Woking slipped to a 3-1 defeat at home to Oldham Athletic in the National League.

Michael Doyle made one change from the side which defeated Wealdstone, with Harry Beautyman starting instead of Jermaine Anderson, who took his place on the bench. Deon Moore, back from international duty with Guyana, also returned to the bench.

The visitors lined up with former Woking full-back Jake Caprice starting; he joined the Latics from Burton in the summer. They left prolific striker James Norwood on a packed bench with former Preston North End forward Joe Garner.

In glorious sunshine at the Laithwaite, Dale Gorman kicked Woking off towards the KRE, but it was the visitors who looked to make a fast start. After a break down the left was disrupted, the ball fell to skipper Tom Conlon, whose low shot travelled comfortably wide of the bottom corner.

Oldham took the lead 12 minutes in. Good play down the left-hand side from Mark Kitching saw his cross glanced into the bottom right-hand corner by Josh Lundstram.

Woking were unable to advance into the penalty area for much of the half, and were wary of a number of Oldham set pieces. After a Reagan Ogle long throw was met by the head of Mike Fondop, a block prevented the goalbound effort, before the following corner ended in Conlon firing into the side netting after nice play on the left-hand side.

Good play from Matt Ward saw him play in Tom Leahy, whose burst towards goal saw him line up a shot, but he just lost his footing at the crucial time.

Despite having much of the ball following the Oldham opener, Woking were unable to create much and, when they did create, it was sub-par to what was required in front of goal.

Four minutes after the break, another Ogle long throw was deflected into the path of substitute Norwood, who had a simple finish on the goalline, and Woking had a mountain to climb.

Doyle responded with three changes in a six-minute spell, as Charley Kendall, Anderson and Jamie Andrews replaced Leahy, Raheem Conte and Tunji Akinola. Kendall’s impact was almost immediate, as good work from Lewis Walker saw him hold up the ball, before the substitute’s strike was well saved by Mat Hudson.

Woking had a golden opportunity to score with 68 minutes gone. Excellent work from Kendall saw him and Beautyman combine, with the latter finding Walker. He took his time but fired agonisingly wide on his left foot with the goal gaping.

With 76 minutes gone, Kendall fired into the top corner from 30 yards to give the Cards hope.

However, Oldham scored their third straight from kick-off. Fondop controlled a long ball and held off defenders before slotting into the bottom corner.

Norwood should have made it 4-1 when he rushed in on goal minutes later, but he was superbly denied by Cards keeper Will Jaaskelainen.

Oldham saw out the game comfortably for a deserved three points. The result was a reality check for Doyle’s side against an Oldham team who will hope to be up near the top end of the league, having invested heavily in their squad.

By William Bewsey