Woking survived a second-half comeback from Scunthorpe United to win 3-2 at the Attis Arena, despite having Rico Browne sent off for headbutting Will Evans and substitute goalkeeper Vicente Reyes called upon to save a penalty. Aiden O’Brien scored twice as the Cards held on after surrendering two goals of their three-goal advantage.
Scunthorpe were without James Gale because of a hamstring injury and made one change to their starting line-up, with Pat Jones replacing the forward. The hosts made an encouraging start but fell behind in the seventh minute when Dan Batty’s misplaced back-pass released O’Brien. The striker advanced on Maison Campbell and his finish went in via a deflection off Evans.
Woking doubled their lead in the 25th minute after Nathan Paul-Lavaly was brought down by Evans inside the penalty area. John Marquis took the resulting spot-kick and sent a low effort into the bottom corner beyond Campbell to make it 2-0.
Scunthorpe almost responded when Kyle Hurst met a ball into the area with a volley that forced Will Jääskeläinen into a diving save. O’Brien then missed a chance to complete his brace before half-time, diverting a low cross back across goal with the net at his mercy.
The hosts threatened again shortly after the restart when Joe Starbuck received a cross-field pass inside the penalty area and forced Jääskeläinen to push his shot behind. Woking nevertheless made it 3-0 in the 55th minute when a long goal-kick was allowed to bounce through to Marquis, who advanced behind the defence before squaring for O’Brien to finish from close range.
Woking replaced Jääskeläinen with Vicente Reyes shortly afterwards, and the match changed dramatically just after the hour. Evans was fouled inside the Woking penalty area and Browne headbutted the Scunthorpe captain as he got to his feet. Referee Gareth Thomas awarded a penalty and showed Browne a straight red card.
Norwood stepped up for the spot-kick, but Reyes dived to save his effort. The striker made amends almost immediately when Reyes failed to hold Hurst’s low shot and Norwood reacted quickest to turn in the rebound in the 63rd minute.
Scunthorpe continued to threaten, with Tyler Denton shooting straight at Reyes after a misplaced Woking pass. The visitors had an opportunity to restore their three-goal cushion when Paul-Lavaly broke through and attempted to lift the ball over Campbell, only to strike the post.
Norwood then shot narrowly wide at the back post before Reyes produced an excellent save from Hurst. Scunthorpe finally reduced the deficit to one goal in the 84th minute when substitute Luke Brennan curled a direct free-kick around the wall and into the bottom corner.
The hosts were given ten minutes of added time to find an equaliser, but Woking held on for all three points. The victory moved Craig Ross’s side to 13th in the National League with 18 points from 14 matches, while Scunthorpe remained 22nd on 10 points from 13 games after a third successive league defeat.
