On a frosty evening, forward Sid Gbla was in red hot form helping himself to four goals against third place Rayners Lane who had won their last eight league games, conceding only once.
Gbla opened the scoring in the first minute, to score in the third consecutive game, and had his second two minutes later.
Stunned by this start, Rayners slowly got back into the game and were rewarded in the 13th minute when Troy Perez-Duah showed good skill in controlling the ball before lobbing the advancing Sam Dabinett.
With neither side able to control the game the pace was frantic with the ball being played forward quickly by both sides and Lane looking the most likely to score until Gbla completed his hat trick in the 31st minute to steady the home team’s nerves and deflate the visitors, whose intensity of play dropped.
A fourth goal by Gbla in the third minute of stoppage time saw Woodley go into half time leading 4-1.
Dabinett was called upon in the second minute after the restart to make a save that resulted in the loose ball being cleared for a corner.
Rayners were enjoying better possession but United was dangerous on the attack with Ciaron Carolan, Connor Suckling and Gbla all seeing opportunities blocked.
The United defence held firm led by Joe Moriarty and Dan Bull and when breached Dabinett made good saves including tipping one shot, heading for his top right hand corner, away for a corner kick.
With the game entering seven minutes stoppage time, Alex Ward struck a shot that went narrowly inside Dabinett’s right hand post for a late consolation for the visitors.
United saw out the added time to make it seven points from three games in the last eight days.
Woodley United: Dabinett, Davies (Watkiss), Jeczalik (Lambourne), Carmichael, Bull, Moriarty, Suckling (Monteiro), Brandao, Gbla (Williamson), Carolan, Richardson (Williams)
Report by Mark Rozzier
