Woking drew 1-1 at home to Forest Green Rovers in the National League on Saturday.

Doyle’s starting 11 was unchanged from the team defeated at Solihull. The only change came on the bench, with Dale Gorman back from suspension in place of Tom Leahy.

The visitors arrived with a strong squad, being able to field their top scorer Christian Doidge while having experienced strikers Harry Cardwell and Joe Quigley on the bench.

A fast start from Forest Green led to Emmanuel Osadebe bursting through the Woking backline, but he was met with a superb recovering challenge from Max Dyche, who had to win the ball cleanly and did so perfectly.

With nine minutes gone, excellent work from Deon Moore in the channel saw him play Dan Moss inside, and his shot was well saved by the feet of Jed Ward. Dennon Lewis drove down the left-hand side and tested Ward at his near post as Woking began to show some threat.

Superb courage from Moss saw him challenge Jordan Moore-Taylor for the ball, with Lewis firing narrowly over the bar on the half-volley.

A nasty challenge from Ryan Inniss saw him fly into Moss after 20 minutes, receiving his marching orders straight away from referee James Bancroft and reducing the visitors to ten men.

Moss was able to walk off the pitch and continue playing, while the resulting free kick was met by Cian Harries, whose side-footed effort was well tipped past the post by Ward.

The visitors took the lead on the stroke of half-time when Kyle McAllister was played in behind. He drove towards the box, found a yard of space and struck the ball into the bottom corner to give the ten men the advantage.

Woking nearly responded a couple of minutes later when Jamie Andrews’ cross deceived everyone apart from Ward, who tipped behind for a corner.

The visitors held the advantage at the break despite being a man down, with improvement needed for Woking to get anything from the game.

Doyle made three changes at the break, with Tunji Akinola, Dion Kelly-Evans and Harries replaced by Charley Kendall, Matt Ward and Gorman.

Six minutes into the half, a wicked Andrews delivery fell to Moore, who struggled to get the ball out of his feet before firing at Ward.

Woking had their equaliser a minute later when Andrews and Gorman’s short corner routine ended in the latter’s deep delivery being glanced in by the head of Moss, levelling the game and appearing to give the hosts momentum.

The Cards began to dominate possession, trying to break down a stubborn defence and seeing several crosses and moves end in good defending or just a lack of end product. Ward nearly found the answer when he rifled an effort just wide of the top corner with 15 minutes left to play.

Deep into stoppage time, Woking’s pressure nearly paid off as Andrews delivered for Dyche, but his header was just over the bar.

The match finished 1-1, with Forest Green’s strong defence preventing all three points staying in Surrey.

Next up for Woking is a home game against League One outfit Cambridge United in the first round proper of the FA Cup on Saturday (3pm).

By William Bewsey