games still to be played, 18 points clear of nearest rivals, Enfield. Few of the championship winning side were retained for the higher division and Woking finished the season in eighth position. The following summer saw Chapple sign former Chelsea, Sunderland, Fulham and QPR winger, Clive Walker, from Brighton & Hove Albion and he was to prove the catalyst in the most successful period in the club's history. The FA Trophy was won in 1994 when Runcorn were beaten on a waterlogged Wembley pitch. Twelve months later Kidderminster Harriers were beaten as Woking became only the second club ever to win successive finals. Wembley was revisited in 1997 and the FA Trophy was won for the third time, this time against Dagenham & Redbridge. The Cards also achieved five successive top five finishes in the Conference, including being runners-up in 1994-95 and 1995-96 when they finished below Stevenage Borough again, which has become somewhat a habit ever since. The club also continued to enjoy national prominence in the FA Cup. Barnet were defeated in successive seasons following draws at their Underhill ground. In 1996-97 a run in the FA Cup saw the club beat Millwall, then top of Division Two, and Cambridge United, who were challenging for promotion from Division Three. The Third Round saw Woking draw 1-1 away to Premier League side Coventry City, thanks to a last minute equaliser from the Cards' Steve Thompson, but Coventry won the replay at Kingfield 2-1.

At the end of the 1996-97 campaign, having just clinched the FA Trophy for the third time, Geoff Chapple and his coach, Colin Lippiatt, left the club and joined Kingstonian. This was the beginning of a much less successful period for the club. John McGovern and then Brian McDermott were given the position of manager, but neither achieved anything greater than a mid-table finish. After McDermott, Colin Lippiatt returned but fared little better. He was replaced by his former boss as Geoff Chapple too came back to Woking. Lippiatt departed in January 2002 and Glenn Cockerill joined as Chapple's assistant. This season ended with the club just one place above the relegation places. In the meantime very significant events had taken place off the field. The downturn in the club's fortunes had led to a financial crisis. With the club facing administration or worse, local businessman and long-time fan Chris Ingrim came to the rescue, becoming Chairman in February 2002 with an aim of trying to increase the club's income and to secure its long-term financial stability.

Club website Here

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Transfers

Season1transfers.jpg

Some good transfers here I feel, never having manged at this level, to be honest it took a while to really get to grips with what was considered decent at this level, Danny Williams was a fail signing really, what I thought would be ok really wasn't..you live and learn...the signings made afterwards are far better and a couple of them are 4 and a half stars / five star rated.

Admir Softic is a solid left sided wide midfielder, Mark Leech is my poacher, Ronnan Finn is a decent central midfielder with decent determination, flair, pace and anticipation.

By the way, I've never read any of the lower league recommended player threads, so these are all found by searching and scout recommendations.

here are Finn and leech...

RonanFinn.jpg

Ronan Finn

MarkLeech.jpg

Mark Leech

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Staff wise, I sacked everyone then struggled to find a decent ass man :rolleyes: Pat Gardner was finally given the job.

I manged to snap up Steve Whitehall as my physio, I'm sure you all know about him..other than that I'm allowed two coaches only, so went with a strong fitness coach in Ben Stork, and a good goalkeeping coach in Huw lloyd.

tactics

Good old 4-4-2 :cool:

4-4-2.jpg

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August Update:

Note: Manager Jason Carpenter was witnessed bagging his head while softly weeping against his desk after learning we only get 5 subs at this level...and whose bright idea is it to play games with 2 days in-between??!!

Woking 3 - Dover 1 (Blue Square South)

Great to start with a win, just as easy as it looked, Dover had a man sent off after 27 minutes, even before that though we were all over them and deserved the win.

Scorers: Hammond, Cooke, King - Marsh

Chelmsford 2 - Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

An annoying one this, a very even game really, maybe we edged it, we conceded a stupid pen after only 4 minutes, then conceded straight after half time to make it 0-2...we attacked more and scored 2 goals in the 71st and 74th minutes but could not get a winner. Still, unbeaten and a good comback tbf...

Scorers: Rainford, Ake - McNerney, Gilroy

Dorchester 1 - Woking 4 (Blue Square South)

Much more like it, domination pure and simple. Nuff said.

Scorers: Devlin - Finn, Cooke, Gilroy x2

Woking 6 - Lewes 0

Cannot stress what a thrashing this was, just murdered them! 27 efforts on goal vs 4.

Scorers: Gilroy, Cooke, Doyle x2, Leech, Softic

Surely we can't score 6 twice???!!!.....

