DREAM DEBUT FOR KING KEV
KEVIN Berkoe scored the only goal on debut as resurgent Woking outfought promotion chasing Barnet to further boost their survival chances.
Left wing-back Berkoe, on loan from Salford City until the end of the season, fired home after Charley Kendall’s cross hit the post and Jayden Luker’s follow-up was saved by Bees goalkeeper Josh Keeley.
It was no more than the injury-hit Cards deserved after a tenacious display extended their unbeaten home run to six games, moving them four points clear of the relegation zone.
“We’ve got 11 senior players injured and it was backs to the wall but right from the start we got after them and tried to dominate like we have recently at home,” said assistant manager Ben Turner. “I think we were thoroughly worth the result.
“We feel like we’ve started to turn this place around. We hadn’t won at home for months when the gaffer [Michael Doyle] came in and we knew if that didn’t change, we’d get relegated.
“It didn’t change to start with but he’s stuck to his guns with the energy, the mentality and the press he wants to play with. But we still need to get some more points on the board and finish as strong as we possibly can.”
Woking posed the greater attacking threat in the opening 45 minutes with Luker and Jermaine Anderson, in particular, putting the Bees defence under pressure.
Luker twice went close, testing Josh Keeley from distance and slicing a volley wide, while Alfie Pavey might have also scored his first National League goal for the Cards but he failed to control Timi Odusina’s fiercely-struck cross.
Barnet’s only opportunity of note in the first half was the most spectacular, centre-back Jerome Okimo launching a ferocious 30-yard volley that Will Jaaskelainen did well to claw behind to his left.
That was as much as the visitors offered and they fell behind on 61 minutes. Kendall chased hard down the right, with his cross bamboozling Keeley and, although the keeper recovered to foil Luker, Berkoe retrieved the loose ball and rammed it into the net with his wrong foot.
The Bees sent on fitagain top scorer Nicke Kabamba for the final quarter but the former Woking man’s header from a Ben Wynter cross was ruled out for offside.
Pavey directed another effort over the bar in a tense finale but Woking deservedly held on.
“Full credit to them,” said Bees boss Dean Brennan. “We were poor in possession, didn’t win our individual battles well enough and gave away one of the worst goals I’ve ever seen us give away.
“We go back to the Hive on Tuesday (against Eastleigh), we’ve got to pick ourselves up and make sure we do the business.”
STAR MAN: Jayden Luker (Woking) ATT: 2,544 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Paul Marsden