WOKING boss Darren Sarll says ending the season on a high is vital to his hopes of having a successful summer in the transfer market.

Sarll saw his men turn in arguably their best performance of the campaign in his first game in charge, a 1-0 Vanarama National League success at Boreham Wood on 2 April.

Although that victory – allied to the Cards’ overall upturn in form since early March – took them into mid-table comfort, Sarll views the final six games as not only an opportunity to finish above his old club Yeovil Town, but also to generate enthusiasm among everyone connected to the Kingfield club ahead of the 2022-23 season.

Sarll said: “I think it’s natural [to want to end ahead of Yeovil]. That’s the competitive side of me.

“I want to finish above the next team and the next team, and if we can climb the table that’s great, because what I really need is to be going into the summer well-armed.

“Because the higher we finish and the better we finish, the more enthusiasm there’ll be for playing for this football team.

“And then the football team will reflect the football club, and then that spirals from there.

“So the better we finish, the greater armoury it gives me to go out there and recruit, and ask for more money from the owners.

“I think you can’t look at football any other way. The industry is so cold, reactive and vicious.

“You’ve got to come in and set your stall out to win. To me, the game is about winning.

“Philosophies and strategies are only by-products of good wins. And we have to try to beat as many teams as we can.

“What we do know is we’re going to play a lot of teams above us [in the run-in].

“And that gives me a great platform to compare our current squad with players who – on stats – have had better seasons than ours.

“So I think it’s a great test and incentive for them all.”

Sarll has been listening to and speaking at length with his group during his first couple of weeks in his new role, learning what makes each individual tick and how he can get the best out of them.

And he admitted to being impressed by what he’s seen inside a team he knows well from the outside.

Sarll said: “I enjoy trying to effect change. I enjoy working with new people who I don’t know. I like to share some of my experiences which are quite in-depth now.

“And I like to hear about their experiences. I’ve been working with six senior players a little bit more intensely in terms of their opinions and how they see things, which has been really interesting and so valuable.

“When I used to think of Woking, I thought of Josh Casey and Max Kretzschmar. They are just the people who pop into my mind.

“So now that I’m here, I’d be mad to not try to utilise their experience and knowledge of the club and how they feel about the club to express on to the rest of the team.

“I’ve just come from a bigger club on paper, in terms of Football League history at least, and played against Woking three times this year and always won the game. But the standard of playing ability here has been excellent – a really high standard.

“All the players have surprised me, particularly their willingness to try to make positive changes. But it becomes easier to do that when people are given the opportunity to be a part of that process.”

Woking are in action at home today, welcoming Torquay Utd to the Laithwaite Community Stadium for a 3pm kick-off. Then the Cards are away to Dover Athletic on Monday.