Woking 6 - Maidenhead 1

Just as big a thrashing as the lewes game, very happy!

Scorers: leech x3, Finn, Gilroy, Cooke - Akurang

Boreham Wood 2 - Woking 2

Boo! Back down to earth, nothing to separate us in this game, very evenly matched.

Scorers: Noto, Sogbanmu - Fraser o.g., Hurrell

August table...

Augusttable.jpg

manager of the month

Havant and Waterlooville's manager Shaun Gale comes first, Thurrock's David Irving comes second, Woking's Jason Carpenter comes third. (Yay!)

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Here.

finances1.jpg

finances2.jpg

finances3.jpg

Maybe I need to stress that this isn't a llama career, its LLM in that its BSS and its the lowest level I've ever managed, so to me it IS LLM!

Other than that thanks for the kind words lads. :)

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Short signings update:

Shaun kelly, a right back rated as four and a half stars and Alan McDermott, a center back also rated as four and a half stars have signed to bolster the backline. Reiss Noel was released to balance the books.

Wage budget is now over the limit to the amount of £56! The youth squad may have to go....

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Heh, I'm managing Woking too.

It's my first ever FM game and I took over in november, having started unemployed, so I was a bit more tentative with the transfers. I overcame my hesitation in the second season and we went up as champions. I actually found the BSS quite easy with Woking. It's a big club in that league and you can attract top notch players for this level, as I see you have done.

I've been thinking about starting a career thread but haven't got around to it and now you've beaten me to it :D. I probably play too slow to do that kind of thing anyway. I like to watch every game in full and I only get one or two in of an evening.

I'm in my 4th season now and into League 2, getting tougher now.

Good luck ! Up you Cards ! :cool:

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Thank you, I'm kind of winging it, I have no idea what i'm doing at this low level ;) Keep me updated on how you are doing. Up the Cards! :thup:

@jackripper: Yeah, to be honest with this squad I really should be walking it at the end of the season, no idea how it will go if we get promoted however...

Just played St.Albans...Crouchy isn't going to be happy...

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September update:

St Albans 1 - Woking 5 (Blue Square South)

St Albans have been deducted ten points and they aren't helping themselves on the pitch, they haven't won a single game all season and we ripped them apart.

Scorers: Dinsmore - Leech, Softic x2, Cooke, King

Woking 1 - Basingstoke 0 (Blue Square South)

Tougher than it should have been, Basingstoke came to park the bus and we needed a 90th minute corner to get the winner. Better late than never...

Scorers: McDermott

Welling 3 - Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

Another annoying away game where we seem to forget how to defend....we went 3-1 up then let the lead slip. I went mental.

Scorers: Pugh x2, Parkinson - Leech x3

Tiverton Town 1 - Woking 3 (FA Cup, 2nd Qual. Rnd)

Harder than it should have been, motivation may not not have been the best with the team, thankfully they did just enough to go through.

Scorers: Nardiello - Gilroy, Leech x2

September table HERE

manager of the month

Woking's Jason Carpenter came first, Havant and Waterlooville's manager Shaun Gale came second, Eastleighs Iain Baird came third.

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Looks like Leech is really banging them in for you.

How are you liking Gilroy ? He's not the most skillful player but he doesn't half put in a shift. I had a bit of a soft spot for him but I had to let him go this season. Couldn't hack it in League 2.

Adam Doyle is still playing in every game for me though. I'm starting to look to replace him now but what a player he has been for me. Ruled supreme in the air and scored 20+ goals over the last 3 seasons. He's one of the club's favorites.

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yeah, he's a bit like Torres tbh, give him the ball and he will dribble through half the opposition and score! (Well, the old Torres...)

Gilroy is like you say, a pretty tidy player, i was going to go with Hammond and Leech, but Gilroy came in while Hammond needed a rest and scored 2...so he's been in ever since! I like to think of him as our Dirk kuyt...

Do you play Doyle as a CB? I must admit he hasn't played that much, we have a couple of higher rated lads at the back, Doyle has had a couple of games at FB Iirc....

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October update:

Woking 4 - Braintree 0 (Blue Square South)

Another comfortable win, Braintree came to kick us off of the park, they picked up plenty of bookings, but no red cards, which was irritating. Pretty football ftw!

Scorers: Cooke, Leech x2, Alaile o.g.

Godalming 0 - Woking 2 (FA Cup, 3rd Qual. Rnd)

Domination, with little reward. We continue on, which I'm not to bothered about tbh, I would rather just concentrate on the league.

