Kabongo Tshimanga’s brace helped Boreham Wood secure a surprising 2-1 win away at Woking in the National League.

Kane Ferdinand opened for the hosts with only 11 minutes on the clock, but Tshimanga struck six minutes before the break and three minutes after it, while Mark Ricketts’ red card meant Wood had to hang on for 35 minutes with 10 men.

Woking have been one of the surprise packages in the division so far this season and their position in the top three was justified when Ferdinand slotted in the opening goal after the visitors failed to clear their lines.

The home side should have doubled their lead only five minutes later when the ball fell invitingly for Jake Hyde on the edge of the six-yard box, but he somehow volley over the bar.

They were then made to pay for that miss as, six minutes before the interval, Tshimanga was played through by strike partner Tyrone Marsh to finish past goalkeeper Craig Ross.

Tshimanga then completed the turnaround only three minutes into the second half when he provided another tidy finish past Ross, but Wood’s task of hanging onto the lead was made more difficult in the 55th minute when Ricketts was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Toby Edser.

The Cards rarely looked like troubling the 10-man visitors though, and the closest they came to levelling the game again was when Manny Parry fired off-target from close range and then when Jamar Loza fired an effort against the crossbar.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Wood held on for the win to move up to 12th in the National League, level on points with Solihull Moors and Maidenhead United while sitting just one behind both Torquay United and Harrogate Town.