WESTON have to thank goalkeeper Kevin Sawyer as they picked up their first Blue Square South point of the season against a slick Woking outfit who came looking for their third straight win.

WESTON have to thank goalkeeper Kevin Sawyer as they picked up their first Blue Square South point of the season against a slick Woking outfit who came looking for their third straight win.

Time after time Sawyer brought off a series of stunning saves to keep his side in the game and he was backed up by some sterling defending.

From the side which played at Thurrock, Tom Paranello was out injured, so Mike Green came in at right back with Scott Bartlett switching to the left.

In the pre-match warm-up, Clayton Fortune felt the effects of a shoulder injury from Saturday and Frenchman Eric Laborieux made his debut in the heart of the defence and gave a solid display.

Woking, relegated from the Nationwide Conference, took control from the start and when Jack Compton was cautioned for a foul on Harry Arter on four minutes, Sawyer did brilliantly to turn Guiseppe Sole's free kick over his bar.

Sawyer was in action again on 13 minutes, getting down to his left to deny Sole and the Woking striker should have done better on 34 minutes when he burst through the defence, only for his shot to be blocked by Sawyer. The keeper made another excellent save on 42 minutes to deny Sam Sioma's effort.

Weston produced their only chance of the half a minute later when Marvin Brown forced a good save from keeper Ross Warner from Bartlett's throw.

Three minutes into the second half, Weston struck out of the blue when a long clearance found Ashan Holgate wide on the right who made ground before curling a shot across Warner and into the far corner to stun the large away following.

This stirred Woking into action and, with the away supporters packed behind his goal, Sawyer pulled off save after save to deny Sole, Sioma, Craig Watkins, Arter and Moses Ademola.

But shortly after Weston central defender Craig Rand limped off, the keeper was finally beaten on 74 minutes by Arter's low effort from 16 yards.

The Woking goal had a scare on 80 minutes when Klein-Davis made a speedy run on the right, but Darren Mullings was just off target with a shot. Into injury time, Woking had strong claims for a penalty ignored when substitute Delano Sam-Yorke was brought down, before substitute Luke Medley forced another save from Sawyer.

After the game Weston boss Andy Gurney praised hitman Holgate and his heroic goalkeeper Sawyer.

He said: "Kevin has been a different class since we brought him into the squad and he kept us in the game.

"We got the luck that we had been missing over the past few games and although Woking were a strong side we defended well. Ashan looks like a different player this season and it was a fantastic goal. Hopefully he can continue his good form."

Weston squad: Sawyer, Green, Bartlett, Harris, Rand (Klein-Davis 70), Laborieux, Mullings, Holgate (Wells 64), Brown, McGregor (Llewellyn 60), Compton. Subs (not used): Gurney, Jeanne.

* On Saturday, Weston face another trip along the M25 to newly-promoted Dover Athletic.