Woking beat Guildfordians 31-29 at Byfleet Rec to inflict a first defeat of the season on the Surrey Counties Five league leaders.

On a sunny autumnal afternoon, the home side were able to name a full squad of 20 and close to their first choice starting line-up.

Woking kicked off and took the game to Guildfordians, who failed to deal with the kick and were penalised. Carl Jacobz stepped up and continued his fine form with the boot to make it 3-0 to the home side.

Guildfordians responded immediately. Several minutes of sustained pressure resulted in the league leaders going over from close range for a converted try.

With both sides fully committed the opening ten minutes continued at pace.

Good combination play and patience from Woking saw them recycle the ball through several phases, resulting in them getting close to the away side’s line and allowing winger Charlie Goddard to cross the whitewash.

Jacobz missed the opportunity to extend his side’s lead shortly afterwards with a long-range penalty that struck the upright.

As the half continued both sides had periods of dominance without making it count. Then with five minutes of the half remaining Woking were guilty of overplaying in the wrong area of the pitch as scrum half Lewis Dudley had his pass intercepted, allowing the Guildfordians player to canter in for a converted try under the posts.

Woking responded well and managed to go deep into the away side’s 22. With Guildfordians defending frantically they gave away a penalty. From the resulting set piece more patience and good forward play allowed Kieran Williamson to score under the posts. Jacobz added the conversion and Woking led 17-14 at the break.

Following the restart Guildfordians showed why they were top of the league as they put the home side under sustained pressure.

With Woking struggling to get out of their 22 fly half Matt Ralph looked to break the shackles with a long pass to his backline. Once again, the Guildfordians defence were wise to it and scored from a second intercepted try. Five minutes later the league leaders scored an unconverted try out wide to go 26-17 ahead.

With Woking chasing the game going into the last quarter of the match things went from bad to worse for the home side as they lost the influential Jacobz to a serious-looking ankle injury.

Woking were hanging in the match but struggling to break down a determined opponent through a combination of errors and indiscipline that alleviated the pressure at crucial times.

Guildfordians were awarded a penalty which was converted to stretch their lead to 12 points with ten minutes remaining.

Determined and patient play enabled Woking to gain good field position and with skipper Jacob Woods leading from the front the home side were able to break the visitors’ defensive line. More quick recycling of the ball resulted in flanker Josh Claydon scoring a try.

Stand-in kicker Adam Quinn stepped up and landed the tricky conversion to make it a five-point game.

Confidence was now high, and Woking continued to throw everything at Guildfordians, but it appeared time would be against them.

With just three minutes remaining fly half Ralph atoned for his earlier error by putting a perfectly-paced chip behind the defence. With the ball bouncing onto the try line Woking full back Keihlan Watson made up ten metres to go past the two defenders and collect cleanly to score in the corner to tie the game at 29-29.

As Byfleet Rec fell silent, Quinn showed nerves of steel to convert from the touchline and give Woking the lead.

There was still just enough time for Guildfordians to reply. The Woking defence held out and was disciplined enough to not concede a penalty in range of the posts and forced the visitors into an error that resulted in the referee calling time on a pulsating encounter.

The result leaves Woking in third place, behind Guildfordians and an undefeated Staines side.

Woking captain Jacob Woods said: “I am lost for words to be honest, we just kept going.

“Everyone played their part from the starting 15 to those that came on.

“To be 12 points down to the undefeated league leaders with ten minutes to go and win just shows the character and determination of the group and what we have been building at the club.”

Next up for Woking is a trip to Merton on Saturday, November 9 (2.15pm kick-off).