Limbrick Pleased With Watford Test

Bobson Bawling cancelled out Alex Jakubiak’s opener as the new-look Cards played out a 1-1 draw in front of an impressive crowd at the Laithwaite Community Stadium.

And Limbrick was pleased with how some of the new faces gelled together in his first game in charge, but admitted there is plenty to work on before the start of the season.

“I thought it was a decent test despite it not being the Watford side we would have liked to have played,” said the Cards boss. “Overall, it was a good outing for the players, although we didn’t pass the ball as well as we can. We have plenty to work on in that sense, but I thought the effort and the work rate was there. We stepped it up in the second half, and gave players some much needed game time which is what this time of the season is about.”

A young Watford side drew first blood after 37 minutes when Jakubiak bundled the ball past Nathan Baxter from close range. However, Woking responded within 60 seconds as Joe Ward played a great ball through to Bawling, who finished emphatically in his first appearance after joining from Crawley Town.

“It was good to give the new faces time to work together on the pitch,” Limbrick added.

“We reacted well to going a goal behind, and to see two of the new signings combining so effectively to get our goal was great to see. Joe Ward looked lively on the ball, Bobson obviously took his goal well, whilst Richard Orlu looked solid in the back line. I thought Nathan had a good game in goal, whilst Chez Isaac did well when he came on in the second half. It was the first time that our fans had seen some of these players, and I think there is plenty to build on going into our next game.”

The Cards were ultimately unlucky not to go on to win the game, with substitute Fabio Saraiva heading against the bar before Ivan Nsimbi failed to take a great chance late on. However, there is little time to reflect on this performance with tomorrow’s game at Leatherhead fast approaching.

“We want to get as many minutes as we can into the players,” Limbrick concluded.

“After Saturday we will be looking to get better going forward, whilst wanting to continue pressing the opposition as well as keeping the ball better in possession. These games are all about building relationships between the players. We have a good mix of teams above us and below us in the league pyramid, and hopefully we will continue to improve the more we play together”.