Scorers: Leech x2

Staines 1 - Woking 1 (Blue Square South)

Yet another away draw, its driving me nuts! We were the better team and deserved the win but that's football.

Scorers: Butler - Softic

Woking 2 - Carshalton 1 (FA Cup, 4th Qual. Rnd)

The games are coming thick and fast this month, yet another FA Cup win, yet another tale of domination of both chances and possession with a close scoreline. On we go however...

Scorers: Leech, McDermott - Ledgister

Woking 3 - Eastleigh 0 (Blue Square South)

A thrashing, nice to see us turn dominance into goals AND a clean sheet!!!! The fixture list is starting to take its toll now, the players are really starting to get tired.

Scorers: Cooke x2, Hammond

Hampton & Richmond 1 - Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

We rode our luck in this one, lack of condition meant multiple rotation and even then, a lot of our players were knackered at about the 65min...Hampton and Richmond played a back five with a sweeper which caused us a couple of problems, their forward Kraig Rochester was a bit of a pain in the arse and the last ten minutes we struggled to hang on even though the stats were heavily in our favor. there is now a seven day gap until the next fixture thank Fowler!

Scorers: Wells - Buari, Leech

October table HERE

Manager of the month

Woking's Jason Carpenter came first, St. Alban's manager Steve Castle came second, Havant and Waterlooville's manager Shaun Gale came third.

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Do you play Doyle as a CB?

Yeah. He's rubbish at the other positions he can supposedly play at but at CB he's been top class, even though his attributes aren't that special.

Like I said this is my first FM game and it took me a while to become aware of the possibilities in terms of transfers. I didn't know there are no transfer windows in non league for one thing, so I ended up playing with the players I found at the club for a lot longer than the typical FM player. To be honest I think it's a bit too easy to sign real quality players. I had to get used to that too. At the outset I was just happy to find anyone who was better than what I had, I didn't realize I could get A LOT better.

It's been tougher in League 2. Northampton snatched every player I made an offer for over the summer, including the loans I was trying to get from my parent club Fulham. :mad:

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Did you become a fully professional club with promotion to league 2?

I never liked the whole AI only being interested in players if you were thing, never seemed all that realistic. Bloody Northampton! Start targeting crap, that'll learn them!

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November update:

Swindon 2 - Woking 1 (FA Cup, First round)

Well, the cup run is at an end, annoyingly we went in front very early and just couldn't hold on. A very close game tbh, they just had more quality at the end of the day.

After the game Danny Wilson really thrashed me, so we proceeded to have a night little running slagging match in the press. He's a marked man now, I won't rest until he's sacked!

Scorers: prutton, Ferry - leech

Bromley 2 - Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

This game was barking mad, great for the neutrals, crap for the managers! I had one heart attack, Eddie Newton must have had at least 2. We deserved a draw from this game at the most, we went in front, went two done so I pushed the boys forward and we scored twice in the last seven minutes.

They had more chances, we had more CCC. That was the difference I guess.

Scorers: Brierley, patterson – Leech, hurrell, Hammond

Woking 1 - Chelmsford 1 (Blue Square South)

Nothing special about this game, apart from it was against my local team! Kinda wierd...

We deserved to win, didn’t.

Scorers: Leech – Townsend

Woking 2 - Thurrock 0 (Blue Square South)

Another dominant win, even if it was a while until the goals went in.

Scorers: Cooke, Ademola

Woking 2 - Maidstone 3 (FA Trophy, 3rd Qual. Rnd)

Victory to go through to the next round. Can’t I just do a Utd and resign from cups this year?!

Scorers: Doyle, Leech

Woking 3 - Dartford 0 (Blue Square South)

A great win, another clean sheet which is great, we made up ground on the leaders after this win, Havant finally losing, to the team lying in 21st place!

Scores: Leech, hurrell, gilroy (His first in thirteen hours of football!)

November table HERE

Manager of the month

St. Albans manager Steve Castle came first, Woking's manager Jason Carpenter came second, Chelmsford's manager Glenn Pennyfather came third.

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Yeah, starting to look that way...funny how that has happened in most of my saves, if we are strongly challenging for a title, there is always at least one AI team that pushes you right to the wire...

Still, plenty of work to do yet....

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All through the tactics creator, so whatever it sets the line to.

I usually start off with control at home, standard away and just decrease / increase depending on how the match is playing out.

