Woking head west in search of starting a new unbeaten run after losing to Torquay on Tuesday.

The fixture computer has been cruel to The Cards and has pitted them against the two relegated sides, away, in the same week.

After a last minute goal ended Woking’s unbeaten start to the season on Tuesday, Garry will be hoping The Cards can cause an upset and start another run of games without a defeat.

Following their relegation from League Two, Bristol Rovers have made a shaky start to life in the Conference. We talked to Rovers fans Dave and Mike to find out more.

How have you found the standard of Conference football since being relegated, is it harder than you expected?

D: The standard is as expected for me, I tend to watch a lot of local non-league from Western League up to Conference and having seen the likes of Forest Green last season as well as Weston, Gloucester and Oxford City (from Conference North & South). I think a lot of supporters have been surprised by the quality of part-time sides but as is often rolled out the top end of the conference isn’t all too different to the bottom end of League 2.

 

M: Most ex-league teams haven’t surprised me, but the part time teams have. Having said that I am not sure if they are good or we were very poor against them, which is more than likely. We were very poor against Altrincham and Braintree. All football fans know the conference is a very tough league, I expect us to be here 4-5 seasons you just have to look how long it took Oxford and Luton.

How much has changed at BRFC over the summer? Did the relegation spark changes on and off the pitch?

D: Bar some redundancies at the club but nothing has really changed in the running of the club. For years the club has been incredibly poorly, not learning from mistakes and throwing around silly contracts in an unsustainable way. Relegation was always a possibility and when it came to fruition we were promised a “root and branch” review. This is yet to happen.

M: Nothing has changed that needed to be changed; the clueless board are still there! On the pitch we have more points than we did at the same stage last season.

 

Do fans hope that a positive season in the Conference and a new stadium on the way that things could be on the up if the club re-build?

D:The stadium has hit the buffers a bit and to be honest despite the attempts of the players things are still a little low. We’d just like to see some fight on the pitch after the last couple of years of woeful mercenaries wearing the quarters.

 

M: The stadium is dead in the water. On the field most Gasheads know we won’t bounce straight back up the club needs new and fresh investment to take the club forward.

 

Tell us a little bit about your squad, who will Woking have to watch out for?

D: The squad is pretty balanced for the first time in a couple of years, lots of workmanlike players that together have been plodding along nicely. We’ve won three on the bounce after a woeful display at Braintree and are unbeaten at the Mem. Although he may not grab the headlines Neal Trotman has impressed at centre back so far and Stuart Sinclair has already become a fans favourite driving the team forward from midfield.

 

M:Matt Taylor, scored his first for the club on Tuesday night and is a busy little striker and of course Stuart Sinclair, this bloke has energy to burn and covers very blade of grass.

 

Finally, what is your score prediction?

D: A repeat of your playoff final against Bath I attended in 2010(?) 1-0 to the home side.

 

M: I’d take a point but if we can keep Sole and Rendell quiet we should take the points. Rendell has a habit of scoring against us, he’s one player I’d love to see in a Rovers shirt!

 

Pictures by David Holmes. A full set can be found at wokingfc.co.uk