Wells City 0 Woking 7
FA Cup – 2nd Qualifying Round
Saturday, 1st October 2011


Too hot to handle, that was the weather, and Woking’s performance at Wells. On the hottest October day on record, with temperatures soaring to 28oC, and perpetual blue skies, the Cards took the game to City from the off. Fielding a strong side and playing on a perfect surface, in front of a record crowd, Woking raced into an early lead in the fourth minute. A near post cross from Moses Ademola was deflected past the keeper by the Blues full back, Ben Higgins, with Wayne Gray and the keeper in close attention. A soft opener, but one minute later Moses Ademola slipped a ball through to Paris Cowan-Hall on the edge of the box, and after side-stepping a defender, he unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top of the net.

Woking were probing from every angle and conjured up several chances before, on 15 minutes, a one-two between Gez Sole and Paris Cowan-Hall split the defence and allowed the latter to slip the ball to Wayne Gray, who duly slotted home. Four minutes later the rugged goalscorer charged into the box and was hauled down by Wells’ skipper Kyle McErlain. Clearly a penalty, the tall stopper was yellow carded, and was very lucky to escape the red card as last man. Up stepped Jack King to confidently score the penalty.

On 24 minutes Cowan-Hall rattled the crossbar, and Sole scythed the rebound wide. Moments later Wells had their first real chance on goal, as their goal talisman Steve “Scouse� Murray raced past Joe McNerney and swept a good angled shot to the bottom corner of the net, but Aaron Howe produced a full stretch dive to deflect the effort wide.

On 31 minutes Paris Cowan-Hall outpaced a defender on the edge of the box to cleverly roll the ball past the keeper, and goalwards, but this time Higgins was alert and cleared off the line.

Half-time: Wells City 0 Woking 4

At half-time Garry Hill brought on Elvis Hammond for Wayne Gray, and Josh Griffiths for Moses Ademola. Wells came out in determined mood and for a while took the game to the Cards and on 50 minutes, it was Murray again who picked up the ball in midfield and ran diagonally across McNerney to find space and fire an angled shot which Howe held.

On 53 minutes a two-footed tackle on Paris Cowan-Hall, not particularly dangerous, by Kyle McErlain saw the skipper receive his second yellow card and his marching orders. Now Wells were up against it.

Four minutes later a superb long pass from right to left found Paris Cowan-Hall racing through. He checked his run and laid the ball back into the path of Jack King, who drilled the ball home, perhaps deflected on its way by defender Mark Randall.

On 59 minutes Ola Sogbanmu replaced Cowan-Hall for his first game since his injury at Heybridge in the pre-season.

On 65 minutes Josh Griffiths fed Sogbanmu, who weaved an opening for Elvis Hammond, who typically and lethally switched direction, swivelled, and drilled past the defender and through the hapless keeper to make it 6-0. Ola and Elvis caused the weakened defence all sorts of problems as Griffiths, Sogbanmu, Hammond and Sole all had half-chances. In the closing minute Giuseppe Sole found himself with the ball in space on the edge of the area and his driven shot rocketed past the keeper who managed to palm it on its way.

Despite the result and Cards' confident play Wells never gave up, and their defence, in particular, worked hard to limit the score line, and never resolved to unsporting play. The friendly Wells officials and supporters contributed to the enjoyment of the day and a memorable football match.

Woking: Aaron Howe, Adam Newton, Derek Duncan, Mark Ricketts, Joe McNerney, Jay Davies, Paris Cowan-Hall (17. Ola Sogbanmu, 59’), Jack King, Moses Ademola (12. Josh Griffiths, HT), Wayne Gray (15. Elvis Hammond, HT), Giuseppe Sole

Subs not used: 14. Dale Binns, 16. Alan Inns, 18. Jordan Kennedy (gk)

Scorers: OG 4’, Cowan-Hall 5’, Gray 15’, King 19’ penalty, 57’, Hammond 65’, Sole 89’

Wells City: Luke Langson, Ben Higgins, Mark Randall, Jamie Gowers (14. Ben Robertson, 59’), Kyle McErlain, Ross McErlain, Steve Sokol (16. Matt Hurley 59’), Jake Brown, Adam Jones, Steve Murray, Tom Manning

Subs not used: 12. Nathan Truckle, 15. Toby Cole, 17. Owen Dunn (gk)

Bookings: Kyle McErlain 19’, 53’; Mark Randall 88’


My MOTM: Paris Cowan-Hall for his perpetual movement and close control around and in the box.

Attendance: 410