Woking preview

Quoted Text

Grimsby Town v Woking
3pm on Saturday 10 November 2012

The Cards make another long trip on Saturday when they travel to Grimsby for the first-ever meeting between the two clubs. The Mariners, whose squad includes former Woking favourite Aswad Thomas, lie in fourth place in the table and will present another formidable challenge to Garry Hill’s side as they seek to keep the points tally moving upwards.

WOKING

It’s common for managers to comment on how tough a particular league is but few will disagree with Garry Hill’s verdict on the Blue Square Premier. Not only do the Cards have to cope with being part-time and having a small squad but they also have to make so many long journeys to away matches, with the great majority of opponents based in the North or the Midlands. Woking fans will also agree with Garry on what a jump in quality there is between the Blue Square South and the Blue Square Premier – and, indeed, how much the Premier has changed in the three years we’ve been absent.

Tuesday evening’s hugely entertaining 2-2 draw against Kidderminster Harriers underlined all these points but also epitomised Woking’s play this season: bright, often skilful, with plenty of goals scored but also too many conceded. Woking have now scored more goals (33) than anyone else except leaders Newport County but have also conceded more than any other side except Cambridge United, who have also let in 35.

Whether Woking’s style of play makes it inevitable that they will concede plenty of goals is debatable. There certainly seem to be lapses – from set pieces in particular – which ought to be preventable without sacrificing the attacking momentum.

Dean Sinclair, coming on as a half-time substitute for Jack Parkinson, made a good impression on Tuesday evening and may have done enough to make the starting line-up. Garry will need to decide whether to start with Adam Doyle or Mike Cestor in the left-back slot.

GRIMSBY TOWN

The Mariners had a reasonably solid start to the season but really hit their stride in September, with an unbeaten run which included excellent home wins over Mansfield (4-1), Forest Green Rovers (1-0), Luton (4-1) and Gateshead (3-0). But home form collapsed in October, with three successive defeats to Dartford, Kidderminster (in the FA Cup) and Macclesfield. So far in November Grimsby have won away 1-0 at Tamworth and lost 3-2 at Hyde United.

There are a few familiar names, in addition to Aswad Thomas, in the Mariners’ squad. Strikers include former Stevenage Borough foe Anthony Elding, former Burton star Greg Pearson, the highly-rated Liam Hearn and current in-form top scorer Ross Hannah. A summer signing at the back was AFC Wimbledon’s Sam Hatton.

Quoted from cmackenzie4

Hope so pete, could do with seeing us score a few,Just hope we don't let 6 in though.

Quoted from grimsby pete

OK Chris   7-5 Then

Quoted from cmackenzie4

If we play our CARDS right we could beat these convincingly,even though there not a bad CLUB

Quoted from cmackenzie4

I just hope the players wear there HEARTS on there sleeves when they go out on the pitch saturday.