Woking 1
(Amond 43′)
United 1
(Fadahunsi 61′)
A battling performance from Gary Johnson’s side saw them come from behind to hold Woking to a 1-1 draw on Tuesday evening.
Woking edged into the lead just before the interval as Padraig Amond broke the deadlock, before Tope Fadahunsi’s first goal for the Club clinched a valuable point for The Gulls.
On the back of the home win over Maidstone at the weekend, the Gaffer opted to make one change to that winning line-up, with Ryan Hanson replacing Ricky Aguiar in the starting XI, whilst Brett McGavin made a welcome return from injury to take the former’s place on the substitutes bench.
It was the home side who enjoyed the bulk of the possession in the early stages, although the resolute defending from the men in yellow largely kept their opponents at bay.
The Cardinals created only one real opportunity of note during that period, with Mark Halstead gathering Rhys Browne’s diagonal low drive with relative ease in the fifth minute.
Six minutes later, and it was James Daly’s turn to test The Gulls’ stopper, however, Halstead was once again equal to it.
Torquay fashioned an opening of their own midway through the half, with a sense of panic inside the Woking box eventually seeing the ball land to Kieron Evans just outside the box, inviting the Cardiff loanee to volley goalwards, but sadly, over the crossbar.
On 24 minutes, United went within a whisker of opening the scoring.
A ball over the top always looked a good option, and with Evans’ dink finding the onrushing Jarvis powering into the right side of the box, before Torquay’s leading scorer flashed an effort across the face of goal, and narrowly behind the far upright.
After doing so well to limit the home side near goal, it was therefore disappointing when Woking took the lead two minutes before the interval.
A long ball towards the penalty spot was taken down by Browne, and with Amond well placed in space to his left, the striker had time to pick his spot and fire low past Halstead.
Somewhat unlucky to be behind at the change of ends, it was imperative Johnson’s men responded following the restart, against a side now with their tails up.
The stop-start nature to the beginning of the second half denied both sides the chance to exert any authority on proceedings, and it wasn’t until just past the hour mark that either teams threatened.
When their moment came though, Johnson’s men made it count.
A high searching ball down the centre saw Fadahunsi race off in pursuit, and after outpacing a retreating backline, the on-loan Sutton man hooked the ball over the advancing Craig Ross, and into the back of the net to restore parity.
For a period thereafter, the yellows took charge, and on 63 minutes, a rejuvenated Fadahunsi drove into the 18-yard box before sending in a diagonal strike that Ross just managed to palm round the post.
The Cards, aware that the game was now edging away from them, redoubled their efforts in a bid to break The Gulls’ resolve, but United wouldn’t buckle.
Halstead was called into action on two occasions to seal the deal though.
In the 71st minute, the Torquay goalkeeper got down well to divert substitute Kyran Lofthouse’s 20 yarder round the post, before surpassing that in injury time with a marvellous to keep out James Daley’s header from close range.
That was as close as Woking came, with a point on their travels a worthy reward for Johnson’s men, as their improved form continues.
WOKING: 13. Craig Ross, 3. Josh Casey (c), 4. Scott Cuthbert, 5. Joe McNerney, 8. James Daly, 10. Pádraig Amond (20. Marcus Dackers, 76′), 12. Dan Moss, 14. Rhys Browne (19. Jake Hessenthaler, 62′), 16. Solomon Nwabuokei, 17. Jim Kellermann, 24. Rohan Ince (2. Kyran Lofthouse, 62′).
SUBS NOT USED: 6. Luke Wilkinson, 15. Charlie O’Connell
Yellow Cards: Ince 25′
UNITED: 1. Mark Halstead, 4. Tom Lapslie, 7. Ryan Hanson, 9. Aaron Jarvis, 10. Tope Fadahunsi (2. Dylan Crowe, 78′), 11. Kieron Evans, 15. Ben Wyatt, 16. Shaun Donnellan, 19. Nico Lawrence, 21. Dean Moxey (c), 27. Dillon De Silva.
SUBS NOT USED: 6. Ross Marshall, 12. Jacob Mensah, 14. Brett McGavin, 22. Rhys Lovett.
Yellow Cards: Moxey 41′, Marshall 85′, De Silva 90’+8
Attendance: 2,191 (175 away)