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December Update:

Well, here we are...the month I dread on FM. A lot of games in a short space of time, very demanding on a squad, and it’s hard to keep results consistent. Well, for me anyway, you FM gods no doubt will disagree ;)

Dover 2 - Woking 1 (Blue Square South)

Well, it had to happen eventually...one of those FM rules is that if you are on a long run you will lose against a team in the bottom three. And so it proved.

The mad thing is, they didn’t get lucky, they battered us. Go figure.

Martin Haynes, Dovers manager mouthed off in the press before the game, then after the game so as his job is at risk I am putting pressure on him every time they play. Me, hold a grudge? You bet.

Scores: Swann o.g., Wallis – King

Staines 2 – Woking 3 (FA Trophy, 1st. Rnd)

Another crazy game, we have 12 efforts on target and score 3, they had 2 on target and score 2. We dominated throughout. Ah well, a win is a win.

Scorers: Connolly, Brown – Gilroy, Leech x2

Woking 3 – St. Albans 0 (Blue Square South)

St. Albans recent good form comes to an end. They put up a good fight but we were just too strong in the end.

Steve castle is actually top of my ‘buddies’ list (Danny Wilson top of the haters list), and we shared some mutual support after the game. I look after my friends :cool:

Scorers: Smith o.g., leech, King

Well, this is the biggest game for us so far, against the league leaders ....do we have it in us to take the game and go top?

*Drumroll*

Woking 5 – Havant & Waterlooville 0 (Blue Square South)

You bet your ass we do!!!!

You can imagine how pleased I was with this, Havant came to kick us off the pitch, making a shocking amount of fouls, thankfully we kept our heads and our class won the game. It was an utter thrashing.

The weirdest thing was that Leech didn’t score...

Scores: Hammond x2, Softic, king, Finn

Maidenhead 2 – Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

Back down to earth, this game took place two days later and multiple rotations had to be made. It made for a very even game and we didn’t deserve to win really, so the draw was a fair result.

Annoyingly it means that Havant re-take the top of the table the bloody frauds...

Scorers: Fagan, Barney – Buari, O’Connor

December table HERE

Manager of the month hasn’t been announced yet. Will update it when it has happened.

EDIT: Chelmsford's manager Glenn Pennyfather came first, Bishop Stortford's Mark Simpson came second, Dartford's Tony Burman came third.

In a weird quirk of the fixture list, I play Havant & Waterlooville again in three days time...

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Cheeky bonus update:

Havant & Waterlooville 0 - Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

We overcome the leaders again, a closer game than before, but yet again Havant try and kick us off of the pitch with a couple of our players taking heavy knocks, the worst news being that Leech has to go off injured!

After the game he has to go and see a specialist about his shin splints, he's predicted to be out for between 5 & 6 weeks. :(

Scorers: Leech x2

We re-take top of the table.

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In a weird quirk of the fixture list, I play Havant & Waterlooville again in three days time...

It's not so much a weird quirk as an attempt by FM to follow what happens in real life.

Basically, in Non-League football, the Boxing Day and New Year's Day fixtures are traditionally held against a local side. This is to aid with travel and to give Non-League clubs a good chance of getting a bumper gate during these two holidays. They play at home or away in the Boxing Day game and then play the reverse fixture on New Year's Day. For example, this season in real life my favourite club, St. Albans City, had local rivals Boreham Wood on their fixture list for Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

These fixtures are traditional and something most fans of Non-League clubs will look out for when the fixtures are announced and look forward to during the season. They are also important for the clubs financially, giving the opportunity for the clubs to 'get the punters in' as they say with some of the larger crowds of the season usually expected.

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Did you become a fully professional club with promotion to league 2?

Yep, went pro when we went up into League 2.

To be honest I really didn’t want the promotion. We made a stack of money (around £400K) in the BSP because our average crowd more than doubled but I was able to keep the wage bill down. Good cup runs and a play off final at Wembley helped a bit too. I was hoping for another season in the BSP to give us a chance of improving the facilities. Now in League 2 we get bigger crowds still, but not enough to offset the wage demands from the kind of players that I now need to attract. The wages themselves aren’t that bad, but players want better bonuses at this level. At best I’m going to break even this season, which leaves no room to make the necessary improvements. We need a better youth setup and scouting system as I’m finding it quite hard to find good players now.

“Unfortunately”, 15 games in and we’re sitting top again… I didn’t want to go up to League 2, let alone League 1. As such, I’m starting to look to leave the club. The Luton and Millwall jobs have come up (when I started this save I toyed with the idea of sticking to the London area, but I’m not set on it). I wasn’t named among the likely candidates for either job though and I didn’t want to upset the good vibe at Woking. So I’ll probably stay until the end of the season, hopefully with another promotion under my belt. I’m hoping that will be enough to land a job with an established Championship or League 1 side.

