My Favourite Non-League Picture: David Holmes

IN THE NICK OF TIME: Super sub Joe McNerney, right, wheels away with teammate Jay Davies after scoring Woking‘s dramatic 98th-minute winner against Bromley. Picture: David Holmes
Woking photographer David Holmes shares and explains the image he cherishes the most
January 14, 2012
Woking 3 Bromley 2
Blue Square Bet South
Attendance: 1612
I have been club photographer at Woking FC since 2007. Prior to that I had covered away games for the club for a couple of years so was ideally placed to take over when the need arose.
When I was first asked if I would like to contribute in this feature, I knew instantly which photo I would choose. Indeed, in the many thousands of pictures I’ve taken over the years, this is by no means the most technical or compositionally the best picture I’ve ever captured, but it’s my favourite.
In my spell with Woking, I’ve documented two relegations and two promotions – one as National League South champions, one as play-off winners.
We also had memorable FA Cup runs to the second round, defeating Bury and drawing with Peterborough in 2017, then last season beating Swindon Town away in the second round and being rewarded with a televised home tie against Premier League Watford.
All of these matches were hugely memorable occasions which produced images never to be forgotten. But there’s something about this shot that has lived with me ever since it was taken in the game against Bromley at Kingfield on January 14, 2012.
The afternoon had begun auspiciously with presentations of awards for Manager and Player of the Month for the Blue Square Bet South to Garry Hill and Alan Inns respectively. The season was going so well under Garry and Steve Thompson, with promotion a strong possibility.  In fact the league was won by nine points in the end.
Woking led by two goals, but Bromley soon pegged them back to 2-2 to set up a tense final quarter. Centre-back Joe McNerney came on as a sub in the 80th minute and then Woking were awarded a free kick, deep into added time. Surely this would be the last kick of the match? The story tells itself.
There were so many elements to make this picture stand out for me. Very little in football is better than a 98th-minute winner, scored by ‘local lad’ Joe, who had come right through the Woking Academy. Neil Smith, the inspirational  former captain of Woking and hero to many home supporters, was the assistant manager in the opposite dug-out.
This chosen shot is followed by others culminating in a large bundle of players right in front of me, but it’s the raw emotion on Joe’s face that gets me every time I remember it.
Joe is the bearded one, nearest the camera, now a regular fixture at League 2 Crawley. But he’ll always be a Woking lad to me. He beat the keeper to the ball from a free-kick and headed home from the six-yard line to keep our promotion hopes alive. In the 98th minute!
Another important factor in selecting this image is that Joe, and teammate Jay Davies, ran ‘the right way’ after scoring. Every football photographer will tell you that scorers nearly always tend to run away from you, leaving you with shots of their backs.  Probably not statistically true, of course, but it often feels like it!
I’ve got a half decent shot of him actually scoring the goal, but this is a much better record of that moment.
The disconsolate Bromley player and the fans celebrating in the background also contribute to the atmosphere of the image, but in the end it’s all about Joe McNerney – one of the nicest people you could wish to meet.
The match report for the game on the Woking website was, ironically, written by David Richardson, now Senior Writer for The NLP.
He described the moment as “without doubt the most nail-biting but exciting end to a match at Kingfield this season”.  No arguments from me there!