Cards travel in last friendly

Heybridge Swifts v Woking
3pm on Saturday 6 August 2011

Only a week to go till the keenly-awaited start of the Cards’ BSBS campaign and Garry Hill’s side travel to Heybridge Swifts tomorrow for their last pre-season friendly. Cards fans will be looking for a convincing away performance and hoping that it augurs well for the tough opening league fixture at Sutton United.

WOKING

Only a half a dozen or so of Garry Hill’s squad can feel confident of being in the starting XI v Sutton, such is the competition for places, especially in midfield and up front. So, there is every incentive for the likes of Nathan Koranteng and Ola Sogbanmu to impress tomorrow if they get the chance. Even a place on the bench, if everyone is fit, will be strongly contested.

The Cards have had some fairly testing pre-season games, especially against good quality opposition from two Premiership sides, Arsenal and QPR. The only away game so far saw them gain a comfortable win over Kingstonian – which no doubt they’d hope to repeat tomorrow at Heybridge. Even in the narrow defeat against a strong QPR XI on Wednesday night, by 4-3, they showed that there is every reason to be optimistic about the coming campaign, although you can be sure that Garry and Steve Thompson won’t be at all complacent.

HEYBRIDGE SWIFTS

The Swifts finished 9th in the Ryman League Division One North last season, having been relegated from the Ryman Premier at the end of the 2008-09 season. Pre-season friendly results have been mixed, with the most notable result being a 2-1 home win over Chelmsford City.

GETTING THERE

Scraley Road Stadium
Heybridge
Maldon
Essex
CM9 8JA

Tel: 01621 852978

By Car
Take the M25 eastbound through the Dartford Tunnel, leaving at J25 to join the A12 (Harwich/Chelmsford). Leave A12 at J18 and take A414 (Maldon/Chelmsford). After about 8 miles take the B1018 (Maldon/Colchester) and then, very shortly afterwards, the B1022 (Colchester/Tiptree). Go through another roundabout, still following the B1022, and then, about 350 yards further on, bear right into Scraley Road. The AA gives the distance as about 85 miles and the journey time at just under two hours.

By train
The nearest railway station to the ground is Witham, about 6 miles away. You’d need to get to Stratford (on the Jubilee Line from Waterloo) and then take a train from there, with a journey time of about 35 minutes. It would then be a question of taking a bus or taxi to the ground.

ADMISSION PRICES

Adults £5
Concessions £2.50
Children under 14 accompanied by an adult £1

Come on, you Cards!

P.S. Make sure you’ve got the Cards’ first home league game firmly in your diary: v Hampton and Richmond on Tuesday 16 August at 7.45pm.