RONNIE’S CARD IS MARKED
Comeback breaks Spitfires
WOKING 3 Tubbs 23, Sam-Yorke 60, Kandi 80 EASTLEIGH 3 Coulson 7, Dugdale 29, Partington 45 VERDICT: Woking would have taken a point before with their problems and certainly would have at half-time – and they nearly won it! Thrilling football
MATT TUBBS couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo in an Eastleigh shirt, but he did more in Woking colours on his debut than he managed in four months at the Silverlake.
The once-prolific striker failed to score from open play until the final minutes of the last match of last season – ironically on this ground – but finally he looked back to his old potent self. Heading home for 1-1 just 23 minutes in, Tubbs then inspired a fantastic comeback . The side with the biggest budget in the league pegged back by a club who endured even more cuts this summer. But what Garry Hill possesses is the Midas touch. He drags the best out of players, and knows how to summon something extra from loan stars. “Matt’s a goalscorer,” the Cards manager said. “We’re grateful to Forest Green to get him here for a month. Things haven’t worked for him over the last 12 months, but we feel we can get him back on track. “I think Eastleigh thought the game was over at half-time but we had belief that it wasn’t, I was proud of the boys from coming back from 3-1 down. I really think we will start to climb the league now, we’re showing all the signs.” Hill’s counterpart Ronnie Moore accused his players of being “mentally weak” by throwing away two points. “We need to be putting sides like that away,” said Moore, whose comments are sure to attract attention. “You have to win when 3-1 up, but we’ve given them a second goal and their tails are up. If we want to go up then you need to get three points here. It’s my most frustrating day as the club’s manager.” Still unbeaten since replacing Chris Todd four games in, but Moore is right with one thing. This should have been point 20 from a possible 24, and despite a great run they still aren’t in the top five. The last thing Woking needed was to let in a sloppy early goal against a side whose budget is easily treble theirs. Leaving a player looking for his fourth goal in three games totally unmarked within seven minutes was a sign of the disorganisation to come. Defenders all attracted to James Constable as Joe Partington crossed – Luke Coulson had the run of the box and his form continued.
Tubbs was poor at Eastleigh, never getting into his stride but within 23 minutes in the red and white of Woking he struck gold. Another good ball into the box, this time from Joey Jones, and more dire defending when it mattered. Tubbs hasn’t got height, but he has a jump and with his back to goal he nodded in off the post.
Hill abandoned his 5-3-2 formation and went with a four man midfield. But just before the half hour came another implosion. A long free-kick fell loose in the box and the visitors’ centre-back Adam Dugdale was on hand to profit, lashing the ball beyond Michael Poke before Partington thundered a header into the net from Jai Reason’s corner.”
“We fell apart in our own area in the first half,” accepted Hill.
It was Eastleigh’s turn next. The fashion of not bothering to defend from set pieces carried on in the second half, rendering the game a must watch. Another freekick; another penalty box freeze. This time Delano SamYorke got a toe to the ball and it slithered past Ryan Clarke on the hour. Eastleigh substitute Adam Dawson should have wrapped it up after striker Mikael Mandron stretched his legs, but Poke had a powerful wrist. The miss proved costly, Tubbs had the awareness to locate Luke Kandi, who thrashed his volley low and hard for a clinical and well-deserved equaliser ten minutes from time. Sam-Yorke could have won it, Clarke clung onto the ball at the striker’s feet to save the Spitfires from total embarrassment.