Woking SSC match report
match report by Simon Grier
Many times over the years Kingstonian have named weakened sides in the Surrey Cup out of choice but on this occasion is was out of necessity as a combination of injury, illness and in Eddie Dsane’s case being cup-tied meant that five of the side who so impressed at East Thurrock over the weekend were unavailable.
It left a Ks side who were disciplined and well-organised but lacked the firepower to break down Conference National opposition who themselves only changed six of the previous starting XI.
Woking only opened one side of the ground, which made for a low-key atmosphere on a cold night – we think it’s the first time since the FA Trophy finals that Ks have played a game in a ground with only one open side. And in the first 20 minutes of the game there was nothing on the pitch to bring life to proceedings, only a Dave Tarpey shot, powerful but too close to Rob Tolfrey, threatening either goal.
As the game went on though, the home side began to threaten more. Alex Wall fired narrowly wide, Tarpey cleared the crossbar from an acute angle and Ks had to scramble a Max Kretschmar effort off the line. Ks survived to half time but barely threatened themselves, Simon Cooper’s audacious attempt to chip Sam Howes from 40 yards looking briefly like it might catch the goalkeeper out but he comfortably recovered his ground.
The Cards continued to dominate after the break with Tarpey, a non-league veteran with over 150 career league goals to his credit, generally at the heart of things. He headed one over and forced Tolfrey to save well with his feet before eventually turning provider with a low cross that Kretschmar was able to direct into the far corner of Tolfrey’s goal.
Ks introduced three youth team prospects, Lewis Perch, Sam Oguntayo and Cameron Reardon, but still found a Woking defence with the giant Moussa Diarra at its heart impossible to break down. Only right at the end could Hayden Bird’s siden threaten, with Fabio Saraiva’s effort saved by Howes and then Tolfrey making a last-gasp attempt to make something memorable of a night that surely won’t be.
Deep into injury time the Ks goalkeeper came up and narrowly failed to get a head on a late free kick and hung around the box to again come agonisingly close to getting on the end of Jerry Puemo's low ball across the six yard box. It was not to be though and after a season full of cup heroics, Ks can now at last concentrate on the league.
Woking: 1 - Sam Howes, 12 - Nathan Collier, 3 - Josh Casey, 6 - Moussa Diarra, 4 - Manny Parry, 8 - Kane Ferdinand, 10 - Max Kretzschmar, 7 - Dave Tarpey, 11 - Paul Hodges, 27 - Alex Wall, 20 - Josh Neufville.
Subs: 13 - Craig Ross, 5 - Ben Gerring, 16 - Shaun Donellan (for Nathan Collier, 46m), 9 - Jake Hyde, 23 - Jayden Wareham (for Josh Neufville, 80m)
Kingstonian: Rob Tolfrey, Jerry Puemo, Ben Harrison, Simon Cooper, Harry Osborne, Tom Kavanagh, Calum Davies, Gus Sow, Dan Thompson, Aaron Lamont, Fabio Saraiva.
Subs: Tutu Henriques, Cameron Reardon (for Aaron Lamont, 80m), Lewis Pearch (for Ben Harrison, 68m), Sam Oguntayo (for Dan Thompson, 68m), Reuben Bull.
Goal scorer: Max Kretzschmar (65m, 1-0)
Attendance: 204