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Wow, good going...it really seems to be that you are a victim of your own success...

You say you are finding it hard to attract better players, are the ones you currently have playing way over your level?

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The outstanding player has been Marc Bridge-Wilkinson.

I normally don't like to sign players who only have one or two years left in them but he was exactly what I needed : good mentality and ability at set plays. I wouldn't be where I am without him. Him and Doyle have proved a lethal combination from corners, good for 10 goals a season. He then adds another 10 with belters from outside the box. And he always does it when we need it most. There were so many games where I had already settled for a draw and he'd pop up and score one of his screamers. He did it at Wembley too to win the play off final and send us into the league.

He was 34 by then and I was really hoping he would retire from playing after that cause his legs had gone completely and I finally wanted to replace him. It would have been a good high to go out on. But he didn't retire which is just as well cause I couldn't actually find a replacement. I've finally managed to sign Gary Taylor-Fletcher (of Blackpool fame) now after a tip off from my assistant manager but he can't play until january so MBW is still out there doing his thing. He's a player/coach now, has great coaching ability too. He only stays on the pitch for 60 minutes each game but so far he's got 6 goals and 5 assists in 15 games.

Taylor-Fletcher ought to be good though. He's got a double barrel name and he's 32, can't go wrong ! ;)

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I like it! :)

Just goes to show, at that level older players can still play a big part and shouldn't be ignored. I shall certainly be lookin at quality veterans if we are fortunate to get that far.

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I don't want to keep mucking up your thread but I just had to tell you about this.

I've just had the first ever derby with Aldershot. I didn't even realize we were in the same league now. Crowd of over 5,000 packed into the Kingfield. Evening kick-off, rain falling in sheets through the floodlights. Fifteen minutes in my best striker is stretchered off. I've only got one forward left in the squad, 18 year old Ryan Jerome, born and bred Woking lad. First half is a tight affair. We just about edge the possession but our whole forward line has been off colour of late and we can't score. And sure enough, on the stroke of half time Aldershot get a corner and score a freak goal off it (we clear the corner but it comes back in the form of a half-shot, half-cross that's creeping into the top corner. Goalie palms it away straight into the feet of the only Aldershot player left in the box...). A bad result had been coming for us. We only scraped a win by the smallest of margins at Yeovil last week, so I think 'Here we go, but does it have to be at home against Aldershot ?'.

Roll on the second half. Two minutes in Jimmy Keohane is clean through with only the goalkeeper to beat. He's fluffed the last umpteen chances. He fires it at the bottom corner, it hits the post, hits the keeper, hits the post again, bobbles along the line and... IN ! 1 - 1.

67th minute. We've got another player clean through and it's none other than Ryan Jerome. The crowd are going mental but can he keep his cool ? YES, it's in ! We've turned it around ! 2 - 1.

70th minute. Corner for Woking. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson (you already know him) floats it in and centre back Paul Wilson (another 18 year old who came in at half time with a rating of 5.9) powers a header inside the near post. Aldershot have a player on the line but it just creeps in between his leg and the post. 3 - 1.

90th minute. Northern Ireland bad boy Rory Patterson (think Joey Barton but with more tattoos), who's been rubbish all season, goes down in the box. Penalty. Our regular penalty taker MBW has long since hit the showers and to my horror Rory steps up to take it himself... and slams it in the top corner. 4 - 1.

Take that, you muppets ! :cool:

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January and February Update:

Two months worth of updates, I got a bit carried away... :)

The Havant game has already been mentioned.

Woking 3 – Boreham Wood 0 (Blue Square South)

Boreham Wood let their fans down with their lack of ambition, they didn’t have a single effort on target and just seemed happy to go away with a loss. Strange.

Scorers: Hammond x2, Foy o.g.

Basingstoke 1 – Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

A close game really, it all came down to our better finishing.

Scorers: Thomas o.g. – Cooke, Gilroy, King

Woking 2 – Ebbsfleet 3 (Blue Square South)

Well, you can’t win them all. Another close game, this time it was one of those games where every Ebbsfleet shot on goal ended up in the back of the net. Sigh.

The manager was seen throwing his water bottle down in anger.

Scores: Gilroy x2 – Shakes, Carew, Ginty

Salisbury 0 – Woking 0 (FA Trophy 2nd Rnd.)

Just what I really didn’t want, the fixture list is bad enough without a replay. A nothing game, no chances for either side.

