It was men against boys as a young Welling United side were put to the sword by a strong Barnet side.

When Welling had eleven men, they were up against it, but after Chris Bush had been sent off it was a matter of damage limitation.

Bush was dismissed for bringing down former Ebbsfleet striker Michael Gash in the penalty area.

The award of a spot kick seemed correct however the red card was exceptionally harsh. Incredibly, referee Daniel Cook allowed John Akinde to convert before Bush had left the field.

By that point, the Wings were already two down. They survived when Jonathan Henly made an incredible double save from Lee Cook’s free kick and Mauro Vilhete’s follow up.

Soon after, however,Andy Yiadom burst down the right wing before cutting in and firing into the roof of the net. Before Welling had settled themselves back down, Gash’s flick sent Akinde away and he finished confidently.

Once shell shocked Welling had gone three down, and a man short, the contest was over and they were probably relieved to get in and re-group at half time.

Jason Williams took a knock in the first period and was replaced at the break with Joey Taylor replacing him as Welling went from a three man defence to a flat back four.

Having hardly registered a goal attempt in the first half, Dominic Vose went close from a free kick before Graham Stack claimed Jake Gallagher’s hooked shot.

Akinde missed a good chance to claim his hat-trick and Yiadom went close before Gash added a fourth just shy of the hour mark.

Martin Allen made a double change for Barnet bringing on Conor Clifford and Luisma Villa for Akinde and Curtis Weston, changing The Bees’ style of play in the process.

Almost immediately, Kieron St. Aimie missed a glorious chance to reduce the deficit. Finding himself clear through, he set himself up well, but shot wide of the left hand post.

Villa added a fifth when his long range shot took a big deflection that wrong footed Henly and floated into the net.

Loui Fazakerley said afterwards “There were quite a lot of individual errors and mistakes. We need to cut those out. It was a bad defeat but we’ve got to move on. Our season is not hinged on this result. We’ve got seven more games remaining.”

 

Barnet:Stack, Yiadom, Johnson, Saville, N’Gala, Weston (Clifford 63), Akinde (Villa 63), Cook, Togwell, Vilhete (Gambin 73), Gash.

Unused substitutes: Muggleton, Nurse.

Welling United: Henly, B. Williams, Bush, Gallagher (Fagan 82), Berry, Chambers, Corne, Vose, J. Williams (Taylor 45), St. Aimie, Harris (Young 76).

Unused substitutes: McEntegart, Bassele.

 

Referee: Daniel Cook

Assistants:Neil West & Andrew Parker

4^th Official: Jonathan Hollier

Welling star man: Sam Corne

Attendance: 1,700

 

Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.