10 man Town show fantastic grit to pick up another away win.

Woodley Town made it three wins on the bounce with a fantastic performance away at Old Woodstock Town on Saturday.

The visitors started the better, shading possession and playing some nice football on a very wide pitch. The first chance of the game fell to Woodley's Lemar Maycock, a long ball over the top put him in on the right, he shrugged off his defender and fired a low shot that was saved well by Richard Thomas in the home team's goal.

The pacey Maycock was causing the hosts all kinds of problems and on 13 minutes his trickery drew a foul on the half way line. Woodley captain Gary Smith's dangerous free kick was cleared for a corner. The resulting set piece was whipped into the near post by David Stevens. Finding striker Steven Campbell, with his back to goal the forward improvised brilliantly hooking the ball over his head only to see his effort hit the bar.

Woodley continued to press and nearly went ahead when a Michael Alleyne pass was picked up by Campbell on the left. He dribbled into the box before shooting into the side netting. Just before the 20 minute mark Maycock, who gave the left back a torrid afternoon, was bought down again. Stevens free kick on the left found Adam Cashin-Murray who headed against the bar from 6 yards out.

The home team finally got into the game 4 minutes later when a nice move resulted in a Duran Martin shot being easily dealt with by Dan Smith in the Woodley goal. The opening goal went to Woodley and on the balance of play was well deserved. Another deep free kick by Gary Smith found Maycock in the box and his lofted shot beat Thomas.

Old Woodstock nearly levelled the game minutes later. A Martin free kick from 25 yards was saved well by Smith diving to his right. The following corner saw the bar hit for the third time when the hosts won a header at the back post.

36 minutes in and Woodley nearly doubled their lead. A Stevens corner from the right was nodded towards goal by Alleyne, Cashin-Murray got to the ball before his marker but headed over. The home side, clearly frustrated at how the game was going were restricted to Aaron Pasey trying his luck from distance. His shot caused Smith no problems as it sailed high and wide to the left.

Five minutes before the break Woodley were dealt a huge blow when Alleyne was shown a straight red for a two footed tackle. Mikey won the ball but the ref harshly deemed it as dangerous play. Sitting in front of the back four Alleyne was having a good game before the challenge.

The free kick that followed was taken by Martin but missed to the left and that bought an end a half dominated by the visitors.

HT Old Woodstock 0-1 Woodley Town

With the man advantage the home side looked to get back into the game early after the restart. Maycock showed good positional sense in his own box to head clear another Martin free kick. Minutes later the lively winger picked up the ball just inside the Old Woodstock half, showing fantastic pace and balance he shrugged off several challenges before surging into the box and finishing wonderfully. An amazing individual goal gave Woodley a two goal cushion 52 minutes in.

Town then had a scare when a dangerous left wing cross by Dan Sadler flashed across their 6 yard box. Woodley were then forced to make their first change when Matt Molloy went off injured. He was replaced by Sam Barham who slotted in on the left side of midfield with Doug Groves dropping back to left back.

With the game entering its final third, Gary Smith, who had an excellent afternoon, made a great challenge on the edge of the box following a long spell of possession by the home side. Dan Smith then made another good stop, saving another Martin set piece in the bottom left corner before punching clear the corner that followed.

69 minutes gone and Old Woodstock got back into the game in spectacular fashion. Picking up the ball on the right side of the box Jack Heap smashed an unstoppable shot into the top left corner. The hosts pressed forward looking for an equaliser. Aaron Pasey had a powerful drive well blocked by Town centre back Stuart Doe. The resulting corner was cleared to the edge of the box but the shot was sliced well wide.

With 9 minutes left Maycock whose pace and trickery had tied the hosts in knots all afternoon was replaced by Daniel Fletcher. Doe was then booked for dissent after the ref gave a corner despite the ball clearly deflecting off a player in a red shirt.

With the game into injury time Smith pulled off a blinding save, diving to his right he stopped a powerful shot that went through multiple bodies.

Moments later the ref blew for full time. Town showed fantastic team spirit to seal another win, playing over half the game with ten men and moving up to 6th in the league with games in hand over all but one of the teams above them.

Woodley Town
D. Smith, Brookling, Doe, G. Smith, Molloy (Barham), Alleyne, Stevens, Cashin-Murray, Maycock (Fletcher), Campbell, Groves,
Unused Sub, Weston