Woking enjoyed a pretty good season overall as they continued their consolidation in the Conference Premier. The Cards were impressive in their first season after promotion and the aim was to build on that and get even more points in the campaign again. But it was a rocky start for Garry Hill and his troops with his lack of striker in the early weeks being the main issue. He had to play the likes of Joe McNerney, a defender, and Gavin McCallum, a winger, up front in the first month or so of the campaign and the results were predictably not great. Defeats to local rivals Welling and Aldershot in these opening weeks continued to the grumpy mood around the place and the Cards remained too close to the bottom four for comfort all the way until December. They put the occasional good performance, like a comprehensive 2:0 win over early pace-setters Nuneaton, but overall lacked stability in defence and the goals remained sparse despite Scott Rendell coming in on loan to fill the vacant slot up front. But what really made Woking get going was the arrival of another loan striker in Ipswich’s Jack Marriott. He proved an absolute coup with his impressive finishing and lighting speed that proved too much to handle for opposition defences. He and Rendell formed a very potent partnership and the results immediately improved with wins at tough places like Alfreton and Nuneaton lifting the team to a more comfortable position in the table. But January was a tough month for Woking as Marriott departed and results began to deteriorate again. Yet, the young striker rejoined on another roan deal for the rest of the season while Rendell and Kieran Murtagh were tied up as well. That provided the nucleus of a pretty strong starting 11 and Woking had a very good run of results for the rest of the season. They were particularly impressive in March when they completely outplayed the dominant side in the league, Luton, to get a deserved 1:0 win. It was one of six in a row during that period and stoked up a brief period of excitement at the possibility of sneaking into the play-offs. But the team was always going to come up short and only one point gained from a couple of tough games against Grimsby and Cambridge in a period of a few days definitely ended their hopes. It was still a very satisfying season overall and Hill will be hoping for more of that next season.
