All the action from the first round of the FA Trophy
ALAN DOWSON won’t admit it, but is there a NonLeague manager who has had a better year than the Woking boss?
The Geordie took the part-time Cards to the FA Cup third round, promotion from National League South and now has them sitting fourth in the top tier.
Perhaps the only thing missing is a lengthy run in the FA Trophy, the competition the club won three times under the legendary Geoff Chapple.
Ironically, the Cards will visit Kingstonian this afternoon, the club Chapple lifted the trophy twice more with and a side Dowson took to Step 3.
“It will be good to see them,” Dowson told The NLP. “They’ve had a change of fortune since Hayden Bird went there, he’s doing very well. I had seven-and-a-half successful years there and it’s a fantastic club.
“It’ll be a tough game. Geoff Chapple had a lot of history there. Hayden has them up and running, it wouldn’t be the biggest shock in the world if they turned us over.
“As a manager you have your tick list, you want to manage in the Football League but you also want to lead your team out at Wembley. I’ll be no different to any other manager going into that competition this weekend.”
The tie temporarily halts Woking’s impressive league form which has seen them win four of their last six to get them back on track after a 13game winless run in all competitions and move them nine points off the 50-point safety mark.
“It’s been a good year. It’s a great time to resign!” joked Dowson. “I’ll resign on New Years’ Eve, it’s not going to get better than this. I’ll put my notice into the chairman [Rosemary Johnson] but knowing what we’re like I’ll probably be drinking with her anyway!
“The lads have been unbelievable, incredible really. Probably the most over-achieving team in the country, I’m just being honest about it.
“Will we get in the top seven? No, we won’t, but we’ll be competing all the time and that’s all you can do. Staying in the league will be an achievement. We are not getting too carried away, three more wins and I’m on the beach!”