After hitting Old Strand Academicals for six in the first game of the year, Old Tiffs Is headed to the familiar surroundings of Loop Road, Woking to see if their free scoring start to 2024 would continue against Old Wokingians IIs.

Stealing the spotlight off the departing Jurgen Klopp, the big news pre-kickoff was the return of Tom Scott, refreshed and revitalised after a brief step back to focus on his health & fitness, the consummate pro. Goals guaranteed.

After many, many nutmegs in the warm up,  the game began with the T’s looking to capitalise on their opponents apparent fear of the long ball. This method worked twice within a few minutes. A huge kick from keeper ~Ederson~ Seb sent through Tom who rounded the Wokes keeper and scored from an impossibly tight angle, before a lofted through ball by Jordan found Matt BP, who bore down on goal and calmly doubled the lead. Game over right?

Well the Wokes reaction certainly didn’t feel like it, and the hosts pulled a goal back with a close range finish from a corner. This moment re-energised the visitors and soon after the two goal lead was restored by Matt, making the score 3-1 at the break.

The goals kept coming in the second half, as one sides’ high press started to cause problems. Some tricky play down the righthand side lead to a driven pullback for James Gledhill to neatly finish…into his own net, unfortunately halving the Wokes’ deficit.

With momentum behind them the hosts equalised from a corner shortly after, putting the result firmly in the balance as the T’s looked for a way to regain control.

The composure was brought by Aidan, whose two pinpoint deliveries into the box were calmly finished first by Tom and then Gledhill (the right end this time).

The home side’s frustration led to a fiery reaction to some playful ribbing from Tom and a couple of robust challenges, the heaviest and latest on Tiffs captain Will Forsyth who was forced off after a particularly hard hit (Not hard enough according to some of the home support). But the result was then put to bed thanks to another goal from Tom to complete his hat-trick, and a composed finish this time from Josh, making the final score 7-3.

The free scoring form had indeed continued convincingly for the Purple Is, with the three points secured lifting them up to the heady heights of second place in the table.