Eagles stars' wings are clipped in Cards drubbing

Dec 2 2009 By Jon Batham and John Whitbread, Surrey Herald

TWO young eagles flew into Woking this week on loan from Crystal Palace - and they've already experienced the highs and lows of life at Kingfield.

Nathaniel Pinney and Matthew Wright were soaring on Saturday - the former scoring the killer third goal of a 3-1 win over Dorchester as the pair made cameo appearances from the bench.

However, it was a case of wings well and truly clipped on Tuesday as the two 18-year-olds and their team-mates endured a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Bath.

The latter was an inexplicably bad night for the Cards as their usually rock-solid defence simply crumbled in the rain at Twerton Park.

Kaid Mohammed and Darren Edwards had the hosts 2-0 up inside 10 minutes.

And it was three on 37 minutes when Woking failed to clear a corner and Chris Holland finished from close range.

Pinney and Wright were thrown on with Asad Thomas at half-time, but the finishing was as poor as the defending and Woking's fate was sealed on 74 minutes, when Ross Worner's attempted clearance cannoned off Andrejs Stolcers and into the net.

A fifth from Edwards two minutes later was mercifully the end of the humiliation.

What a contrast to Saturday, when the Cards' two young strikers enjoyed their first taste of the limelight.

They looked the perfect combination; Pinney pint-sized and pace to burn, while Wright, at 6ft 4ins, looked a promising leader of the line. The former was hopeful of a win-win situation for his opening shot at regular first team football.

He said: "Playing alongside experienced players in a strong league will really help me develop as a player and if I can also help Woking's promotion bid we'll all be winners.

"Matt and I are good friends and we know each other's game really well. For both of us to come on and make an impact like that is a real buzz."

On Saturday, Cards trailed on 24 minutes when Mark Jermyn stabbed home at the second attempt, but Moses Ademola levelled just before the break after smart approach work from Harry Arter.

And it was ex-Charlton man Arter who broke the stalemate on 76 minutes with a venomous 15-yard thunderbolt. It was the 19-year-old's sixth goal in nine matches since he sat out the Chelmsford match with suspension.