Aiden O’Brien’s second-half equaliser earned Woking a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Yeovil Town in the National League on Saturday.

Woking travelled to Somerset in one of only two National League fixtures to survive the cold snap, with Neal Ardley making just one change to the side that started against Maidenhead United on New Year’s Day.

There were several changes from the FA Trophy line up against Radcliffe, with just three of the same starters.

Matt Ward missed out because of an injury suffered in training.

Yeovil welcomed back loanee striker Ciaran McGuckin after he returned from Rotherham United and had former Woking midfielder Charlie Cooper, son of manager Mark, in their team.

Woking got the game underway through Jamie Andrews, with the Cards shooting towards a boisterous home end.

The first chance went the way of the Glovers just shy of the ten-minute mark when a superb through ball from former West Ham forward Frank Nouble was just dragged across goal by Sean McGurk from a tight angle.

A spell of possession from the Cards eventually led to former Yeovil midfielder Dale Gorman firing a shot just wide of the near post via the aid of a deflection.

Nouble continued to cause problems, producing a cross that had to be nudged away from McGurk at the back post after 20 minutes.

Yeovil took the lead right on the stroke of half-time when Cooper picked out Aaron Jarvis at the back post, who looped his header past the diving Will Jaaskelainen and into the back of the net.

Woking started the second half strongly, with Jermaine Anderson shooting wide after good play from Harry Beautyman and Inih Effiong.

Ardley rolled the dice midway through the second half, bringing on O’Brien for his debut alongside Lewis Walker, with Frank Vincent and Anderson making way.

He was also forced to replace Dion Kelly-Evans with Ben Wynter after the former picked up a knock.

This seemed to bring Woking to life, with Walker forcing a clearance after his low cross reached the danger zone, before Beautyman’s shot from distance was deflected over.

Yeovil nearly doubled their lead when excellent play from McGurk saw him curl a shot towards the far corner. The ball clipped the post as it flew wide of the Woking goal.

The Cards got back on level terms on 74 minutes.

Excellent play from Walker saw him turn inside the box, and just as he was about to shoot O’Brien nailed a strike past Ollie Wright and into the bottom corner.

Cian Harries and McGuckin collided with the latter looking to go through on goal, but much to the dismay of the home crowd referee Paul Johnson saw nothing in it.

Somehow Woking didn’t have a second goal when a Gorman corner was met by Harries and flicked on at the near post, but the ball hit the inside of the post and rolled across the goalline before being cleared.

Yeovil launched a late assault in stoppage time, with a couple of penalty shouts waved away, but Woking would take a point back to Surrey.

The Cards produced an excellent second-half showing at a tough place to go, with O’Brien’s first goal securing a valuable point when the teams around Woking in the National League table weren’t playing.

By William Bewsey