Woking v Dartford (Tue 5th Feb, 7.45pm)

[spike]

Great effort from our boys last night and a deserved victory. This was the most fun I've had at a football match since Coyley and Flanners took charge. Great scenes at the end, it meant a lot to players, managers and supporters alike.

The ref was awful, denying us a clear and obvious penalty, losing control and making a right arse of himself, especially with the first sending off. It was only thanks to our bench being on the ball and spotting that he'd shown a yellow card to the same bloke twice, but even then, it took the clueless ref another 5 minutes of squabbling before he sorted it out and eventually sent the guy off. Woking seemed to find this all very annoying, but the fact is they were two fully justified yellow cards and the only error made by the ref was in not initially showing the red. Of course the cynics amongst us might say that had he realised he was giving a second yellow, he might not have shown it at all, and knowing how referees' minds work that may well be true. The ref completely lost control of the game and for a while it looked like it might turn REALLY ugly. Woking are their own worst enemy, they lacked discipline and contributed greatly to their own downfall by ridiculously over-reacting to everything and inflaming every situation. The second sending off being a great example of such.

It was very pleasing to see, from the team selection and the way in which we played, that we had come to try and win rather than just avoid defeat. Woking started very strongly in the first half but the Darts weathered the early storm and gradually got a foothold and finished the half very much in the ascendancy. We could so easily have gone in 1-0 up at half-time as Charlie should clearly have been awarded a penalty and in the 30 seconds that followed, we had 5 or 6 chances to score in quick succession and it was almost miraculous how Woking somehow eventually scrambled the ball away. Nevertheless, it was a solid first half for Darts with Ben and Ryno providing some decent service for the front two. The second half was entertaining for many different reasons. The comedy ref really came into his own with the sending off debacle, but both sides had their chances to score and both defences stood firm and Bailey Vose made some very fine saves. Although a 0-0 draw would have been a decent result, it was great to see Darts continue to push for the victory. Up until the second sending off, it was a very good team performance however we seemed to lose our way a little when confronted with the seemingly easier task of playing against 9 men. The last 10 minutes or so were very frustrating as we just didn't seem to be taking advantage of having two extra players on the pitch, but thankfully, right at the last minute Ben and Ronnie combined to snatch the deserved winner.

Last night was great fun and it was great to be there but I can't pretend I look forward to going to Woking FC. It's always been a hostile environment, even though we'd previously never won there. They've more than a few thugs amongst their number and to be frank, I don't think their club has ever acknowledged or faced up to the problem. Their stewards are unfriendly and on past visits have been quite confrontational, but I guess that's a consequence of who they have to deal with. The fact that they feel the need to frisk everyone on entry tells its own story. So it makes a change to come home with a smile on my face. A very sweet victory at a place where nothing ever seemed to go our way in the past.

One of the hardest games ever to pick a MOTM as it was an all-round good team performance. I changed my mind about 5 times before going for Bailey Vose, he didn't put a foot wrong and made a couple of great stops that kept us in the game, but I imagine the votes could be scattered around quite a bit.

[Ozymandias]

Seems that playing in the Conference does not rub off easy with some clubs when they get relegated. A bit like some League clubs getting relegated to the Conference. They just don't think they should be where they are.
Maybe Woking will go back up first season. Let's hope they do, unless of course they meet us in the play-offs. Now that would be a barnstormer.

[Nobby2]

cant see woking winning the league i thought they were pretty poor last night ,i think torquay will do it easy their the best team i have seen this season

[PeteSamson]

Nice to read Spike's summary. Always worth a read.
I was following the game whilst watching Tranmere succumb to a home defeat v Northampton with difficulty as the only Twitter update U could find was the team sheet!
But 0-0 kept popping up, including at halftime. The Tranmere game was extended by 5 minutes + and at that time, Darts were still 0-0. Walking away from my game, one late look at the final scores, and hey no, 0-1 to the Darts. Certainly not expecting that, so doubly delighted to get that result. I had no idea of the game history until a little later on. But it seems we played well when it was 11 v 11, so encouraging signs, and hoping we can continue to make progress against the high flyi g Bath on Saturday. Well played Darts!

[spike]

A fun time was had by all.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1092915550794248192

[Park Life]

Great result, well done everybody.

I don't ever recall having any good relations with their fans and with one of our supporters attacked last night and problems a few years ago at their ground i think we should seriously consider segregating the home game and even keeping their fans in after the final whistle as i'm sure they also attacked some of our fans after the game in the car park last time they visited PP.

[Kentc]

Also the time the assaulted a couple of our fans in our car park.
This lot have always been the same. Their club will not take action against anything they do.
This lot are always behaving like total muppets home and away.
There’s always issues with them particularly at their place. The stewards were pathetic too.

[BrianL]

Found video highlights on National League site;-

http://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/mat ... /1-3791874

Annoying ads but worth it in the end! Surprising only one goal, with two disallowed for us and one for Woking. Several good saves and goalmouth scrambles. Nothing to follow on Twitter last night, but a few updates on their Twitter. Found commentary on BBC Radio Surrey for last half hour; fairly biased as expected, and they had Lee being sent off for the second red card, before correcting. Said we weren't going for it against 9 men, but sensed pressure was building up in added time, so great joy with almost the last action. Well done and particularly to those who were there. Quite possible we will be back there for play-offs.

Nice to see Tom Murphy back in the squad for extra options. as he has made some important goals in the past.

[Park Life]

Dowse interview

https://www.wokingfc.co.uk/tv/v/1153/2/

[M1 South]

Well i didn't understand one word of that, and i've seen every episode of 'Auf Weidersehn Pet' !!