[Chief Rum]

September 1, 2003

Northampton Chronicle & Echo

Poppies Win Going Away

WOKING-- The Poppies made a statement with their 3-1 victory over Woking yesterday--this offense is here to stay.

An aggressive offense saw the Poppies overcome the recent past, an early goal, and a hostile home crowd of Woking supporters to take a home a much needed confidence booster.

Scary striker Warren Patmore didn't make it easy, though. He has been exceptional early in the season, leading the Cardinals' strong attack with four goals in three matches. Just four minutes into this one, he was at it again. Forward Chris Sharpling set Patmore up with a fine cross after drawing attention with a run down the right wing. Patmore slipped in behind defenders Lee Howarth and Andy Dowie to get on the ball and put it past keeper Ian Bowling, who had almost no chance at it, for his fifth goal of the season.

The Poppies would not return the favor for a good while, as they pressed, but failed to break Cardinals' keeper Anthony Tucker. Even when they finally did, it was started by a broken freekick attempt by Woking, and went through a number of chances before coming through. In the 40th minute, Boardman blasted a long freekick into the box, but defender Danny Holyoak got to it and booted it forward to forward Carlin Itonga at the midline. Itonga almost lost it under pressure before giving it to backwards midfielder Davy Williamson. Williamson turned the ball down toward winger Wayne Duik on the left wing, but Duik misplayed the ball and almost let it skip out of bounds. Finally, Duik turned around and found Itonga and striker Ryan Trudgian leading their defenders toward the box. A sharp pass to Itonga in the center, was soon followed by a ditch off to Trudgian, who got both Boardman and Tucker to bite on a move to the left before burying a blast into the upper right corner of the net.

It remained tensely knotted at one until the 62nd minute. Once again, this one was started by a Woking freekick gone wrong. Cardinals midfielder Ian Hamilton misplayed a freekick short pass right onto Duik's foot and a clear pitch ahead. Duik immediately took off down the pitch, with Hamilton and the Woking defense desperately trying to catch him. Such was their attention to his end-to-end run that they failed to cover striker Chris Thompson charging into the box. Duik turned near the line and found him for an easy shot past Tucker and the go-ahead goal.

The Poppies had to hang on after that, as Woking was very consistent with pressure, especially with Patmore lurking. Woking would outshoot the Poppies 10-8 in this one.

In the 90th minute, the Cardinals were pressing for a score. Sharpling put a good run into the right corner before turning and blasting a fine crossing pass into the far end of the box. Dean Clark collected it and blasted it toward the left end of the net. Bowling had to make a brilliant save to knock it out left, and Holyoak then cleared it. The ensuing clearing, however, found the Cardinals out of position, and eventually Itonga was able to blast it into the upper right corner for his first score as a Poppy, and thus sealing a hard-fought victory.

The striker combination of Thompson and Trudgian, dubbed "TNT" by some of the local media and fans, each scored for the second match in a row. Itonga was playing for Shaun Murray, who was scratched from starting earlier in the day by a gash to his leg in training. The injury was not expected to impact Murray's availability beyond today's match.

Midfielder Michael Boyle-Ching, however, also suffered a cut to his leg, and it was far more serious. He will be out for a week. Kettering manager Matthew Kieta refused to be specific, but apparently there was an accident on the practice pitch involving a collision between Murray and Boyle-Chong, which resulted in the injuries. Boyle-Chong was not anticipated to play in the match.