Cards face stern test with the visit of big-spending Salford

Woking vs Salford City
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday 20th 2018

The Cards face one of the toughest tests of their pre-season schedule on Saturday in the shape of newly promoted National League side Salford City.

Despite effectively swapping divisions with Woking at the end of last season after winning National League North, the Ammies are amongst the early favourites for promotion to the Football League next summer, aided by an impressive set of summer signings and backed heavily, as they are, by the famous ‘Class of 92’ – Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, who own the club alongside majority shareholder Peter Lim.

With the Cards’ new-look squad already looking in good shape for the new season we could be in for a great game so come along if you can and cheer on the team!

Woking

After using 29 players in the double-header against Spelthorne and Sutton last weekend, the Cards settled for a squad of just 19 against a Chelsea XI on Wednesday, when Duane Ofori-Acheampong’s smart header from Max Kretzschmar’s free-kick proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Manager Alan Dowson, supported by the returning Martin Tyler alongside Ian Dyer, was able to field a starting line-up which included just one non-contracted player, Kane Ferdinand, and was only missing defender Charlie Wassmer from, potentially, his preferred eleven.

Nathan Collier, Josh Casey, Ian Gayle and Jack Cook started at the back in front of goalkeeper Berti Schotterl as the Cards secured their fourth clean sheet in five games; Christian Jolley partnered Ferdinand in midfield, allowing Kretzschmar to push forward into the number ten role, whilst Greg Luer and Nicky Wheeler provided the width for Ofori-Acheampong.

On the bench was new signing Jake Hyde, who made his first appearance in a Woking shirt, along with the two remaining trialists Kofi Halliday and Paul Hodges; Academy graduates Sam Mason, Reggie Young, Declan Appau and Charlie Hester-Cook completed the squad alongside Fabio Saraiva. Dowse has also confirmed that defender Dan Spence, who missed the game against Chelsea, is likely to return.

Salford City

The Manchester-based club held off the challenge of Harrogate Town to win the National League North by six points last season, having missed out on promotion via the play-offs the year before. Much to the surprise of those outside of the club joint-managers Bernard Morley and Anthony Johnson left shortly after the end of the campaign, eventually joining Chester, and were replaced by former Fleetwood and Scunthorpe boss Graham Alexander.

The former Scotland-international has wasted little time in revamping the squad for a tilt at a fourth promotion in five years, bringing in a number of high-profile new signings, including striker Adam Rooney, who scored 88 goals during five years with Aberdeen, and now swaps European football for the opportunity to be a part of the Salford project.

Other notable additions include midfielder Danny Whitehead, who was part of Macclesfield’s promotion winning team last season, veteran Fleetwood defender Nathan Pond, Bristol Rovers regular Rory Gaffney, who played 76 times for the club in League One, and Peterborough’s Danny Lloyd who scored double figures from midfield in the third tier last year.

There will certainly be some great players on show for both teams so why not come down and take a look tomorrow – we hope to see you there!

Ticket Prices

Adults - £10
Concessions - £5
Under 16s - Free