Preparations for Witan’s third match of the season were dominated by fears of travel chaos, sparked by a comprehensive national trains strike – perfect timing, then, for the season’s longest away game against Old Wokingians.
With some regulars stranded at home, a Witan squad featuring four first team debutants braved the disruption and set out towards Woking – but if the fans were worried, their anxiety was misplaced, for this was a march towards resounding victory.
The disruption did yield an early haddock nomination for a disorientated Ben ‘Dele’ De La Fuente, who inexplicably required his travel companions to “drop a pin” while collecting him yards from his house.
But with train travellers miraculously arriving early, Witan began the day well with an uncharacteristically lengthy warm up leading to early success on the pitch. Territorial pressure enabled both full backs to push forward; Pete Tam snapped into tackles on the left and Ben Wright channelled his inner Joao Cancelo by stepping into midfield on the right… though perhaps Danny Mills is more Ben’s speed, as with 10 minutes on the clock, confidence overflowed and he half-volleyed a 25 yarder out for a throw-in (almost).
15 minutes in and Witan’s midfield had started strongly, with the new Baxter-Page-Amhar axis defying the ‘multiple-Jonny’ conundrum to press effectively through the middle.
With possession once again won high up the pitch, they worked the ball left to Brazilian maestro Deybson who cut inside, beat his man and threaded a neat pass behind the Woking defence to the onrushing Amhar. The Woking GK was 60/40 favourite but Amhar’s fearless pressing forced an error: the keeper’s tackle-slash-clearance rebounded off a defender, allowing Amhar to side-step them both and score a well-deserved debut tap-in.
Strong start rewarded: 1-0 to Witan.
Over the next 20 mins, Witan saw numerous shots blocked and scuffed inside the Woking box, with Amhar and the high-octane Jonny Page both repeatedly denied. Lone front man Cogan bullied the opposition centre backs but sadly found his usual “shoot early to catch them out” tactic foiled by the Bobby Charlton pitch design – long grass disguising treacherous bald patches.
Deybson’s probing from the left soon drew unwanted attention from the Woking defence and after a particularly testy tackle, Deybson required a short nap to recover with a minute spent lying face down in the Surrey dirt.
This was not one-way traffic, however. Wokingians bypassed Witan’s press with effective switches of play but with overdue 1s debutant Danny Payne and the now re-oriented Ben Dele both commanding and assured at the back, Woking found little joy from open play.
Instead, Woking’s biggest threat came from set pieces – Witan’s traditional Achilles’ heel – and amid a flurry of corners, they issued two serious warnings before half time. First, a corner from the right was headed back across goal, then towards the near top corner. Imperious up to now, Witan’s GK Keir was helpless to intervene but an alert Tam cleared off the line. Moments later, an excellent Woking corner from the left flew through Witan’s six-yard box, with unmarked forward #1 unable to connect for a certain tap-in and unmarked forward #2 heading millimetres over at the back post.
So 1-0 at half-time, and following encouraging words all round, captain Baxter substituted himself off with the armband handed to VC Ben Wright. As Ben would later state on repeat, this clearly gave Witan the spark they needed, and they started the second half like the South Western Trains that had delivered them to Woking unexpectedly fuss-free hours before.
Federico continued his virtuoso display in midfield, pinning Woking back with rapid interceptions and precise forward passing. With Mikey Savage’s direct running and in-swinging crosses terrorising the Woking right-back, and with Dave Cureton showing composure and nimble feet to confound the Woking left-back, Witan lay siege to the Woking penalty box. Chance after chance went begging: Mikey’s crosses went unconverted, Jonny Page skied miles over, Dave toe-poked just wide following a determined dribble inside and Josh could have scored five if not for those cursed grass combovers. Dele even found time to throw in a Cruyff turn at centre back to leave an opposition forward floundering.
A cry from the Witan bench (“Anyone tired? Anyone injured?”) was met with determined silence from those on the pitch. Witan were well on top and they smelled blood. On 60 mins, the Woking GK even passed the ball straight to Josh on the edge of the Woking box – but this was too easy a chance for the big man who, to the anguish of the fans, passed it straight back.
Alas, with constant Witan pressure failing to change the scoreboard, the well-worn cliché that “pressure must lead to goals” began to look ominous and Woking slowly inched back into the game. For a moment, the referee seemed happy to help them, blocking a Ben Wright pass up field then bizarrely awarding the resulting drop ball to Woking, deep inside the Witan half, with Witan players caught unaware while moving forward. Luckily for Witan, the dependable duo of Danny and Dele came to the rescue again, at the expense of another barely-escaped Woking corner.
With Witan’s momentum dwindling on 70 mins, Baxter finally found a way back onto the pitch and immediately made an impact – earning the Haddock award (and privilege of writing this report) by immediately opening his “wide old legs” and being “nutmegged by a fat man”.
Fortunately, his embarrassment was quickly replaced with joy as Witan punctured Woking’s growing resurgence with a goal of the highest calibre. Strong combination play from Tam and Mikey down the left provided Jonny Page with space to deliver a pinpoint left-foot cross, which Cogan guided delightfully into the roof of the net with a mid-air side-foot volley. If Carlsberg created goal chances, Josh would have ignored them all in favour of scoring one absolute banger.
With Witan’s pressure finally rewarded and Wokingians’ confidence broken, Witan saw out the remaining 15 minutes in relative comfort, recording a well-deserved 2-0 win.
Over beers afterwards, a generally strong team performance was reflected with six different players nominated for MOM, but with Danny Payne deservedly taking the crown for an excellent defensive display that will surely be rewarded with future WhatsApp battles for his services.
To Captain Baxter’s dismay, his (un)subtle deflection tactics were not enough to avoid the dreaded Haddock; but if this is the price for such enjoyable wins every week, then he’ll surely take it.
Well played Witan.
Written by Jonny Baxter
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