Woking’s Elite Development Squad seized derby day bragging rights, with a 96th-minute winner seeing the Cards come from behind to beat rivals Aldershot Town 2-1.

“Whenever we play Aldershot, we know what a tough game it is and what it means to both clubs,” said academy manager Matt Winter.

“To come out on the right side of it, obviously, we’re really delighted.

“Sometimes in these games it’s about the desire and the work rate, and we managed to keep going right through until the end.”

While Woking did fall behind in the fixture, they looked the better of the two sides in the opening ten minutes, and almost took a sixth-minute lead. It was Jayden Hudson-Odoi who struck an effort goalwards, but his first-time shot rattled off the woodwork.

Aldershot grew into the game, with a 17th-minute corner almost proving costly for the Cards. The delivery was headed back across goal, and needed to be tapped over the line, but, crucially for Woking, that touch saw the ball rise over the crossbar.

The Shots were able to take the lead on the half-hour mark, as a long goal kick was chased down by Thomas Neail, who, in behind the Woking defence, calmly slotted across goal and into the far bottom corner.

Aldershot almost scored a second before the break when the ball was poorly given away in Woking’s penalty area, which allowed Koby Kircher to strike from close range, but a crucial intervention from Cards keeper Mikey Verga saw him get quickly off his line to block the effort.

Winter made a triple change at half-time, and the second half proved to be far more desirable for the Cards.

Aldershot still had their chances, most notably when a 66th-minute effort took a crucial deflection on its way over the bar, but ultimately Woking exercised more control.

It was a 71st-minute effort that got the Cards back on level terms, as Malachy Mpoy, within ten minutes of coming off the bench, held off the Aldershot defence excellently to slot home from just inside the penalty area.

As the clock ran ever closer to full-time, the Cards had to hold on to the belief that they could find a winner, despite being frustrated by a combination of the home defence and some narrow misses in the closing stages.

Quincy Patterson let fly from range in the 86th minute, searching for the bottom corner, but his effort went narrowly wide.

In the 89th minute, an excellent free kick delivery from Patterson was headed goalwards by Lucas Boxall, and then almost turned in from the goalmouth, but Aldershot scrambled to clear off the line.

Back down the other end, the Shots almost claimed the victory with a 93rd-minute back-post volley which hit the side netting.

Right as it seemed the match was destined for a draw, Patterson picked out an excellent pass to Boxall, who, through on goal, was brought down by Aldershot’s goalkeeper Louis Knight, earning the Cards a 96th-minute penalty.

Boxall showed excellent composure from the spot to strike the ball into the top left-hand corner of the net and give the Cards the three points.

A further five minutes were played after the goal, but the hosts couldn’t create anything to trouble Verga, with Boxall’s injury-time spot kick sealing the derby honours.

By Holly Porter