United 1
(Marshall, 65′)
Woking 3
(Daly, 73′, 76′, Roles, 80′)
The Gulls slipped to defeat on Monday, as Woking came from behind to secure a 3-1 win at Plainmoor.
A second-half header from Ross Marshall appeared to give United the impetus to go on and collect their first home three points of the season, however two goals from James Daly, and another from Jack Roles saw the game turned on its head.
United manager Gary Johnson made two changes to the side that slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Maidstone 48 hours prior, with Rhys Lovett replacing the injured Mark Halstead in goal, and Shaun Donnellan coming into the starting eleven at the expense of Kieron Evans, who dropped down to the bench.
The first chances of the game fell the way of the visitors, with Daly firing wide of the post from the edge of the D, before the same player sent in a low drive inside the box that Lovett got down low to parry, before Ross Marshall reacted quickly to divert the loose ball away from danger.
A 10th minute 20-yard curler from Reece Grego-Cox was the next chance Lovett was forced to react to, with The Gulls’ stopper this time diving low to send the goal-bound effort wide of his left upright.
Torquay steadied the ship thereafter, although they weren’t quite able to turn their territorial advantage into clear-cut scoring opportunities themselves.
Corie Andrews and Will Goodwin were certainly willing runners up front for Johnson’s men, however some determined defending by The Cards’ defence kept the men in yellow at bay, with the scoreline remaining blank at the change of ends.
United wasted little time in going on the offensive following the restart though.
A headed-flick by Ryan Hanson saw Andrews nip in behind Woking’s centre-back pairing, with Craig Ross darting off his goalline to produce a sprawling save. Goodwin’s diagonal follow-up effort proved no less threatening, as it caused visiting defender Luke Wilkinson to thrown himself in harm’s way to keep it out.
Such was the power of the Stoke loanee’s shot, that Wilkinson played no further part in proceedings.
In the 63rd minute, a free-kick from the right hand-side caused all sorts of problems inside the Woking area, with the Donnellan inches away from prodding the ball home.
Next, a Dylan Crowe cut-back saw Goodwin, Andrews and Iseguan all miss out, however the pressure would tell just moments later.
Committed to attack despite a set-piece initially appearing to break down, Ali Omar’s dart into the left of the 18-yard box culminated in a delightful delivery that Marshall, on the six-yard line, couldn’t fail to power home via the firmest of headers.
1-0 up, and undoubtedly on top at that stage, yet sadly it all went downhill from there.
An excellent block from Marshall in the 72nd minute prevented Jermaine Anderson’s foray into the box ending in his low shot entering the net, however from the resultant corner, Woking found Scott Cuthbert’s back-post header found Daly on the goalline to poke the ball home.
Only four minutes later, the visitors were in front.
A low right-wing cross saw Anderson well-placed to fire home, and although Lovett did well to parry the ball away, an onrushing Daly seized upon the chance presented to him, and rifled the ball into the net from fifteen yards.
Worse was to follow.
With Torquay throwing bodies forward in pursuit of an equaliser, Woking pounced on the counter attack, and despite Crowe’s best efforts to prevent a ball from the right reaching Roles in the centre, The Cards’ sub had enough on his shot to beat Lovett from just inside the box, despite the United gloveman managing to slow the pace of the ball down.
That goal understandably seemed to knock the stuffing out of Torquay, and despite their best efforts, they were unable to launch one of the infamous late reprieves.
From delight to despair in such a short space of time will no doubt be difficult to take, but such is the nature of the National League, the next test at Southend on Saturday provides Johnson’s side with a swift chance to get back on track.
United: 22. Rhys Lovett, 2. Dylan Crowe (3. Dan Martin, 82′), 5. Ali Omar, 6. Ross Marshall, 7. Ryan Hanson, 10. Corie Andrews, 14. Brett McGavin, 15. Ben Wyatt (26. Nelson Iseguan, 54′), 16. Shaun Donnellan (8. Asa Hall, 85′), 19. Will Goodwin, 21. Dean Moxey (c).
SUBS NOT USED: 11. Kieron Evans, 23. Ollie Tomlinson.
Yellow Cards: Goodwin, 62′, Moxey 83′
Woking: 13. Craig Ross, 3. Josh Casey (c), 5. Joe McNerney, 6. Luke Wilkinson (4. Scott Cuthbert, 50′), 8. James Daly, 9. Reece Grego-Cox, 10. Padraig Amond (7. Ricky Korboa, 90+1′), 12. Dan Moss, 17. Jim Kellermann (18. Jack Roles, HT), 23. Jermaine Anderson, 24. Rohan Ince.
SUBS NOT USED: 1. Ethan Wady, 11. Tyreke Johnson.
Yellow Cards: Kellermann, 27′, Moss, 41′, Daly 45+2′, McNerney, 62′, Roles, 62′
Attendance: 2,422 (159 away)