Woking 2nd XV 53 - Guildfordians 2nd XV 5
Following last weeks narrow win on the road against Streatham-Croydon, Woking were keen to make amends at home against Guildfordians sitting one place below in the table at 4th. Woking went into this game with a strong 22 following on from the successes in the previous 7 games. However, it looked like it could be a hard day at the office within the first 5 minutes with Woking falling asleep at a penalty allowing the Bisons blindside to march through with little resistance to register the first 5 points. The conversion was missed in front of the posts to give Woking a small reprieve.
If this was what Woking needed to shock them into action then it certainly worked. From the kick off, pressure from the Woking forwards led to a Woking scrum and nice work from outside half Steve Workman who recently came out of retirement and Neil Murphy at 12 allowed full back Mo Sher to crash over. From the restart some solid work for the forwards allowed the ball to be spread to young Jay Marsden who squeezed through with his pace to score in the corner.
Woking continued to apply pressure. However, there were still warning signs as Bisons took a quick 22 and with a 4 man overlap could have comfortably scored had the collecting player not spilled the ball. This wake up call did the trick and it was the forwards turn to get on the scoresheet with captain Jason Williams crashing over after good work within the forwards and Steve Workman getting the conversion to make it 17-5. Woking crossed the whitewash again just before half time with Workman drawing the midfield to put over Mo Sher for his second with an excellent switch move.
So far Woking had kept their discipline well but as in previous weeks, the red mist descended. This time it was Dave Anderson-Bassey who was penalised for killing the ball at a ruck and then proceeded to argue with the ref. The referee keen to stamp his authority on the game awarded the newcomer this season with 10 minutes in the bin. This did not deter Woking who continued to apply pressure in the 5 minutes left to half time.
The second half continued in the manner of the first with Woking's forwards taking it to the Bisons, especially at scrum time where blind side Sam Fawcett stepped up to second row and the 7 men of Woking put the Bisons pack into reverse gear. Fawcett would replace Anderson-Bassey permanently in the second row as grizzled Scot Jim McGiven came into the back row and Matt Edwards replaced Pedro Midoes at scrum half. The tries now came thick and fast with scores for Neil Murphy, Andy Jones, Rebwar Abdoullahi and Matt Edwards. Woking introduced Matt Childs and Tinashe Faredo to replace Justin Key and Ben Jones in the front row who both had great games in the tight. Woking continued their ruthlessness until the end to reach the half century.
Captain Jason Williams was delighted with the performance, commenting "I couldn't ask more from the boys, from 1 to 15 today everyone gave their all and I think we showed our intentions for the season today. We've won 8 on the trot now and everyone at the club is feeling good due to the winning mentality at the club at the moment."
Key, Collins, B Jones, Anderson-Bassey, Williams, Fawcett, Brennan, A Jones, Midoes, Workman, Marsden, Murphy, Abdoullahi, Benjamin, Sher
Subs: McGiven, Childs, Edwards, Faredo, Owens, Grady, Munowenyu, Phillips
