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AMOMENT of brilliance from Shaun Donnellan reignited Woking’s promotion hopes on a day when only one of the top seven took maximum points.
It was a tactical masterclass by Cards boss Alan Dowson, who abandoned his usual 4-3-3 system and instead matched-up to Yeovil’s midfield diamond – and it worked a treat.
The game itself was far from a classic with Donnellan’s first-half beauty on 21 minutes the only moment of quality in front of goal which leaves Woking outside the play-off places only on goal difference.
“The result speaks for itself but the performance was very good,” said assistant manager Martin Tyler.
“We’ve had a strange week really, we played Kingstonian here and had one or two casualties from that.
“On Wednesday, pretty much everything we were trying to get ready for this game went up in smoke.
“We got the lads together on Thursday, great credit to Dowse [Alan Dowson] and Ian Dyer [assistant manager] who came up with the plan to match Yeovil in midfield and we had one halfhour session on it really, and the boys have gone out and done it almost to perfection.”
Woking’s gameplan stifled any early Yeovil momentum until Donnellan’s delicious curler broke the deadlock.
The stand-in right-back, who usually operates in midfield, exchanged quick passes with Luton loanee Josh Neufville, before bending an effort with his weaker left foot past Ted Cann from 20 yards.
Both defences dominated proceedings with Moussa Diarra, in particular, brilliantly throwing himself in front of Jimmy Smith’s powerful volley from the edge of the Woking box.
Smith had the last touch of the half from inside the hosts’ six-yard area but shot straight into the hands of Craig Ross amid appeals for a penalty when Rhys Murphy went down.
At the sound of the halftime whistle, Yeovil manager Darren Sarll went straight onto the pitch for an explanation from referee Gary Parsons, before escorting him down the tunnel.
“It looks a penalty to me so when I asked the referee – I was very calm and not aggressive – why wasn’t it, he slammed the door in my face,” said Sarll.
“Although I think that moment probably paints over a bigger crack today which is we had nowhere near enough quality in possession.”
Yeovil raised the tempo after the break with Albi Skendi off-target and then Luke Wilkinson seeing his free-kick well saved by Ross.
But the Woking defence was excellent in keeping top scorer Murphy quiet with Diarra at the heart of it.
“The easiest thing for me to say would be it wasn’t our day but I just never believed in us,” added Sarll.
“Some of our basics were horrendous. I’ve not seen my team give the ball away so cheaply.”