Radstock’s young side were well supported on their trip to Surrey by a vocal Miners contingent, yet their pre-match optimism turned to trepidation within seconds of the kick-off when a high ball over the top of the Radstock defence left goalkeeper Jack Scrivens in no man's land, gifting Josh Greenleaf the opening goal. Matters went from bad to worse when Woking scored their second only two minutes later, Greenleaf cutting in from the left wing and beating Scrivens with a shot from the edge of the area.
It looked like the Miners were in awe of both their hosts and their surroundings, the Laithwaite Community Stadium every bit the stage for a National League football club. Yet Radstock showed a resilience that belied their years, Morgan Skipp conjuring a thunderbolt from 30 yards that the Woking keeper, Sam Mason, could only pick out of the back of his net. With less than five minutes on the clock the game had already produced three goals and the fireworks decorating the nights sky behind the Chris Lane Terrace, were being more than rivalled by the action on the pitch.
Having got themselves back into the game disaster struck again for the Miners on 22 minutes when Radstock Captain Tyler Bryant brought down Greenleaf for a penalty, which he duly converted for his hat-trick. Greenleaf could have had a fourth on the half hour, only to be denied by the linesman’s flag.
Yet Radstock weathered the storm and on 35 minutes snatched a goal back through the excellent work of Olav Haugerud on the left wing, conjuring up a defence splitting pass that found a smart finish from Rico Sobers. Woking were visibly rattled by Radstock’s unlikely fight back and failed to deal with an excellent move between Skipp and Sobers that saw the latter net his second goal of the game on the stroke of half time.
