SWINDON Town continued to run the rule over a host of potential summer signings as their pre-season preparations rumbled on with a trip to Woking this afternoon.
However, Luke Williams’ side slipped to a 3-1 humbling at their National League hosts in Surrey, leaving the Town head coach with plenty to mull over as the start of upcoming League One season moves ever closer.
In a match arranged as part of the deal that took John Goddard to the County Ground from Woking, four triallists were put through their paces by Luke Williams and his management team in Surrey, with Charles Dunne, Morgan Ferrier, Kenny McEvoy and Harly Wise all starting on the bench.
Defender Dunne, 23, who has also featured for Wycombe Wanderers, ended last season at Blackpool whilst 21-year-old striker Ferrier is a former Arsenal and Crystal Palace trainee that completed the 2015-2016 campaign with non-league Hemel Hempstead Town.
McEvoy, 21, spent the second half of last term at York City but the Irish winger, who came through the ranks at Tottenham Hotspur, is more widely known for his resemblance to former team-mate and Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale.
And ex-QPR defender Wise was with the Town squad for a second successive pre-season match, having been an unused substitute in last week’s 2-1 loss to Reading.
As Williams’ men unsurprisingly dominated possession early on, the first chance of the match was created by Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill, who shifted the ball onto his stronger left foot inside the box and unleashed a strike destined for the top corner, which was tipped over by Woking goalie Michael Poke.
The trend continued and midfielder Conor Thomas just failed to achieve the correct contact to trouble Poke as he swung a leg at James Brophy’s delivery with 18 minutes on the clock.
The Cards stopper went on to gather a strike from Yaser Kasim and just after the half-hour mark, the Iraq international went even close with a beautifully-controlled left-foot volley, which flew just wide of the far post.
But the hosts weren’t without their moments and in the 37th minute, Nathan Thompson was robbed of the ball by Zac Ansah and the move led to fellow triallist Dennon Lewis crossing onto the head of Gozi Ugwu, but the Woking man could only nod over the bar.
And then late in the half, a sensational run by Cards defender Jake Caprice led to the first goal of the day.
The Woking man stormed forward up the right flank and nutmegged both Brophy and Ormonde-Ottewill during one-twos with team-mates before crossing low from the right, with Ugwu dummying the ball to allow Ansah a comfortable tap-in.
Williams rang the changes at half-time, with eight players, including all four triallists, coming off the bench, with just Will Henry, Ormonde-Ottewill and Goddard retaining their places.
Although with so many replacements – Woking also made five substitutions of their own early in the second period – the pace visibly slowed, with the first shot of the half coming after 18 minutes, the hosts’ Fabio Saraiva smacking a wild effort well wide of the target.
But shortly afterwards, the Cards notched again, Delano Sam-Yorke gleefully nodding home from close-range after Bryan Saah had headed a delivery from a corner back into the danger area.
From another corner-kick in the 73rd minute, young stopper Henry was forced to use both hands to keep out Saah’s downward header, with Swindon continuing to struggle to rediscover their first-half mojo.
And with six minutes to go, Town were finished off as the Cards broke and defender Dunne tripped Sam-Yorke, who dusted himself down and slammed home his team’s third from 12 yards.
Woking should have made it 4-0 just moments later as the Swindon defence were conspicuous by their absence once more, allowing Chike Kandi the freedom of their area to get on the end of a floated cross but he somehow headed straight at Henry.
There was to be some late consolation for Town, with Ormonde-Ottewill taking out all of his frustration by crashing home a ferocious drive from the edge of the area with one of the final kicks of the game.
SWINDON TOWN: Will Henry, Bradley Barry (Harly Wise 45), Nathan Thompson (Charles Dunne 45), Jamie Sendles-White (Jake Evans 45), Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill, Anton Rodgers (Tom Smith 45), Yaser Kasim (Jordan Stewart 45), Conor Thomas (Ellis Iandolo 45), John Goddard, Jermaine Hylton (Morgan Ferrier 45), James Brophy (Kenny McEvoy 45).
Sub not used: Lawrence Vigouroux.
Attendance: 654.
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