The replay...

Woking 3 – Salisbury 1 (FA Trophy 2nd Rnd.)

We got through, thank god for that...the players are getting tired now..

Scorers: Hammond x2, Ademola

Weston-super-Mare 0 – Woking 1 (Blue Square South)

Massive possession for us and better the chances. More comfortable than it looked really.

Scorers: O’Conner

Braintree 1 – Woking 4 (Blue Square South)

A mad game, not much of a difference regarding chances, our finishing was much better.

Scorers: Marks – Gilroy, Softic, Cooke, Turnball

Woking 1 – Dorchester 1 (Blue Square South)

Utter domination, I have no idea why we didn’t win this. Very angry about it. Grrrr...

Scorers: Gilroy – Coutts

Woking 1 – Crawley 0 (FA Trophy 3rd Rnd.)

They had far more chances than we did, a bit of a smash and grab really. On we go...

Scorers: Gilroy

Bishops Stortford 1 – Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

Very close game stats wise, we’re pushing our luck at times this season. Thank god we have a decent defence.

Scorers: Harris – Hammond, Hogarth o.g.

Woking 1 – Staines 1 (Blue Square South)

Livid. We thrashed them and yet didn’t add to the score line and they score from a set piece in the 90th minute. Its game like this you could live to regret at the end of the season.

The one piece of good news is that Leech is fit again after 5 weeks out and he won the pen that Gilroy scored. Good to have him back.

Scorers: Gilroy – Sterling

Lewes 1 – Woking 5 (Blue Square South)

We battered them. This game showed how much we have missed Leech, we have been winning without maybe getting the scores that we deserve. Hopefully his return will kick our season on.

Scorers: Leech x3, Softic, Hammond

Woking 0 – Hayes and Yeading 1 (FA Trophy 4th Rnd.)

Our keeper scored a stupid own goal after only 4 minutes and we couldn’t get past them. This was our 14th game in two months and it really is starting to get to the squad. Quite glad to be out of the competition really, now we can concentrate on the league.

My only other concern is morale has taken a bit of a hit after this game, so I have to be careful in the next game...

Scorers: Swann o.g.

Current table HERE

Manager of the month for January:

Short version = Me.

Manager of the month for February:

Thurrock’s David Irving won the award this month.

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Tell my players that! This is not the time for lack of form or motivation :(

I will be sighing with relief when this season is finished, not really convinced by the 4-4-2, I will be looking to change to something a bit more solid in the summer if I can find the right players.

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Woking.png

March Update:

Can the players keep their focus?

Woking 3 – Farnborough 3 (Blue Square South)

I bloody knew it! We were 3 – 1 up by the 25th minute, I didn’t make any comment at half time (I never say pleased) and they just threw it away in the second half conceding 2 stupid goals. Not happy.

Scorers: McDermott, Gallagher o.g., Hammond – McCubbin, McMahon, McCann (Whats with all the Mc’s??!!)

Thurrock 2 – Woking 2 (Blue Square South)

More rubbish. We were 2 up within 5 minutes. 5 MINUTES!!!!! Another lead we just threw away. We were far superior and just threw it away. It makes me want to smash my head against the desk.

What made it worse is the fact that Leech was taken out in this game and will be out for the rest of the season. FML!

Scorers: O’Toole, King – Softic, Cooke

Woking 2 – Hampton and Richmond 0 (Blue Square South)

Much better, Hampton had a player sent of fairly early but we were one up already by then, a clean sheet also and we are back on track.

Thank god.

Scorers: Gilroy, Hammond

Woking 2 – Bromley 1 (Blue Square South)

This was a very even game. Still, we got the win, which is the important thing.

The limp over the finish line continues.

Scorers: Gilroy, Ademola – Brierley

Eastleigh 1 – Woking 3 (Blue Square South)

I’m tired of saying this myself, ANOTHER close game, our finishing was better. I’m just glad the players filling in for Leech are coming up with the goods.

Scorers: Garrod – Ademola, McDermott, Doyle

Current table HERE

Manager of the month for March:

Dover Athletic’s Paul Joynes came first, I came second, Farnborough’s Steve King came third.

Transfer update:

With one eye on swapping tactics next season to a 4-2-3-1, I started searching for a possible AMC and I found someone that I decided to sign straight away.

http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee517/tyranus3/JuiloRossi.jpg

Hopefully he will be a quality player in the premier...if we get up of course...

It's pushed us even further over the wage budget, which is a gamble but hopefully it will pay off.

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