This Saturday, February 3rd, brings yet another full round of National League fixtures. One of these ties includes Michael Doyle’s revitalised Woking taking on Luke Garrard’s Boreham Wood at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.
The reverse of this fixture back in November was a thriller, with the Cards taking an early 2-0 lead inside 15 minutes, including a Rhys Browne wonder goal. Woking were hoping to claim their first victory in over a month, but Luke Garrard’s side had other ideas, grabbing one back before half time, and then scoring another three in the second half to claim all three points, and hand Woking their 13th loss in 15 games.
Woking will be looking to win back-to-back games for the 3rd time in a whole year, after claiming a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Micky Mellon’s high-flying Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park, leading to manager Michael Doyle claiming manager of the week. On the other hand, Luke Garrard’s Boreham Wood suffered a very disappointing 3-0 home collapse at the hands of another Surrey side, Marc White’s Dorking Wanderers.
This was their first loss in six games, but they’ve also only won once, the draw specialists of recent months, drawing four of their last six matches.
The two clubs currently sit in 20th (Woking) and 17th (Boreham Wood), so this could make for a cagey affair, with both sides needing a win to propel themselves out of a relegation battle. As it stands, Woking are just clear of the bottom 4 on goal difference, while Boreham hovers above it by just four points.
In both of the clubs last 16 league games, Woking have won just three and Boreham Wood have won four. Both clubs have also won just one in seven. Woking may have home “advantage”, which could end up being better for Wood, as the last time Woking won at home was over 5 months ago, a 2-0 win in the Surrey Derby against Dorking Wanderers, and they have the 4th worst home form in the entire top six divisions in England.
Although it may be a random stat, Woking hasn’t won a Saturday 3pm home game this season. Boreham could take advantage of these factors, but they’ve only won one away game since late October.
Garrard’s side hasn’t been too active in the January window, making no new additions, and only extending the loans of Billy Sass-Davies from Crewe Alexandra, who was a Woking player last season, and Matt Robinson, from Woking funnily enough.
Woking on the other hand has enjoyed a very busy transfer window, extending the loan of Timi Odusina, and making 6 signings, those being Dion Kelly-Evans on a permanent from Banbury, Jayden Luker on loan from Luton, Lewis Walker on a permanent from Gillingham, Charley Kendall on a permanent from Lincoln, and Max Dyche on loan from Northampton.
Boreham Wood will be without key players Matt Robinson, as he can’t pay against his parent club, and Tyrone Marsh due to his red card against Dorking last week. Woking has a few injuries, but the squad should be just as fit and able as it was at the 1-0 away win last Saturday. With Jim Kellermann being the only new injury.
To conclude, I expect a very close, hard fought game that both teams will desperately be wanting to win. The logical result to predict would be a draw, due to how many Garrard’s side have had so far this season, and more so recently, but as a Woking fan, I have to predict a win, 2-1.