WHO ARE THE SHOTS PLAYING?
Woking FC, The Cardinals/Cards, Founded 1889.
HOW DID THEY DO LAST SEASON?
The Cardinals finished 20th last season, with 33 points from 42 games.
HOW DID SHOTS GET ON AGAINST THEM LAST SEASON?
The sides played three times last season, with The Shots winning both National League encounters. Jermaine Anderson, who might line up in the Woking side on Boxing Day, scored twice against the Cards on Boxing Day at the EBB Stadium, with Harry Panayiotou grabbing Aldershot’s other goal in a 3-0 win. A few days later, Ricky Miller claimed the only goal of the game at Kingfield to secure a league double for Town. Woking however won the FA Cup tie between the two sides, in a 2-1 win at the EBB Atadium earlier in the season.
WHO’S THEIR GAFFER?:
51-year-old Gateshead born Alan Dowson, is now in his fourth season in charge of The Cards – their first as a Full-Time outfit. He was a defender in his playing days, who made 55 Football League appearances for the likes of Bradford City and Darlington, before moving into Non-League, with Slough, Gateshead and Walton & Hersham. He spent 11 years with The Swans, the last three of which he also managed them, before switching to another management role with Kingstonian. In his second full season with The K’s, they won the Isthmian Division One South. They made a couple of play-off appearances in the Isthmian Premier but after the second of those in 2014, Dowson resigned. He was soon back in management, with Kingstonian and in 2015-16, he led them to the Isthmian Premier League title, scoring 105 goals. In 2018, he was appointed Woking manager and they finished runners-up in the National League South, came from behind late on to beat Welling in the Play-Off final and secured promotion to the National League. Two seasons ago, Dowson steered the Cards to a highly creditable 10th place finish in what was their first season back at National League level. However last season, despite a promising start, they struggled in the second half of the season and finished a lowly 20th.
WHO’S DEPARTED?
With the switch to Full-Time, there would inevitably be a fair few outgoings at Kingfield in the summer. Notably, Ben Gerring and Dave Tarpey chose not to go full time and moved on to pastures new. Jack Cook and Charlie Cooper both signed for Wealdstone, whilst Kane Ferdinand was rather surprisingly released and is now banging goals in for Maidenhead United.
WHO’S STAYED?
16 players remain contracted at the club from last season, including Defenders Josh Casey & Moussa Diarra, Midfielder Max Kretzschmar and Striker Jamar Loza.
WHO’S ARRIVED?
Dowson’s most eye-catching signing is Striker Tahvon Campbell, who has scored an outstanding 13 goals in all competitions. Only Kabongo Tshimanga and Michael Cheek have scored more National League goals this season than Campbell. Another forward, Inih Effiong, has also returned to the club for a second spell, after leaving Stevenage in the summer. Experienced players such as Joe McNerney (Crawley Town) and Tom Champion (Borehamwood) are two more new faces at Kingfield this season. Most recently, Dowson has brought in Centre-Back Louie Annesley (on loan from Blackburn) and Forward Louis Britton (on loan from Bristol City) in an attempt to revive the Cards fortunes.
ANY EX-SHOTS?
Josh Casey is a former Aldershot Town Youth player. Mark Smith spent a couple of seasons at the EBB Stadium, making 10 appearances in total for The Shots.
WHO’S GOT THE WHISTLE?
Boxing Day’s referee is Daniel Middleton. This season, to date, he has taken charge of 12 National League matches, showing 51 Yellow Cards and 4 Red Cards. He has refereed the Shots and the Cards once each this season, both sides losing those games.
HOW TO GET TICKETS:
Kick-off begins at 3pm for Mark Molesley’s team as we would like to remind both home and away supporters of our ticketing/match-day protocols HERE.
Our Ticket Office will be opening on the day of the game from 11am for home supporters who would like to purchase on the day of the game, (we advise fans planning on buying tickets on the day to arrive earlier). We further encourage supporters to pre-book their tickets via our upgraded Flowte ticket website HERE to avoid queues on the day.
With our Flowte ticket website, supporters can pick their exact seats and have their tickets emailed to them which can be scanned off a smart phone or printed off before the day of the game.
We will NOT be accepting payment at the turnstiles but for supporters who decide to attend closer to the game, they will be able to purchase their tickets via the Club Shop/Ticket Office in person through cash, card or contactless payment.
Following this, please use the scanners on the turnstiles to enter through to the ground once they’ve collected their ticket.
Turnstiles will open at 1:30pm.
We would also like to take the time to remind supporters of our new pricing structure going forward.
With updated Concession categories and in replacement of our Under 11s Go Free scheme, we have now introduced a new Family Ticket as shown in the full pricing list below:
- Adult – £20
- Concession (Disabled + Carer, Senior (over 65) – £16
- Junior (17 & under) – £7
- Family Ticket (2 Adults, up to 3 Juniors) – £45
- Family Ticket (2 Concession, up to 3 Juniors) – £40
Away Supporters
• Tickets for away fans will not be available on the turnstiles on the day of the game, they must be purchased via our website or a select few will be available on Woking’s Ticket Office.
• All Woking FC Supporters will enter the ground via the Redan Hill entrance. This game is segregated.
• Disabled/Carers should be booked in advance via our ticket office, but if they arrive on the day those people need to purchase their ticket from the ticket office. We have limited wheelchair spaces, so we advise supporters are advised to reserve them prior to the game.
• Any planned Supporter Coach travel needs to be advised to Aldershot Town in advance so that coach parking can be organised and planned.
• For this fixture, away supporters will be seated in the Away Seating in the South Stand and the Covered Terrace.
• There will be catering units available on the day of the game.
WHERE TO FOLLOW THE MATCH:
There will be ‘Live’ BBC Radio Surrey Sport Online commentary of the match with Rob Worrall and a Guest Summariser John Moore. There will also be Social Media coverage on Instagram & Twitter (@OfficialShots) with team news, updates and post-match coverage throughout the afternoon.
