Chapple grapples with Woking's woes

Geoff Chapple is struggling to reverse a crisis of confidence at Woking, a situation he cannot have expected when the Cards led the Nationwide Conference table early in the season.

The veteran manager steered the Surrey side to three FA Trophy wins and two second-place finishes in the Conference during his first spell in charge, in the 1990s. Last season, though, Woking had a narrow escape from relegation, but they started this term with a five-game unbeaten run.

A run of four successive home games seemed likely to boost the Cards' campaign, but they lost the lot. After single-goal defeats by Gravesend & Northfleet, Hereford and Northwich, Tuesday's 5-1 mauling by lowly Margate at Kingfield was a humiliation.

Woking, who visit Morecambe tomorrow, have slipped from first to 14th in the Conference. "I would like to apologise to the supporters," Chapple declared. "I'm very angry."

Chapple's most recent recruits, the experienced midfielders Sean Evers and Wayne Burnett, have not make a positive impact.

Burnett, the former Grimsby and Plymouth playmaker, caused a furore on Tuesday by aiming a V-sign at home fans who were barracking him. "The situation got to me," he said in an apology to Woking supporters. "I am so sorry and it will never happen again."

Margate, for whom Leon Braithwaite scored a first-half hat-trick on Tuesday, entertain the leaders Doncaster Rovers at Dover Athletic's ground tomorrow.