Concord Rangers 1 Woking 2 (AET)
FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
17th October 2017

Anthony Limerick made just one change to his starting line-up as the Cards tried to get through to the 1st Round of the 2017/18 FA cup at the second time of asking. Bobson Bawling, reportedly out with a minor injury, was replaced by Charlie Carter and he would end the home side’s cup run with a cruel late goal at the end of the second half of extra time.

Woking started brightly from the off, dominating possession and looking dangerous on the ball. It took them less than a minute to force Louis Wells into his first save of the match when Inih Effiong fired an awkward low long range effort into his arms from 25-yards out. Effiong continued to cause problems and in the 7th minute he beat the Concord offside trap, at least in the opinion of the assistant referee, and raced onto a great through ball from Carter. He then calmly set-up Regan Charles-Cook with a well-placed cross. His first effort was clawed away by Wells though the ball may have already crossed the line but it was immaterial as the Charlton loanee was alert enough to stab the rebound back over the line to give the Cards an early lead.

The home side fought back when Lewis Taffee found Jordan Brown down the left wing and his pull back was curled across goal by Femi Akinwande. However, it was still the Cards causing the most problems and the presence of Effiong forced a corner following a mix-up between Lewis Knight and Wells, much to the latter’s annoyance. Two consecutive Chez Issac corners were eventually cleared away but Joe Ward forced Wells into another save with a long range effort as the visitors went looking for a second goal. Two minutes later Effiong glanced Young’s deep cross comfortably wide before in the 21st minute Charles-Cook fizzed a long range shot comfortably over the bar.

The home side retaliated with chances of their own, the impressive Steve Cawley almost finding Taffee in the area with a neat header before in the 26th minute a long throw was not fully cleared and the wonderfully named Billy Roast produced a fantastic overhead kick which was matched with an equally acrobatic save from Nathan Baxter. Woking replied three minutes later when Ward’s teasing cross was headed goalwards by Effiong but the ball looped into the keeper’s arms.

A crucial turning point in the match arrived moments later. Following a neat ball forward from Kane Ferdinand, Ward teased the Concord defence before playing the ball invitingly into the path of Carter on his right but the Cards midfielder could only muster a tame effort at goal from a good position which was easily gathered by Wells. The experienced keeper’ then launched a well hit, flat ball forward which got the better of Jordan Wynter and Cawley beat Richard Orlu to the ball diverting it into the path of Akinwande who made no mistake when released through on goal, calmly placing the ball past Baxter to make it 1-1 in the 32nd minute.

The goal seemed to give Concord confidence and they made it hard for the Cards before the half time whistle, enjoying more possession than in the first half an hour. There were no more major chances for either side before the break though, the only shot on goal coming from Harry Lee and that rolled tamely wide from outside the area.

Half-Time: Concord Rangers 1 Woking 1

Woking started the second half in similar fashion to the first, winning a corner almost immediately which Wynter headed narrowly wide. The buoyant Concord were quick to reply though with Akinwande causing problems again, setting up Taaffe who was denied by Baxter only for the rebound to cannon off him and go just wide of the post. The Cards continued to press and kept getting crosses into the Concord penalty area, both Effiong and Orlu heading goalwards in quick succession but they’re efforts were easily dealt with by Wells. Limbrick made his first substitution of the evening not long after replacing Charles-Cook with Jason Banton.


In the 65th minute, the Cards were lucky to escape after another great chance for the home side. Roast picked out the run of Akinwande and he was sent clean through but Baxter held his position excellently and stopped the Concord striker’s attempt to beat him at his near post, diverting it behind for a corner. Wynter headed wide again from an Iassac set piece, this time a free kick from the Woking left, before Effiong was replaced by Jamie Philpot. Another Concord break, following what looked suspiciously like a foul on Issac by Cawley, then saw the ever threatening Akinwande fire wide of the target after he was set-up on the edge of the box by Amos Nasha. However, even if he had found the bottom corner, it would have been ruled out for offside.

The last fifteen minutes was end-to-end stuff as both teams seemed to feel they could nick the crucial winning goal. Philpot released Ward on the right but Wells was a match to his low effort and then after Joey Jones replaced Issac, a Banton corner caused commotion in the Concord area before Orlu’s effort was blocked by Knight. Another neat Woking move involving Jones and Philpot ended with Carter failing to get the on the end of Ward’s cross. It was the National South side that went closest to grabbing a winner though when in the last minute they broke after Carter’s long range effort was well blocked and the excellent Cawley played an inch perfect ball into Akinwande down the Woking right. He saw his effort roll agonisingly across the goal from a tight angle. Moments later the referee blew the final whistle.

Full Time: Concord Rangers 1 Woking 1

Once again following a break it was the Cards who started the brightest. It took less than five minutes for Banton and Ward to combine and release Matt Young down the right but his effort from a tight angle went comfortably over the bar. This was quickly followed by Nathan Ralph setting Banton away down the left wing and after he burst past a defender he forced Wells into another sharp save at his near post. Concord hit back when Cawley tried an ambitious lob from just inside the Woking half but his attempt to catch Baxter unawares did not come off, the Chelsea loanee content to watch his effort sail just over the bar. The young keeper’ was not so content five minutes later when the home side created the best chance during the first half of extra time. Nasha capitalising on Carter’s hesitance in the penalty area and racing to the by-line, his low cross was half blocked by Baxter and then bobbled worryingly along the goaline before Young arrived to smash the ball to safety.

With the match fifteen mintues from penalties, the Cards were beginning to get a little desperate, as demonstrated by appeals for a penalty when Roast blocked Philpot’s cross with his arm but the referee correctly turned them away, the ball striking the Concord defender from yards away with little he could do to get out of the way of the cross. Nasha then had a long range effort fly over the crossbar but it was Woking who were controlling the final exchanges of the match. However, the home side defended valiantly, dealing with everything Woking could throw at them until the 117th minute. Wynter’s long ball forward was diverted into the path of Ward by Carter and he continued his run to get on the end of a low cross which he curled goalward. It took a deflection off of a Concord defender before looping into the far corner of the net.

The Cards played out the last few minutes without conceding to set-up a home tie with Bury in the next round. Fair play to Concord, they gave Woking quite a scare over the two games and will feel like they could easily have come away the victors but Limbrick’s men never gave up and stuck at their task to come away with the narrowest

After Extra Time: Concord Rangers 1 Woking 2

Woking: Nathan Baxter, Matt Young, Nathan Ralph, Chez Isaac (Joey Jones 76), Jordan Wynter, Richard Orlu ©, Charlie Carter, Kane Ferdinand, Inih Effiong (Jamie Philpot 67), Regan Charles-Cook (Jason Banton 60), Joe Ward.
Unused Subs: Ivan Nsimbi, Declan Appau, Lazar Stojsavljevic, Sam Mason

Goal: Charles-Cook 7, Carter 117

Bookings: Young, Carter

Concord Rangers: Louis Wells, Rob Girdlestone, (Jed Smith 90), Amos Nasha, Lewis Knight (Steve King 84), Billy Roast, Khale Da Costa (Kyron Farrell 82), Harry Lee, Femi Akinwande, Steve Cawley ©, Lewis Taaffe

Goals: Akinwande 32

Attendance: 382

MOTM: Charlie Carter – Hard to choose but a battling display over 120 minutes from him with some good touches and a great last gasp run to win it for the Cards.