Glen Harrington
11:50am, Mon 24th Apr 2023
Woking vs FC Halifax Town
Vanarama National League
Tuesday 25th April 2023
Woking complete back-to-back games against this season’s FA Trophy finalists on Tuesday evening when they host FC Halifax Town at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.
Saturday was close to the perfect day for the Cards – a 2-1 win at home to Gateshead, combined with both Chesterfield and Barnet dropping points, saw Darren Sarll’s side guarantee at least a fourth-place finish and put themselves back in the driving seat for claiming third-place and an automatic spot in the play-off semi-finals – two points behind the Spireites with a game in hand. But with Chesterfield facing Maidstone on the final day, the Cards will know that they’ll likely need six points out of six from Halifax and Saturday’s opponents Solihull Moors to finish as high up the table as possible.
The only downside to the weekend’s game was more injury woes for Woking, with James Daly forced off late on, leaving the home side to hold on with 10-men for the closing stages, and substitute Charlie Wakefield picking up a hamstring strain. Jim Kellermann was also withdrawn at half-time against the Heed, although this may have been purely precautionary, with the midfielder having been booked earlier in the game. Sarll will hope to have both Kellermann and Kyran Lofthouse available on Tuesday, with the winger failing to even make the bench after Sarll revealed there had been more illness in the squad in the build-up to Saturday’s game.
Opposition Watch
Much like Gateshead, Halifax have enjoyed an impressive second-half of the season, as their form in the Trophy has carried over into the National League. The Shaymen finished fourth last season, but never looked likely to repeat that feat this year, as they won just two of their first 11 league games – including a 4-0 home defeat to the Cards in the reverse fixture.
Manager Chris Millington, who replaced Barrow-bound Pete Wild last summer, has slowly steadied the ship. They won five and lost just one of their next eight games after losing to Woking. Things have been ever better in 2023 and they’ve lost just once in their last 13 games in all competitions, away to Chesterfield, in a run stretching back to mid-February. They’re currently unbeaten in their last six league games since losing to the Spireites, winning four, including a shock 3-1 home win over champions Wrexham earlier this month.
Back-to-back draws in their last two outings – at home to Bromley and away to Dagenham – have left them 13th in the league table with 57 points, 12 adrift of the play-offs and 10 clear of relegation. They also have their FA Trophy final against Gateshead to look forward to after defeating Altrincham on penalties in a dramatic semi-final – one of three penalty shoot-out wins for them in the competition this year. The Shaymen also won the Trophy in 2016 when they beat Gateshead enroute to Wembley.
Key players to look out for on Tuesday are Millenic Alli, who scored six goals in five games between late March and mid-April and has 11 this season, another in form forward in Emmanuel Dieseruvwe, who has scored four of his 13 goals this season in the past three weeks, and attacking midfielder Matty Warburton, who the Woking boss knows from his time at Yeovil.
Recent Meetings
• FC Halifax Town
0-4 Woking – 1st October 2022, National League (Daly, Own Goal, Grego-Cox 2)
• FC Halifax Town
2-1 Woking – 9th April 2022, National League (Kretzschmar)
• Woking
2-3 FC Halifax Town – 28th August 2021, National League (Maguire-Drew, Oakley)
• FC Halifax Town
1-0 Woking – 27th April 2021, National League
• Woking
0-0 FC Halifax Town – 17th October 2020, National League
Tickets
Ticket prices are £20 for Adults, Concessions £15, Next-Gen £12, and just £5 for Under 16s. For more information and to book your ticket please
click here.
