Woking can look back on a very successful season in their first campaign since securing promotion back to the Conference Premier. The Cards were unequivocal champions of the Blue Square South the previous season and indeed won two of their first three games, maintaining the style that Garry Hill instilled, based upon good midfield ball retention and good quick breaks on the wings. Woking had the tendency early on to go on good winning runs that were then followed by similar ones that were on the losing side. Thus, they were stationed somewhere in mid-table after the first dozen games, getting results like a 6:1 win against Nuneaton and a 4:1 loss at the hands of Braintree. The lack of defensive spine was the main achilles heel of Woking who secured just a single clean sheet in their first 21 league games of the season. Hill secured the services of talented teenager Billy Knott on a loan deal from Sunderland and even though he played little in the first few months of his spell due to injury, it was clear that he was a special talent that could really fit in this neat passing Woking side. Kevin Betsy was proving a real hit on the right wing while Bradley Bubb was in hot form up front. November was not a great month for Woking though as they picked just a single point from five games and conceded embarrassingly heavy defeats at Hyde and Grimsby. However, an impressive 2:0 win at Lincoln in early December seemed to remove a mental block from them and Woking went on a very good run of form going to February, six out of their next seven games. That good run removed any doubts about their status while Knott was now fully fit and really having a great impact from midfield, proving drive, craft, good passing and the occasional goal. Woking understandably took their foot off the gas a bit after being all but assured of safety and had some rather unimpressive results. They were still capable of putting a good show and did claim a very respectable point away at title chasing Kidderminster. They also beat Wrexham 2:0 two weeks before the end of the season with a highly impressive display and actually lost just two of their last 11 games. There was overall a lot of things to be happy about at the end of that campaign and the foundations are there to grow and have an even better season next year.
