Any hopes Welling had of escaping relegation were well and truly snuffed out by a pitiful performance at Chester.

Two weeks previously, the Welling team put in a great performance to win at Tranmere, but the two following displays have been the worst the team have put in all season.

If the home defeat to Kidderminster was poor, it paled into insignificance when compared to the heavy defeat at Chester. In 95 playing minutes, Welling did not manage one attempt on goal from open play.

They had an early escape when Michael Chambers’ untidy challenge on James Alabi on the edge of the area was adjudged to have been illegal. A spot kick was awarded but Marek Rodak read John Rooney’s penalty and made a fine save.

Soon after, Rooney was presented with the opportunity to atone when Kane Richards’ cross was not cleared and the brother of England captain Wayne followed up to finish

Tony Thompson then made an excellent save from a sliced Ryan Higgins attempted clearance to stop Welling from taking a shock equaliser.

Rodak made a good save from James Alabi before Rooney fired over when well placed.

Immediately after the break, Rooney scored his and Chester’s second. Alabi did all the hard work, breaking down the wing, and his low cross set up Rooney to finish from close range.

Kadell Daniel’s free kick was saved easily by Thompson but was Welling’s only goal attempt, on or off target, in the entire game.

Almost immediately after, Chester added a third. Rooney hoofed a long ball forward and Richards was first on to it and brought it down well before curling into the far corner.

More poor defending presented Chester with a fourth. Rooney’s corner was not cleared properly and when it got returned back into the area, Shaw tucked home.

Welling can have had few complaints about going down to their heaviest defeat of the season in a game they had to win.

Manager Dean Frost did not pull any punches afterwards  “Football won’t change. You have to win your tackles. You have to win your headers. You have to win the knock downs. You have to make the clearances. You have to track your runners. You have to at least match the opposition and you have to absorb a little bit of pressure.”

“I’d use the word gutless and I’ve said to the lads, really, if we had the money them fans deserve their money back. I always try and look for the positives. There’s absolutely no positives I can take out of the game.”

 

Chester:Thompson, Higgins, Hunt, Chapell (Mahon 71), Heneghan, Astles, Richards (O’Brien 85), Shaw, Alabi (Hobson 75), Rooney, Lloyd.

Unused substitutes: Worsnop, George.

Goalscorers: Rooney (17), Rooney (46), Richards (66), Shaw (84)

Yellow cards: Shaw (30)

 

Welling United: Rodak, Gayle, Taylor, Kargbo, Chambers (Wanadio 69), Lokko, Nortey, Corne, Bakare (Kabba 69), Daniel, Harris (Porter 25).

Unused substitutes: McEntegart, Lee.

Goalscorers: None

Yellow cards: Chambers (7), Nortey (30), Taylor (47)

 

Referee: Ian Hussin

Assistants: Sean Richardson & Stuart Richardson

4^th Official: James Madine

Attendance: 2,237

 

Pictures supplied by Dave Budden.